Playoffs? Playoffs?!?!....

Oh man, what a race in the Western Conference!

Three games tonight will have an impact on whether the Mavs try to win and claim the number 5 seed. And all three of those games pit the top three in the standings against the three teams fighting for the last spot. Currently the Lakers are in the 4 seed, and current matchups have them facing Memphis in the first round. Mavs would play Spurs in the first round.

If Minnesota loses, you can bet we will stay in the 6th spot. Because of the way the second round shapes up, it would be best to have the Spurs and Lakers face each other in the second round if possible. Spurs would have to grab the top spot, with the Lakers staying in 4th. Then that case would also tell the Mavs to take the 6th seed, so then they could face the Kings or Wolves in the first round, the other team they didn't face first in the second round, and then Lakers or Spurs in the Conference Finals. Of course, Mavs would have to win their series to begin with. Honestly, I do belive the Wolves can be beaten by the Mavs. KG will explode for crazy numbers, but the key to them winning is the play of Spree. Mavs can beat the Kings, we have seen it. Webber isn't as fast as he was in the playoffs last year, and Najera can flop like Vlade, maybe just not as well. Bradley can surely draw two techs from Brad Miller. When Dirk is gaurding Vlade, well, that's always something to watch. The key to that matchup would be the comparison of Finley and Peja. Whichever plays better, they are going to win.

If the stars align just right, the Mavs can get out of the first round and probably the second. But those stars have to be perfect. Everyone likes to point out that Dallas was in the Finals last year because Webber went down with an injury. In the Finals, against the Spurs, Dirk went down with an injury. Spurs won the series with the Lakers, yea, so what? Horry banged one off the rim in game five, and that brought them too far down. If he hits that shot, I'm sure we're talking about the 4-time champ Lakers.

If we get the Lakers in the first round, well, we're expected to lose. I don't think there's much to smile about if we get bumped out by that team. I don't know. There are still possibilities, and it's gonig to be interesting to see how they play out. Speaking of which, the first of the three games starts in 4 minutes. I'm out...

(That title is in honor of Jim Mora...)