.500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

[aamcguy]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

It looks like Atlanta will have the 29th pick in the draft, they will move up a bunch of picks regardless. And they don't seem to be to worried about that swap or they wouldn't be resting their team.

Well they're obviously going to swap, so they will have a 13-14 pick move up.

Their first game against Brooklyn comes after a 3-day break. The second is on the second night of a back-to-back. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawks rested their starters against Phoenix the night before and let them play against Brooklyn. They're not resting every night, they're picking their spots.

Also, Atlanta beating them twice could very well have no effect on anything if Brooklyn keeps winning otherwise.

[Will Galen]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Wild cards:

1) Atlanta is going for a franchise record season of wins.
2) Atlanta has the right to swap picks with Brooklyn. So if Brooklyn gets knocked out of the playoffs Atlanta moves up 3-4 picks.

It looks like Atlanta will have the 29th pick in the draft, they will move up a bunch of picks regardless. And they don't seem to be to worried about that swap or they wouldn't be resting their team.

[TMJ31]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Wild cards:

1) Atlanta is going for a franchise record season of wins.
2) Atlanta has the right to swap picks with Brooklyn. So if Brooklyn gets knocked out of the playoffs Atlanta moves up 3-4 picks.

Oooohhhhhh... The plot thickens.

[aamcguy]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

What sucks about all this is Brooklyn has 2 games against Atlanta left. Atlanta has already locked up the number one seed in the East and sat all of their starters vs Charlotte. So it looks like 2 games that should have been losses for Brooklyn will end up as easy wins.

Wild cards:

1) Atlanta is going for a franchise record season of wins.
2) Atlanta has the right to swap picks with Brooklyn. So if Brooklyn gets knocked out of the playoffs Atlanta moves up 3-4 picks.

[Will Galen]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

I haven't looked to see who they still have to play, but Brooklyn is 8-3 over their last 11. For that reason only I think they will make the playoffs and go 5-4 or 4-5. They have a two game lead in the loss column on us, and the tiebreaker in head to head. If they just win 3 games it means we would have to win six to pass them. I think Milwaukee will hold on to 6 and I think Miami will get 7th.

Of course an injury to a key player can stop any team. I'm not even sure we will hold off Detroit. We'll see.

Speculation here; I think the problem with this team is it's mainly interested in contending, not just making the playoffs. When PG13 made one interview expecting to be back soon, the team took off on a win streak. In PG13's next interview a few games later, I think reality had set in because his expectations were way different and the team went on a losing streak.

I'm interested in what that reality was, because Paul's viewpoint changed.

Yes the team still plays hard, but there's a difference between playing hard and playing with fire in your eye. An example is a team can be playing hard and get in a scuffle and go to a whole different level of play.

[TMJ31]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

What sucks about all this is Brooklyn has 2 games against Atlanta left. Atlanta has already locked up the number one seed in the East and sat all of their starters vs Charlotte. So it looks like 2 games that should have been losses for Brooklyn will end up as easy wins.

Perhaps. But maybe Bud will decide that they want to hand BKN losses to push them out of the 8th seed if they feel that us or Boston is a better 1st round matchup?

Don't know, just trying to think happy thoughts.

[The Sleeze]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

What sucks about all this is Brooklyn has 2 games against Atlanta left. Atlanta has already locked up the number one seed in the East and sat all of their starters vs Charlotte. So it looks like 2 games that should have been losses for Brooklyn will end up as easy wins.

[Shade]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Even though the .500 dream is dead, the playoff dream is not:

Milwaukee:
Free: 3
Push: 3 (@ Boston, vs. Brooklyn, vs. Boston)
Challenge: 2
Projected finish: 5-3
Projected final record: 41-41
Projected seed: 6

Miami:
Free: 3
Push: 2 (@ Indiana, vs. Charlotte)
Challenge: 3
Projected finish: 4-4
Projected final record: 38-44
Projected seed: 7

Boston:
Free: 1
Push: 3 (vs. Indiana, vs. Milwaukee, @ Milwaukee)
Challenge: 4
Projected finish: 3-5
Projected final record: 36-46
Projected seed: 8

Indiana:
Free: 2
Push: 3 (@ Boston, vs. Charlotte, vs. Miami)
Challenge: 3
Projected finish: 4-4
Projected final record: 36-46
Projected seed: 9

Brooklyn:
Free: 2
Push: 1 (@ Milwaukee)
Challenge: 6
Projected finish: 2-7
Projected final record: 35-47
Projected seed: 10

Charlotte:
Free: 3
Push: 2 (@ Indiana, @ Miami)
Challenge: 4
Projected finish: 3-6
Projected final record: 34-48
Projected seed: 11

Based on remaining schedule (particularly against other teams on this list), the Celtics and Pacers are in the driver's seat for that final playoff spot. Unfortunately, however, Boston holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

[Shade]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Turn out the lights, the party's over.

[Phree Refill]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

[Shade]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Did I miss a loss? We're 32-41 now, not 31-42. With that projection, it would put us at 36-46, not 35-47.

D'oh! I forgot to change the overall record to account for the win over Dallas. That makes a big difference, as it now moves the Pacers up to #8.

[BillS]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Indiana:
Free: 2
Push: 4 (@ Brooklyn, @ Boston, vs. Charlotte, vs. Miami)
Challenge: 3
Projected finish: 4-5
Projected final record: 35-47
Projected seed: 10* (projected division record: 8-8)

Did I miss a loss? We're 32-41 now, not 31-42. With that projection, it would put us at 36-46, not 35-47.

[Phree Refill]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Actually, it is not mathematically impossible if it is a per-team percentage instead of a per-game percentage.

Example: Two games qualify in the league: team A wins both games by 3 points or less against team B and team C. Team A has a win percentage of 1.000 in those games, teams B and C have 0.000. The TEAM average, then, is 0.333 (1.000 + 0.000 + 0.000 divided by 3 teams). The GAME average, of course, would be .500 which is a tautology.

I actually crunched the numbers in this exact manner (averages of all individual team win percentage) for that particular stat but just redid it with Pacers record in close games omitted to get a league average and interestingly enough the numbers came out exactly the same.

[Ace E.Anderson]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

The Pacers control their own destiny. If they beat the teams they're battling in the playoffs race, they they'll be fine. If they continue to lose (like they did to Boston and NJ @ home during the losing streak) then they could be close to being eliminated by the end of the week.

[Shade]

Re: .500 finish very attainable: "Is this the one, Quinn?! Is this the one?!!!

Update time! A few "upsets" over the last few days have mixed things up a bit:

Milwaukee:
Free: 3
Push: 3 (@ Boston, vs. Brooklyn, vs. Boston)
Challenge: 3
Projected finish: 5-4
Projected final record: 41-41
Projected seed: 6

Miami:
Free: 3
Push: 2 (@ Indiana, vs. Charlotte)
Challenge: 4
Projected finish: 4-5
Projected final record: 38-44
Projected seed: 7

Indiana:
Free: 2
Push: 4 (@ Brooklyn, @ Boston, vs. Charlotte, vs. Miami)
Challenge: 3
Projected finish: 4-5
Projected final record: 36-46
Projected seed: 8

Boston:
Free: 1
Push: 4 (@ Charlotte, vs. Indiana, vs. Milwaukee, @ Milwaukee)
Challenge: 4
Projected finish: 3-6
Projected final record: 35-47
Projected seed: 9

Brooklyn:
Free: 2
Push: 2 (vs. Indiana, @ Milwaukee)
Challenge: 6
Projected finish: 3-7
Projected final record: 35-47
Projected seed: 10

Charlotte:
Free: 3
Push: 3 (vs. Boston, @ Indiana, @ Miami)
Challenge: 4
Projected finish: 4-6
Projected final record: 35-47
Projected seed: 11