The Dream Shake - a Houston Rockets blog: TMac and Rip Hamilton - There Can Only Be One

Monday, April 14, 2008

TMac and Rip Hamilton - There Can Only Be One

I could live with a Rockets/Pistons championship!

3 comments:

The Review Chick said...

you and me both! I would be one of the few Rockets fans in the lower level of the Palace!

Anonymous said...

Crap...

Well, the Rockets still have a chance at Home-court, but things don't look good.

Here are the scenarios that can play out

1) (Assuming the Suns win out and the Spurs lose tonight) If the Rockets win Wednesday and the Jazz win over the Spurs, the Jazz would be the #3 seed, while the Rockets would be the #4 seed and play Phoenix in the first round. The Spurs would drop to the #6 seed.

2) (Assuming the Suns win out and the Spurs lose tonight) If the Rockets win Wednesday and the Spurs win over the Jazz, the Rockets would be the #5 seed, but would get home court advantage over the Jazz as the #4 seed. In this scenario, I believe the Suns would be the #3 seed as they were 3-1 against the Spurs and the Spurs would fall to the #6 seed

3) (Assuming the Suns win out and the Spurs win tonight) If the Rockets win Wednesday and the Jazz beat the Spurs, the Rockets would finish as the #5 seed and go to Phoenix in the first round due to a 4-way tie. The Jazz would be the #3 seed and the Spurs would be the #6 seed.

4) (Assuming the Suns win out and the Spurs win tonight) If the Rockets win Wednesday and the Spurs beat the Jazz, the Rockets would end up as the #5 seed and host Utah in the first round. San Antonio would be the #3 seed and the Suns would end up as the #6 seed.

5) If the Suns lose either of their last two games and the Rockets win Wednesday, the Rockets will finish no lower than fifth. If the Jazz lose to the Spurs in this scenario, the Rockets would host the first round matchup vs. the Jazz.

6) If the Suns lose either of their last two games, the Rockets win Wednesday, and the Spurs win tonight and lose Wednesday, The Rockets would end up as the #5 seed and play San Antonio on the road in the first round. Utah would be the #3 seed.

7) If the Suns lose one, the Rockets win, and the Spurs lose both, the Rockets would be the #4 seed and host Phoenix in the first round. If the Suns lose both, the Rockets would host San Antonio in this scenario.

8) If the Rockets lose to the Clippers on Wednesday, they will not have home court advantage in the first round. In fact, they'd need a Phoenix loss or two losses by San Antonio along with a Phoenix loss to not be the #6 seed.

9) Of course, the possibility also exists that New Orleans loses their last two games and really messes everything up. That would require a loss to the Clippers at home and a loss at Dallas in a game that will mean nothing to the Mavs.

So basically, we're rooting for San Antonio to either win out or lose out at this point for the Rockets to have the best chance at home court advantage.

Anonymous said...

Well, at one point, it looked like the Spurs and Suns might both lose, but they pulled it out.

The Rockets can finish no higher than #4 now and can still finish #6.

How the Rockets can finish as true #4:

1) Rockets win, Jazz win, Suns lose. #4 Rockets would play #5 Spurs due to 3-way tiebreaker head-to-head (Jazz 5-2, Rockets 3-4, Spurs 3-5)

How the Rockets can finish as #5 seed but have home court advantage:

1) Rockets win, Spurs win. Rockets would win tiebreaker over Suns due to Conference record. Jazz get 4th seed due to division winner.

How the Rockets can finish as a true #5 and be on the road in the first round:

1) Rockets win, Jazz win, Suns win. 4 team tiebreaker broken by head-to-head. (Utah 7-3, Phoenix 6-5, Houston 5-6, San Antonio 4-8). #5 Rockets would play at #4 Phoenix, #6 San Antonio would play at #3 Utah.

2) Rockets lose, Suns lose. If Spurs win, #5 Rockets would be at #4 Utah in the first round. If Jazz win, #5 Rockets would be at #4 San Antonio in the first round.

Rockets end up as the #6 seed if the following happens:

1) Rockets lose, Suns win. If Spurs win, #6 Rockets are at #3 San Antonio in first round. #4 Utah would be on the road at #5 Phoenix. If Jazz win, #6 Rockets are at #3 Utah in first round. #5 San Antonio would be at #4 Phoenix.

In simple terms, the Rockets need:
1) to win
2) the Spurs to win or the Suns to lose