Saw this post up at Blazersedge.com yesterday. Jennifer Floyd Engel, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, writes that she doesn't see the Mavericks getting past the first round, no matter who they play. And especially if their first round opponent is Portland."...Mavs basketball has come to epitomize amazing regular season, disappointing postseason....I know stats say this is the third-best team in the West, has been all year. What the No. 3 seed does not mean is that the Mavs will be the team most likely to challenge either the Spurs or Lakers this season -- or going forward. Because unlike OKC or Portland, who are young and hungry and generally assumed to be up-and-coming, the Mavs are not a team on the rise. This is an aging team trying to slap together one last miracle run for Dirk Nowitzki -- except road trips like this latest seem to illustrate just how unlikely that actually would be."
Of course, Engel wrote this column the day after the Blazers put the beat down on the Mavs, 104-96, and it seemed like a lock that the two teams would face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Things have changed, and the Blazers are anything but guaranteed to finish in the 6th spot in the West. They could even finish 8th, with the way things have been going.
Of course, Engel wrote this column the day after the Blazers put the beat down on the Mavs, 104-96, and it seemed like a lock that the two teams would face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Things have changed, and the Blazers are anything but guaranteed to finish in the 6th spot in the West. They could even finish 8th, with the way things have been going.
Obviously, for the Blazers, at this point, a matchup with the Mavericks is the most ideal option for a first round matchup. They'll need to do some work, and get a couple of things corrected in preparation for the playoffs. Call me crazy, but I don't think it's impossible to think that no matter who the Blazers get in round one of the playoffs (San Antonio, the Lakers, or the Mavs), they will have a legitimate shot to win that series. That may be reaching a little bit to say that Portland would win straight up, but as the post-trade-deadline Blazers are currently constructed, you have to think twice about it, don't you?
