Tracking the West - updates on How the West will be won

As of Jan 18th here are the standings: Phoenix 27-12 Dallas 26-12 LA Lakers 26-12 Portland 23-15 New Orleans 26-12 San Antonio 25-12 Denver 23-15 Golden State 23-17 Utah 22-18 Houston 20-19 ============================================== Jan 18th 2008 Portland @ Miami Charlotte @ New Orleans Minnesota @ Phoenix LA Clippers @ Utah Golden State @ Chicago Winners: Portland, New Orleans, Phoenix, Utah, Golden State Losers: none Effect: Phoenix (1) / New Orleans (2) / Dallas (3) / Portland (4) Lakers (5) / San Antonio (6) / Denver (7) / Golden State (8) =========================================== Dec 19th 2008 Portland @ Orlando San Antonio @ Houston Golden State @ Milwaukee Seattle @ Dallas Minnesota @ Denver winners: San Antonio, Golden State, Dallas, Denver losers: Portland Effect: Phoenix (1) / Dallas (2) / New Orleans (3) / Portland (4) La Lakers (5) / San Antonio (6) / Denver (7) / GSW (8) ========================================== Dec 20th 2008 NJ @ Phoenix I think Phoenix will win this one Effect: Phoenix (1) / Dallas (2) / New Orleans (3) / Portland (4) La Lakers (5) / San Antonio (6) / Denver (7) / GSW (8) ========================================== Dec 21st 2008 Dallas @ Washington San Antonio @ Charlotte Portland @ Atlanta Milwaukee @ New Orleans LA Clips @ Utah Minnesota @ GSW Denver @ LA Lakers winners: Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah, GSW, LA Lakers losers: Portland, Denver Effect: Phoenix (1) / Dallas (2) / New Orleans (3) / Portland (4) La Lakers (5) / San Antonio (6) / Denver (7) / GSW (8) ============================================== Before the Lakers embark on its Texas Twister @ SAS and @DAL, LA will be sliding from the #1 spot to #3 (loss to Phoenix) and will eventually slide down to 5th if Dallas and NOH take care of assignments. Since Phoenix will have a relatively easy week upcoming, its safe to say they will be the #1 until Jan 22nd. Dallas has vs SEA and @ WAS to do. If Dallas loses 1 game, they slide down to 5th. NOH has vs CHA and vs MIL. Both games are winnable and in this case, they will be secured the 2nd or 3rd best record. San Antonio has @ HOU and @....

log: 22 Jan 2008 Well Houston beat San Antonio and Washington beat Dallas. Ain't that a little weird? As expected, New Orleans won their two games and they are now half a game behind Phoenix for the West lead. The Lakers also beat up Denver at home for a perfect 3-0 slate in 07/08 season. If Denver plays well enough to win the division, the Lakers can catch them at 5th place and still enjoy homecourt advantage. If Denver relinquishes the lead to either Utah or Portland, they will most probably place 6th and if we play well enough, we will catch them by being 3rd. The way it looks, it looks to me as LA has a nice shot at the 2nd round and making a run at the WCF money. the standings Phoenix 29-12 New Orleans 28-12 LA Lakers 27-12 Portland 25-16 Dallas 27-13 San Antonio 26-13 Denver 24-16 Golden State 25-18 Utah 24-18 Houston 22-19 the next few days... Jan 22 Phoenix @ Milwaukee - PHX 30-12 Jan 23 Dallas @ Charlotte - DAL 28-13 Portland @ New Orleans - NOH 29-12 / POR 25-17 Phoenix @ Minnesota - PHX 31-12 Atlanta @ Denver - DEN 25-16 LA Lakers @ San Antonio - If the Lakers win this game, they will go up to 28-12 as San Antonio will slide to 26-14. As we know in the last couple of days, the Spurs are in a funk. But it will not be an easy task facing the defending champs. If there's one team that can beat us badly, its them. Phoenix 31-12 New Orleans 29-12 LA Lakers 28-12 Denver 25-16 Dallas 27-13 San Antonio 26-14 Portland 25-17 Golden State or Utah If we lose, SA will go up to 27-13 tied with the Lakers but we will still own the tie breaker. Phoenix 31-12 New Orleans 29-12 Dallas 27-13 Denver 25-16 LA Lakers 27-13 San Antonio 27-13 Portland 25-17 Golden State or Utah Jan 24 San Antonio @ Miami - SAS 28-13 or 27-14 Jan 25 Phoenix @ Cleveland - I....

Actually, they would own the tie breaker @ 2-1. But, they haven't been playing as well, so we do have a chance to steal one from them in SA.

I thought it was the Western conference wins that was going to be the basis, I don't know if that has changed.

It's head to head wins then conference

log: Jan 27th 2008 Well we lost 2 big ones. The first one had every Laker hopeful of a "statement game" vs. the Spurs but came up flat in the 3rd, the 2nd game was a statement even though we still came up flat in the 3rd. Overall grade: B- Standings as of Jan 27, 2008 New Orleans 31-12 Phoenix 31-13 Dallas 29-13 Denver 26-16 San Antonio 28-14 LA Lakers 28-14 Golden State 26-18 Portland 25-18 Utah 25-18 Houston 24-19 A new Western Power has risen and its the obscure Hornets. With Phoenix shamefully losing to the worst team in the league, the rising CP3 and his Hornets have recently stung the Spurs to their knees. As for Portland's cinderella story, it might change in a couple of games as Utah and Houston are slowly creeping back into contention. As expected, no lead in the West is safe until the last day of the regular season is concluded. Looking ahead We have the Cavs for afternoon snacks tomorrow and it will be a good one. With Kobe and LeBron inevitably compared from each other, these are the top 2 scorers in the NBA today. Since the Lakers lost to Cleveland sometime in December with that controversial Derek Fisher loose ball foul, I think tomorrow's game will tell a different story. Expect a win - book it. 2 days after, the Knicks are the task at hand before the Lakers take a jet to Michigan to open up the "dreaded" 9-game road trip. Expect a blowout here. Its not for me to jinx whatever the Lakers will be looking to do, but 2 consecutive wins would certainly help in building some lost confidence going into the Eastern road trip. I shall talk about that in a short while... Around the league Jan 27 Phoenix @ Chicago Denver @ Dallas Atlanta @ Portland Utah @ Houston New York @ Golden State Cleveland @ LA Lakers Utah at Houston will....