Strength of Schedule as of Jan 31st

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!

Ok. It was yesterday. We're slow. But here is the newest SoS.

Notice who is #1 for toughest SoS so far (us).

Scroll down and see who is #1 for hardest SoS remaining (Memphis).

http://powerrankingsguru.com/nba/str...f-schedule.php

Still have to play the games. But this is why, even though we are 4 games back, we are currently predicted to have the best odds to make the playoffs.

Yep. It's still a tough road, lots of wins needed, and we have some tough ones in the immediate future. But if you wanted to design a schedule that would give us the best possible shot, this would be pretty close to what you'd end up with.

The only teams with easier closing schedules than us are in the East.

Wait, I thought we were supposed to have an easy schedule moving forward?

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Originally Posted by kinglio21093

Wait, I thought we were supposed to have an easy schedule moving forward?

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We do, overall! We've had the #1 hardest schedule so far and moving forward, we have the 5th easiest. So it gets tons easier. Memphis, on the other hand, gets harder.

The tough ones I mentioned are literally just the next few games. In our next 6 games, we face Houston, Milwaukee, Indiana, and OKC. So that's a tough little stretch. After that, it gets waaaaay easier.

Our final 20 games:

- @Dallas
- V Heat
- @ Wolves
- @ Kings
- @ Jazz
- @ Clippers
- V Hawks
- V Spurs
- @ Grizzlies
- V Kings
- V Grizzlies
- V Knicks
- @ Magic
- @ Hawks
- @ Wizards
- @ Spurs
- V Hornets
- V Suns
- V Sixers
- V Wizards
- @ Spurs

So you can see, out of our final 20 games we have 10 home games and 10 road games, which is decent balance, and we face 16 teams that are under .500! 80% of our final 20 games are against under .500 teams. In fact, there's even a streak where we play 12 under .500 teams in a row, starting with the Hawks at home and ending against the Suns at home.

Super easy schedule to close the year for us.

Can't count out Portland. I didn't think they would win last night and they have injuries that are coming back

In fact, looking at Memphis's schedule, Portland may be the more difficult team to overcome when all is said and done

I'll buy that about the Blazers.

The Spurs are always weird because they can play above the sum of their parts and I think they are the antithesis to our current team. It was just one game but we have to find a way around their disruption.

The next week will change things. We'll see how things shakeup at the trade deadline.

Also for Memphis, they've got 19 road games and 14 home games remaining. So if there was ever a "cakewalk" of an NBA schedule, Memphis has had it so far. I think they had a 7 game homestand at one point this year. Crazy.

It's the teams right below Memphis I'd be most worried about. Particularly the Suns and Blazers. This just seems like that year it comes to an end for the Spurs.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

We do, overall! We've had the #1 hardest schedule so far and moving forward, we have the 5th easiest. So it gets tons easier. Memphis, on the other hand, gets harder.

The tough ones I mentioned are literally just the next few games. In our next 6 games, we face Houston, Milwaukee, Indiana, and OKC. So that's a tough little stretch. After that, it gets waaaaay easier.

Our final 20 games:

- @Dallas
- V Heat
- @ Wolves
- @ Kings
- @ Jazz
- @ Clippers
- V Hawks
- V Spurs
- @ Grizzlies
- V Kings
- V Grizzlies
- V Knicks
- @ Magic
- @ Hawks
- @ Wizards
- @ Spurs
- V Hornets
- V Suns
- V Sixers
- V Wizards
- @ Spurs

So you can see, out of our final 20 games we have 10 home games and 10 road games, which is decent balance, and we face 16 teams that are under .500! 80% of our final 20 games are against under .500 teams. In fact, there's even a streak where we play 12 under .500 teams in a row, starting with the Hawks at home and ending against the Suns at home.

Super easy schedule to close the year for us.

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I count Dallas, Utah, Miami, LAC and Sixers. That's five. And Memphis, although we handled them well twice, is 24-25. Had they won last night that would be 2 more making it 13 and 7. So only 65% against sub-500 instead of 80%. Its a fluid situation

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

I count Dallas, Utah, Miami, LAC and Sixers. That's five. And Memphis, although we handled them well twice, is 24-25. Had they won last night that would be 2 more making it 13 and 7. So only 65% against sub-500 instead of 80%. Its a fluid situation

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Yeah, u right :hihi:

I need to actually count things properly rather than just assuming I'm reading it right lol

And yeah with the Memphis thing, I was writing using their records as of time of writing. Obviously while it's possible that any given sub .500 team wins their next few games and suddenly becomes a not-sub-.500-team, I can't know that in advance so I just filed them in the sub-.500 category for now.

Pels are so much better with Zion back. We can beat the rockets and the bucks.

Zion is such a versatile player that he makes things easier for everyone on the team.

I see us making the playoffs. Memphis has a very tough schedule. We don’t. We should win most of our games. Portland is not going to get it. It’s ours to take. Zion isn’t gonna mess JJs record up.


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20-29 right now.
14-7 in the past 21 games

33 games remaining. With the schedule getting easier, its not inconceivable we could go 21-12 in those games and finish 41-41.

Which would also mean we finished the season going 35-19 in our last 54 games.

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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

Pels are so much better with Zion back. We can beat the rockets and the bucks.

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It's not impossible, but these are two very different tasks.

Beating the Rockets is tough, but very doable.

Beating the Bucks is a much more difficult task.

Again, it's obviously possible to beat the Bucks (they aren't undefeated after all) but one is much more realistic than the other. Bucks are the only team in the NBA with single digit losses still, at 41-7. That's a 71 win pace. They're the leagues 2nd best offense and the number 1 defense. They have lost precisely once this year to a team that's under .500. They're top 5 in the NBA in rebounds, assists, blocks, points, FG%, and FTAs.

They're beating the brakes off teams so badly that Giannis is barely averaging 30 minutes a night: he regularly just sits out huge portions of games because they're up 20+. Yet he's still averaging 30/13/6, with all-defensive level contributions. And Middleton's adding 20ppg on 50/44/89 shooting, which is damn close to a 50/45/90 year.

If we beat the Bucks, I would absolutely love it, because it would be our best win of the season without question, even if it was only by a single point. The Bucks are incredible this year, and are (imo) absolute title favourites. Houston, on the other hand, would just be a solid win.

I totally agree with you that the Bucks are a much better team than Houston and harder to beat.

However eternal optimistMSU has to point out that the Bucks have by and far had the absolute tippity top cream of the crop Micky Mouse schedules in the entire NBA. Kinda like when Utah came at us having win something like 13 straight and it was all losing teams.

Giannis hurt himself end of last game, so he may not play Tuesday, or might be gimpy. I'd absolutely take that.

Tho last time Giannis also didnt play, this team was a basket case. No Zion or Favors. Lonzo was coming off the bench. Kenrich was still starting getting major minutes. Yet the Pelicans still managed to get within single digits in the 4th somehow.

COMPLETELY different team to take advantage of no Giannis this time around.

As for the Rockets, its a favorable matchup. Pels should take that one if they limit the low iq minutes.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Giannis hurt himself end of last game, so he may not play Tuesday, or might be gimpy. I'd absolutely take that.

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Didn't Middleton drop 51 last game that Giannis missed? :hihi: Would be just our luck to see a repeat performance

With Zion all is possible


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Didn't Middleton drop 51 last game that Giannis missed? :hihi: Would be just our luck to see a repeat performance

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Middleton had 24 points on 22 shots when Giannis didnt play against the Pels. Bledsoe had 29 points on just 13 shots.

So I'd hope Bzdelik would have a gameplan that wouldnt allow Middleton to go off again.