I just read this Kings-Pacers Preview. http://sports.excite.com/news/03242011/q4804.html
It starts off; "Tyler Hansbrough's return to the starting lineup has helped the Indiana Pacers build a sizable lead for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth...."
From the way a lot of you talk in your posts, a sizable lead is the prevailing belief here on Pacers Digest too, however it's utter nonsense.
I know we have ten games to play and the games behind column says we are up three games. That does sound like a sizable lead. The thing is, and I keep harping on it, the games behind column is what you look at this time of year when teams have played a different amount of games.
For instant, all we have to do is lose a game while Milwaukee wins and we are back to a possible winner take all show down when we play each other April 1st.
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Here's the current Standings for the whole NBA after last nights games.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
LA Lakers..........51 20 6
Boston..............50 20 6 ½
Dallas...............51 21 7
Oklahoma City....46 24 10 ½
Orlando.............46 26 11 ½
Denver..............43 29 14 ½
Portland............41 30 16
New Orleans .....41 31 17
Atlanta.............40 32 17 ½
Memphis............40 32 17 ½
Houston.............38 34 19 ½
Philadelphia.........37 34 20
Phoenix..............36 34 20 ½
Utah.................36 37 21 ½
New York...........35 36 22
Indiana..............32 40 25 ½
Golden State......30 42 27 ½
Milwaukee...........28 42 28 ½
Charlotte............28 42 28 ½
LA Clippers..........28 44 29 ½
Detroit...............25 46 32
New Jersey.........23 47 33 ½
Toronto..............20 51 37
Sacramento........ 18 52 38 ½
Washington.........17 53 39 ½
Minnesota...........17 56 40 ½
Cleveland............13 57 43 ½
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The way games behind is figured.
Lets look at the first two teams.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
The way they figure games behind is you count a half game for each game you are behind in both the win and loss column. For instant San Antonio has 57 wins, Chicago has 51, a difference of 6. In the loss column San Antonio has 14 losses to Chicago's 19, a difference of 5. Add the 6 wins difference to the 5 losses difference and you get 11. Halve that and you have 5 1/2 games behind.
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The games behind column always reflects how many games each team is behind the league leader. It also shows the difference between other teams. Lets add two more teams.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
LA Lakers..........51 20 6
Boston..............50 20 6 ½
You see that the Lakers have lost one more game than Chicago. That makes them 12 behind the leader San Antonio, or 6 games. Boston has won one less game than the Lakers. That makes them 7 behind San Antonio in the win column. So the Lakers are only a half game behind Chicago and Boston is only a half game behind the Lakers. That works the same way for the whole league.
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Now lets look at Indiana, Milwaukee and Charlotte.
NBA..................W L GB
Indiana..............32 40 25 ½
Milwaukee...........28 42 28 ½
Charlotte............28 42 28 ½
Indiana is indeed 3 games up in the lost column, but Indiana has played two more games than both Milwaukee and Charlotte. Eventually the games played by all teams will be the same. If they win them, then they are really only two games behind the Pacers and the games behind column is correct.
Milwaukee and Charlotte have the same record but they are not the same games behind us because of tie breakers. We have the tie breaker against Charlotte, that means that even if they have the same record as we do, we are ahead. That means they actually have to be a game ahead of us in the standings. So in essence Charlotte is three games behind us.
Right now Milwaukee has the tie breaker against us. That means we can't tie them we have to be a game ahead. So in essence we are only two games ahead of Milwaukee, and we have a game yet to play against them. If we lose one more game than they do before we play them that means when we play them it's possible we could be playing them for the post season.
In other words we don't have the sizable lead against Milwaukee that people are thinking. We have what amounts to a one game cushion.
The column to look at this time of year is the lost column. Both Milwaukee and Charlotte have more games to play so they can make up the difference in the wins column. However, we have to lose for them to catch us. As long as we have less losses than the other teams, even tiebreakers don't matter.
It starts off; "Tyler Hansbrough's return to the starting lineup has helped the Indiana Pacers build a sizable lead for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth...."
From the way a lot of you talk in your posts, a sizable lead is the prevailing belief here on Pacers Digest too, however it's utter nonsense.
I know we have ten games to play and the games behind column says we are up three games. That does sound like a sizable lead. The thing is, and I keep harping on it, the games behind column is what you look at this time of year when teams have played a different amount of games.
For instant, all we have to do is lose a game while Milwaukee wins and we are back to a possible winner take all show down when we play each other April 1st.
---
Here's the current Standings for the whole NBA after last nights games.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
LA Lakers..........51 20 6
Boston..............50 20 6 ½
Dallas...............51 21 7
Oklahoma City....46 24 10 ½
Orlando.............46 26 11 ½
Denver..............43 29 14 ½
Portland............41 30 16
New Orleans .....41 31 17
Atlanta.............40 32 17 ½
Memphis............40 32 17 ½
Houston.............38 34 19 ½
Philadelphia.........37 34 20
Phoenix..............36 34 20 ½
Utah.................36 37 21 ½
New York...........35 36 22
Indiana..............32 40 25 ½
Golden State......30 42 27 ½
Milwaukee...........28 42 28 ½
Charlotte............28 42 28 ½
LA Clippers..........28 44 29 ½
Detroit...............25 46 32
New Jersey.........23 47 33 ½
Toronto..............20 51 37
Sacramento........ 18 52 38 ½
Washington.........17 53 39 ½
Minnesota...........17 56 40 ½
Cleveland............13 57 43 ½
---
The way games behind is figured.
Lets look at the first two teams.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
The way they figure games behind is you count a half game for each game you are behind in both the win and loss column. For instant San Antonio has 57 wins, Chicago has 51, a difference of 6. In the loss column San Antonio has 14 losses to Chicago's 19, a difference of 5. Add the 6 wins difference to the 5 losses difference and you get 11. Halve that and you have 5 1/2 games behind.
---
The games behind column always reflects how many games each team is behind the league leader. It also shows the difference between other teams. Lets add two more teams.
NBA..................W L GB
San Antonio.......57 14 -
Chicago............51 19 5 ½
LA Lakers..........51 20 6
Boston..............50 20 6 ½
You see that the Lakers have lost one more game than Chicago. That makes them 12 behind the leader San Antonio, or 6 games. Boston has won one less game than the Lakers. That makes them 7 behind San Antonio in the win column. So the Lakers are only a half game behind Chicago and Boston is only a half game behind the Lakers. That works the same way for the whole league.
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Now lets look at Indiana, Milwaukee and Charlotte.
NBA..................W L GB
Indiana..............32 40 25 ½
Milwaukee...........28 42 28 ½
Charlotte............28 42 28 ½
Indiana is indeed 3 games up in the lost column, but Indiana has played two more games than both Milwaukee and Charlotte. Eventually the games played by all teams will be the same. If they win them, then they are really only two games behind the Pacers and the games behind column is correct.
Milwaukee and Charlotte have the same record but they are not the same games behind us because of tie breakers. We have the tie breaker against Charlotte, that means that even if they have the same record as we do, we are ahead. That means they actually have to be a game ahead of us in the standings. So in essence Charlotte is three games behind us.
Right now Milwaukee has the tie breaker against us. That means we can't tie them we have to be a game ahead. So in essence we are only two games ahead of Milwaukee, and we have a game yet to play against them. If we lose one more game than they do before we play them that means when we play them it's possible we could be playing them for the post season.
In other words we don't have the sizable lead against Milwaukee that people are thinking. We have what amounts to a one game cushion.
The column to look at this time of year is the lost column. Both Milwaukee and Charlotte have more games to play so they can make up the difference in the wins column. However, we have to lose for them to catch us. As long as we have less losses than the other teams, even tiebreakers don't matter.
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