OT: "looked anything like" as hyponegation

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 22, 2012, at 11:10 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

> Of course, to do that Atlanta would need a whole new season, because
> they would have to overtake the Miami Heat first. (The Knicks and the
> Celtics are, as are the Hawks and the Heat, but there are not enough
> games left in the season.) Every division winner is guaranteed home
> field advantage, which is why the Celtics are seeded third, even though
> the Hawks (and Orlando) have a better record.
>
> Of course, the announcer might have wanted to say "did NOT look anything
> like", rather than one of the other two, which is why it's a
> hyponegation in the first place.

I think that's basically what she would have said if she had said that "they looked nothing like a playoff team", which was one of my suggestions ("looked nothing like" + "looked like anything but") .

But on the playoff point:  No, actually, the Celtics are guaranteed a *fourth* seed, not a third.  And they're not guaranteed home court; the Hawks are ahead of them for that right now, by one game.  Under the old rules, they would have indeed been guaranteed both third seed and home court, but that's been changed after a kind of odd situation a few years ago in which an inferior division winner ended up with home court advantage over a team with a much better record.  I know it's misleading that the fourth seed could lose the home court advantage over the fifth seed, but that's how it is.  So the Hawks don't need to catch the Celtics for fourth seed, they just have to finish with a better record.

(Well, the subject line does say OT, so no complaints from basketball agnostics.)

> Then, again, when it happens fifteen
> times in one year, it's probably safe to say he was not misspeaking (or
> had a typo in the printed column or ...).
>
>

Exactly.  It's not "could care less" or "that'll teach you" yet, but it's not just a nonce misspeaking (I don't think).

LH

> On 4/22/2012 10:39 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> At 4/22/2012 10:01 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>> On yesterday's local (WTNH) TV sports wrap-up, referring to Friday
>>> night's basketball game, in which the New York Knicks (all but
>>> guaranteed of a playoff spot) were crushed by the usually hapless
>>> Cleveland Cavaliers:  "Last night the Knicks looked anything LIKE a
>>> playoff team".
>> And today the Knicks looked nothing like a playoff team, as they beat
>> the Atlanta Hawks, who are striving (but not hard enough) to overtake
>> the Boston Celtics for the fourth seed in the Eastern division,
>> whereas the Knicks are struggling to hold on to the seventh seed.
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> (Of course, what I mean is "like nothing but a playoff team".)
>
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