Back for year 3! As many of you know, the past two years at the midway point I've started the most optimistic thread in the history of the universe. Well... tis the season. I only hope that my nauseating enthusiasm will at least bring some joy to a few people. But before I jump into the meat of this thread, I’d like to say a few things.
As I’ve visited the board the past couple months, I can honestly say that the overall mood on the board is easily the darkest it’s been in the 4 years I’ve been reading it. I fully understand that lately there hasn’t been too much to be excited about but it seems to me that members have been taking their frustrations out on other posters. The thing I enjoyed most about PD is the exceptional depth that usually accompanies each post. However over the past 2 months on several occasions while reading various threads I’ve actually found myself becoming a little embarrassed at the poisonous things other posters have been typing, both directed at the team and at other posters. Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly all for voicing individual opinions. But there is a clear line between thoughtful objection and pure hatred. The unfortunate part is as the negativity has increased, I’ve noticed the frequency of contributions by some of my favorite posters has decreased. Whether the two are connected I do not know but a part of me believes they are not completely unrelated.
I’m not saying we all need to put on a happy face and be oblivious to negative things the team goes through. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we simply stop and put some thought into what we’re about to post and consider if it is potentially offensive to other members. PD may not mean much to some of you (and I can respect that) but I believe it is one of the best sports forums on the internet as evidenced by the fact that it is frequented by players and media personalities alike. Lets represent it with class.
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Now that I got that out of the way… time for the whole point of this thread. Like I stated above, for those of you who have been around the past couple years you know that I have started a thread laying out a path for us reach .500. Unfortunately we’ve came up short both years. Two years ago we were 15-26 at the half way point. We finished the season 21-20 for a 36-46 record but it was not until the last 10 games or so before .500 was no longer reachable. Last year we were 14-27 midways and just 21 games later .500 became impossible. We finished 16-25 for a 30-52 record. Both years once .500 became mathematically impossible I abandoned the thread.
The good news for this year is that we’ve had the “best” start to the season in 3 years with a 16-25 record. Perhaps we can turn things around in the next 41 to finally achieve the .500 goal. As in years past I’ve broken the schedule down into groups; groups based upon the number of games we have against each team from here on out. So Group A is teams we play once more the rest of the season. Group B is teams we play twice more the rest of the season. Group C three times and Group D 4 times. We no longer play the Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets, or Spurs this year. That alone is a big advantage spotted to us for the second half.
This year’s Group A shapes up like this:
Cleveland, Portland, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans, Atlanta
Looking through those teams I think we need to pull a 9-4 record out of this group. I’ll go ahead and share my “predictions” and say I think we’ll only loose to Utah, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and New Orleans. I think the other games are certainly winnable for this team with the toughest being Atlanta. I think we stop them from sweeping us this season.
Group B looks like this:
Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Washington, Boston
I think we’ll pull one game from Chicago, Charlotte and Minnesota and take both games from Toronto, Milwaukee and Washington for a 9-9 record in Group B. This group is the wildcard of the bunch as it presents the most chances to “steal” games I’m not anticipating us to win. It may be turn out to be the key group to reaching this year’s goal.
Group C this year is New York and New Jersey. I think we can pull all three games from New Jersey and one game from New York for a 4-2 Group C record.
Interestingly enough Group D is the same this year as last. Detroit. I’m giving us one throw away game to the Pistons for a 3-1 Group D record. That gets us to 25-16 for the second half of the season.
So it breaks down like this:
0-0 against Group A (9-4)
0-0 against Group B (9-9)
0-0 against Group C (4-2)
0-0 against Group D (3-1)
*Note record in parenthesis is what I projected us to be against that group.
Group A (teams Pacers face 1 time the rest of the season): Cleveland, Portland, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans, Atlanta
0-0 against Group A (9-4)
Group B (teams Pacers face 2 times the rest of the season): Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Washington, Boston
0-0 against Group B (9-9)
Group C (teams Pacers face 3 times the rest of the season): New York and New Jersey
0-0 against Group C (4-2)
Group D (teams Pacers face 4 times the rest of the season): Detroit
0-0 against Group D (3-1)
We kick this thing off Wednesday with a chance to immediately steal a game I did not allot for us to win against Orlando. It could be a huge start for our .500 aspirations.
As I’ve visited the board the past couple months, I can honestly say that the overall mood on the board is easily the darkest it’s been in the 4 years I’ve been reading it. I fully understand that lately there hasn’t been too much to be excited about but it seems to me that members have been taking their frustrations out on other posters. The thing I enjoyed most about PD is the exceptional depth that usually accompanies each post. However over the past 2 months on several occasions while reading various threads I’ve actually found myself becoming a little embarrassed at the poisonous things other posters have been typing, both directed at the team and at other posters. Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly all for voicing individual opinions. But there is a clear line between thoughtful objection and pure hatred. The unfortunate part is as the negativity has increased, I’ve noticed the frequency of contributions by some of my favorite posters has decreased. Whether the two are connected I do not know but a part of me believes they are not completely unrelated.
I’m not saying we all need to put on a happy face and be oblivious to negative things the team goes through. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we simply stop and put some thought into what we’re about to post and consider if it is potentially offensive to other members. PD may not mean much to some of you (and I can respect that) but I believe it is one of the best sports forums on the internet as evidenced by the fact that it is frequented by players and media personalities alike. Lets represent it with class.
-----
Now that I got that out of the way… time for the whole point of this thread. Like I stated above, for those of you who have been around the past couple years you know that I have started a thread laying out a path for us reach .500. Unfortunately we’ve came up short both years. Two years ago we were 15-26 at the half way point. We finished the season 21-20 for a 36-46 record but it was not until the last 10 games or so before .500 was no longer reachable. Last year we were 14-27 midways and just 21 games later .500 became impossible. We finished 16-25 for a 30-52 record. Both years once .500 became mathematically impossible I abandoned the thread.
The good news for this year is that we’ve had the “best” start to the season in 3 years with a 16-25 record. Perhaps we can turn things around in the next 41 to finally achieve the .500 goal. As in years past I’ve broken the schedule down into groups; groups based upon the number of games we have against each team from here on out. So Group A is teams we play once more the rest of the season. Group B is teams we play twice more the rest of the season. Group C three times and Group D 4 times. We no longer play the Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets, or Spurs this year. That alone is a big advantage spotted to us for the second half.
This year’s Group A shapes up like this:
Cleveland, Portland, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans, Atlanta
Looking through those teams I think we need to pull a 9-4 record out of this group. I’ll go ahead and share my “predictions” and say I think we’ll only loose to Utah, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and New Orleans. I think the other games are certainly winnable for this team with the toughest being Atlanta. I think we stop them from sweeping us this season.
Group B looks like this:
Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Washington, Boston
I think we’ll pull one game from Chicago, Charlotte and Minnesota and take both games from Toronto, Milwaukee and Washington for a 9-9 record in Group B. This group is the wildcard of the bunch as it presents the most chances to “steal” games I’m not anticipating us to win. It may be turn out to be the key group to reaching this year’s goal.
Group C this year is New York and New Jersey. I think we can pull all three games from New Jersey and one game from New York for a 4-2 Group C record.
Interestingly enough Group D is the same this year as last. Detroit. I’m giving us one throw away game to the Pistons for a 3-1 Group D record. That gets us to 25-16 for the second half of the season.
So it breaks down like this:
0-0 against Group A (9-4)
0-0 against Group B (9-9)
0-0 against Group C (4-2)
0-0 against Group D (3-1)
*Note record in parenthesis is what I projected us to be against that group.
Group A (teams Pacers face 1 time the rest of the season): Cleveland, Portland, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans, Atlanta
0-0 against Group A (9-4)
Group B (teams Pacers face 2 times the rest of the season): Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Washington, Boston
0-0 against Group B (9-9)
Group C (teams Pacers face 3 times the rest of the season): New York and New Jersey
0-0 against Group C (4-2)
Group D (teams Pacers face 4 times the rest of the season): Detroit
0-0 against Group D (3-1)
We kick this thing off Wednesday with a chance to immediately steal a game I did not allot for us to win against Orlando. It could be a huge start for our .500 aspirations.
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