FanPost

Tiebreakers

read SS&R pretty actively but I don't really post on threads too often, so here goes. Since reading Travis P's great post about the Lakers remaining schedule which you can find here, I've been wondering about the tiebreaker for the Finals since it's quite possible that the Lakers will have the same record as the Bulls, Heat, or Celtics come June. So I hit up the internets here's what I found:

Tiebreakers
(-) Tie breaker not needed (better overall winning percentage)
(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division
(2) Head-to-head won-lost percentage
(3) Division won-lost percentage
(4) Conference won-lost percentage
(5) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(6) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(7) Net Points, all games

Since the Lakers are a division winner and the Mavericks are not, none of the above tiebreakers even matter. If the Lakers end the season tied with the Mavs, the Lakers hold home court advantage no matter what. Moving on!

The Finals are a bit different as the schedules vary so much. Rather than using point differential apparently a random drawing is employed. Yes you read that right, random drawing.

The Finals Tiebreakers

1) Better winning percentage in games against each other.

2) Better winning percentage against teams in the opposing conference.

3) Random drawing!!! O_O


Finals Matchups:

Lakers (51-20) vs. Heat (49-22)

The Lakers currently hold a two game advantage over the Heat however, if the Lakers end the season tied with the Heat, they will have the Finals tiebreaker as the beat the Lakers both times this season. Personally, I don't believe the Heat will make it through either Boston or Chicago, but hey it could happen.

Lakers vs. Celtics (50-20)

The Lakers and the Celtics split the season series so we move on. The Lakers hold a 21-9 record against the Eastern Conference and have only Western Conference games remaining while the Celtics hold a 17-10 record against the West leaving them unable to catch us. Woo tiebreaker against the Celtic demons! Personally this is the matchup I want. Playing the Bulls or Heat would make great stories, but this is Boston we're talking about. I want to crush them.

Lakers vs. Bulls (51-19)

The Bulls and the Lakers also split the season series and they currently hold a better record than we do. Moving to the second tiebreaker, Chicago has a 20-7 record against the West with the three remaining games against Memphis, Minnesota, and Phoenix. If Chicago were to go 1-2 against these teams (Possible, but probably unlikely in my opinion) the home court advantage in the NBA Finals would go to a random drawing. All I can say is wow...

Notes

-The Lakers and Mavericks play again at Staples

-The Celtics and Bulls play once more this season

-The Celtics and Heat play once more as well

Sources if ya'd like to read them yourselves:

NBA.com for the tiebreakers

Kevin Ding posted an article on OC Register which was the only thing I could find addressing the Finals tiebreakers directly.

Please let me know if I made any mistakes or posted any misleading information. I'm sure SCG will catch a spelling error in here somewhere...