2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[Hogmelon]

1.  At this moment, Denver is ½-game ahead of Utah, BUT ...

Utah and Denver are TIED in the LOSS column, and  Utah swept Denver (4-0) in the regular season, SO ...

If Utah loses the same number of remaining regular season games as Denver (or fewer), then Utah will finish ahead of Denver in the final regular season standings (and playoff seeding).  


2.  Thank goodness, the 48-29 Mavs own the head-to-head tie-breaker versus the 48-29 Warriors.  [3-1]


3.  Predicting the winners of the remaining regular season games is tricky because of the variety of motivations and incentives of the teams.  A few teams (e.g., Detroit, Orlando, and Houston) may be tanking.  Other non-playoff teams may be harder to beat than one might expect because of the "nothing-to-lose" attitude.  Obviously, there are many teams that are fighting for advantageous playoff seeding, but there could always be special strategic considerations that might be somewhat counterintuitive.  And finally, there are the Suns and the Grizzlies, who are already locked-in to their respective playoff positions (#1 and #2 in the Western Conference), and whose primary goal for the next two weeks is to go into the playoffs with their teams as "healthy" as possible.

My point (if I have one) is that the following link to "Remaining Schedule Strength" might be somewhat misleading:


https://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength