TheSportsTrap
How vain it is to sit down to write when you haven't stood up to live?
Cool Playoff comparison chart, breaking down LeBron James’ growth & decision making.
As a Blazer fan, I feel for the Bulls, I feel for D-Rose. A true professional shouldn’t meet his fate like this so close to the ultimate prize. Read more on D-Rose here
Trap of the Day: Metta World Peace
There’s no debating the undeniable flop culture in modern-day professional sports. Sooner or later, the Academy Awards may want to consider divvying out an Oscar or two to the fabulous acting on display in the sports world. Across the board you have soccer studs taking dives drawing penalty kicks, baseball batters pretending they were hit by a pitch drawing a free base, and NBA hoopers’ flailing arms fouling out key players in important games. It’s deceitful to both fans and referees trying to keep the game clean and fair. It’s tough to give anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore—acting is now fully engrained in gamesmanship and if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.When Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden hit the floor the other day in a matchup versus the Los Angeles Lakers, I was casually monitoring the game with a household of basketball fans. We all collectively groaned and instantaneously accused Harden of flopping after seeing him fall lifeless on the court after an emphatic Laker bucket. That being said, I’d like to apologize to Mr. Harden, because after taking a second look at the replay, we all saw that Harden was in fact victimized by one of most malicious and violent elbows I’ve ever seen in my life (that includes all the mixed martial arts fights I’ve seen, even this one).
The One Year Anniversary of Game 4: Brandon Roy’s Shining Moment
As painful as it is to relive these memories, I must pay homage to Brandon Roy. One year ago today, Roy shocked the sports world leading the Blazers to one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history. Grab a tissue, press play:
I made this schedule chart (bored as hell) during the clinic the Thunder were putting on against my beloved Blazers. Allow me to explain…
Things are starting to get rather interesting out West as eight teams remain realistically (fat lady singing concept) in the hunt for the final five spots in the Western Conference playoff chase. As of right now, just 5-1/2 games is all that separates the current 4th-seeded Clippers from the Trailblazers, having currently stumbled back to 12th in the West after getting pummeled by the Durant-Westbrook tandem last night.
If you need perspective on how close this playoff chase is, just ask the Boston Red Sox or the Atlanta Braves who blew enormous leads to fall short of postseason competition. Anything can happen—teams need to win ball games, period. It’s that simple. That’s where the speculative schedule breakdowns come into consideration. Certainly, veteran leadership and a team’s general health status is inconceivably important heading down the home stretch of a condensed 66-game season. However, one’s schedule is as equally important when weighing odds of who will be this season’s late-arriving contender, and who will crumble as phony pretenders after all.
Reckless Analytics?
This may sound slightly insane, but the team most in position to self-destruct this April is undoubtedly the reigning champion Dallas Mavericks. This past month alone the Mavs dropped crucial road games to New Orleans, Phoenix, Sacramento and Golden State. In retrospect, these letdowns may serve to be much more significant than previously imagined when glancing at the Mavs position in the standings today. Although the Mavs are sitting in the 5th-seed as we speak, their stability is awfully precarious with Houston shadowing just two games back (the first team on the playoff chopping block, at 9th in the West right now). For Mavs fans, they better hope that veteran leadership will prove to be of ultimate importance for a team heading down its home stretch, because their April schedule is by far the most brutal out West. The pace of these games is about to heat up considerably—are the old Mavs prepared for another historical run? This time, it will have to start NOW, not once narrow in on their magic number. Check it:
- Dallas still plays four teams I consider “Elite” (those in the top-three of each conference). In this case, they still have to play: @Heat, @Magic, @Lakers and @Chicago. You could argue that the Mavs escape with two wins (at most!) on this list. Perhaps their chances increase playing @Chicago in late April. Resting stars for the postseason by then? Likely.
- With nine road games remaining on the Mavs schedule, eight of them come against teams that have been exceptional (or solid might be a better word) in front of its home crowd. I took a tally yesterday and the Mavs play eight road games left versus opponents that have lost just eight (or less) home games all season long. They will have to steal must-win road visits from teams like the Grizzlies, Blazers, Jazz, Hawks and the elite teams I mentioned above. Their solo ‘gimmee’ road game comes against the perennial spring season spoilers, the Golden State Warriors—oh yeah, I mentioned the Mavs already got thumped in the Bay just a couple weeks ago, (111-87). Dirk might just be having flashbacks of the young Warriors playing like it’s a one-seed vs. eight-seed all over again. At least Baron Davis is fat and out-of-town these days—they won’t have to worry about B-Diddy stealing the show.
- Although Gallinari’s thumb may have doomed the Nuggets’ playoff chances, don’t count out Denver quite yet. Same goes for the Timberwolves who are still recovering from losing their dazzling point guard, Rubio. The Nuggets play a similar home:road-dominated ratio as the Mavs, however the Nuggets’ overall strength of schedule is drastically less severe. Just four of those 10 road games for the Nuggets come against teams that have taken care of home court this year. The Timberwolves on the other hand play the easiest schedule of any team in the West. With 15 total games left on its schedule, the TWolves play six of those games vs. “cupcakes” a.k.a. teams ranked in the bottom-10 of the NBA…the cellar dwellers, as I like to call them. The TWolves play one single “elite” team and two road games that fall into the category as “tough road” competition.
- As much as I’d like to believe the Blazers still have a chance, it’s going to be nearly impossible for them to finish strong, wrapping up the season with five of six away from the Rose Garden. With horribly inconsistent guard play and limited veteran leadership, it seems improbable that the Blazers can finish strong, regardless how much ground they make up during this upcoming home court stretch. Knowing this team hasn’t managed to win back-to-back games in over two months (since Jan. 24th), the odds are looking grimmer with each head-scratching blowout.
- By the way, is Patrick Ewing a consideration for the Blazers’ future head coach? Just a thought…
The Madness is just getting started…
-Geoff
Geoff Ziemer
Life is a short hop. Charge it or get benched
Flickr Images
Geoff Ziemer © Theme created by 
