And the Thunder Rolled

What? You didn’t expect me to go all Garth Brooks on you guys? Perhaps AC/DC would have been the more appropriate reference, but it also seemed too obvious. But then again, maybe Garth is also too obvious. Of course, once he went off the deep end and became Chris Gaines, nothing seems “too obvious” with Mr. Brooks.

But now I’m just stalling. Why? Because I haven’t watched the game yet. And by the time I do, it will be yesterday’s news. So instead of talking about the game–which was a fantastic win–let’s very briefly talk about playoff seeding.

With the win we slid into the 6th spot, just ahead of the Thunder. Both teams currently have the same record, but the Spurs won the season series 3-1, giving them the tiebreaker. (It’s nice to actually hold the tiebreaker over a playoff team.)

The standings in the West, as currently constructed, really consist of 3 tiers. Tier #1 is the Lakers. At this point it seems very unlikely anybody will catch them. The second tier is Dallas and Denver, fighting for the #2 seed. As of today, Denver is just one game up on the Mavs. The third tier is everybody else, 4-8. Currently, that is, in order, Utah, Phoenix, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Portland.

I would argue that our best option is to finish in the 6 or 7 slot. As great as the #4 seed (and homecourt advantage in the first round) would be, I think our best option is to stay out of the Lakers side of the bracket, which would mean not being the 4, 5, or 8 seed. If we’re the 6th or the 7th seed, we would face the Nuggets or The Mavs in the first round, and then most likely the other in the second round, if we were to win. That’s a much nicer path to the Western Conference Finals.

Which of those two teams would we prefer to meet? I’d probably rather face the Nuggets, even though they are the slightly better team. I hate playing the Mavs. There’s just too much history and animosity there, and I don’t think we match up with them very well anymore.

Of course, as fate is not without a sense of humor (and perhaps irony), wouldn’t it make sense that the Spurs would finish 6th and the Mavs 3rd, completely flipping last year’s seedings? Then maybe we could upset them 4-1 in the first round.

Looking Forward:

The big, bad Lakers come to town Wednesday night. The next two games are the two best teams in the league, both at home. I think we need to win at least one of them, and I think our best chance is against the Lakers.