Saturday, March 27, 2010

Dissecting the Race for the 5th and 6th spots in the East

You will read many places that Miami is in the 6th spot in the East and trail Milwaukee by just a game for the 5th seed. This is only a half truth as Miami is a half game ahead of Charlotte with a game in hand and has as many victories as the Bucks with two games in hand.

When taking a look at these standings from here on out, what you'll really want to do is look at the loss column and keep in mind that Miami will have to end the season with one less loss than both Milwaukee and Charlotte, considering they have lost the season series to both clubs.

When you look at the standings in that way, the Heat is one game behind Charlotte and three games behind Milwaukee, with those teams having one and two more games remaining on their plates respectively.

Miami has all but secured a playoff spot as they hold a five game lead in the loss column on 9th place Chicago by way of winning the season series 3 games to 1. Up next is a home game against the 8th seed Toronto, who with a victory would close the gap with Miami to one in the loss column, as they would take the season series 3 games to 1.

After the Toronto game, Miami closes the season with eight games against teams whose playoff hopes were dashed in December. Anything can happen, but the glass is starting to look half full again.

6 comments:

  1. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Alade-Aminu-I-can-be-a-Chris-Anderson-type-of-guy--3245/

    Something I found on the newest member of the Heat - Alade Aminu. He is the older brother of projected loterry pick Al Farouq Aminu and he seems to have some upside himself.

    He describes himself as Chris Anderson type... sounds like a Joel Anthony with more ability besides shot blocking... his signing is meant to get him some experience in anticipation of the off-season.

    Our young guys have not exactly lit the world on fire, but I think there will be fierce competition for the bottom of the roster with these Aminu and Hasbrouck joining last year's 2nd round picks Pat Beverley and Robert Dozier, who will be returning from Greece. We will likely have two first rounders and two second rounders too (we have New Orleans 2nd rounders in 2010 and 2012 from the Marcus Thornton trade and gave up a 2011 2nd rounder and cash to the Lakers for Beverley's rights).

    Cook, Chalmers, Beasley and Anthony (27, but still developing) will all be back for another training camp and Wright looks likely to resign after the Heat decided against trading him for a future #1 pick from Memphis.

    Call me crazy, but I think there could be a solid foundation to Pat Riley's 2010 rebuilding project.

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  2. More about Alade Aminu... who we are not likely to see on the court this season.

    http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/03/26/report-miami-heat-to-call-up-alade-aminu/

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  3. Miami hasn't really done anything to develop its youth in a while. What have been the results of last summer's camp??? not too inspiring....

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  4. It;s true that nobody improved this off-season... hoping that two more #1 picks... last year's draft picks... and a few more guys can make it more interesting this time around.

    Cook and Chalmers may still become solid rotation guys. If not, there may be someone else ready to make the most out of the opportunity.

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  5. A couple more write ups on Alade Aminu... it seems most agree that he is the D-Leaguer with the most upside.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Heat-bringing-up-D-Leaguer-Aminu-?urn=nba,230378

    http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Alade-Aminu-1389/

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  6. Cook looked so good up 'til ASB last year. Probably the biggest disappointment of all.

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