The Mavs just wrapped game 21 for the season, beating the San Antonio Spurs in dramatic fashion in Dallas, 101-100 in OT. Thankfully, it was the Mavs' first OT game in this lock-out shortened season.
At 21 games in, that's just shy of a third of the season's 66 games. As a recent ESPN The Magazine article puts it: 80% of a normal season is being squeezed into 75% of the usual amount of time.
That's what leads the Mavs, for example, from January 29-February 4, to 5 games in 7 days in 3 cities.
And it's stretches such as this that all 30 teams in the Association will face this season. With two-thirds of the season yet to go.
Which is why I get the feeling that jockeying for playoff seeding position won't be as important this year. Just make it in. That's it. If you land home court advantage, great. Well done. But just making it in is enough in what could amount to the Wild West of playoff basketball.
Teams will be trying all sorts of tactics during the regular season to either rest players or get them enough action to improve their performance hindered by lack of a sufficient training camp. Which leads me to believe that, more than any other year, a #8 seed means neither anything better nor anything worse than you made it in. You're not much better or even worse than a #1. Maybe only a few games will separate the two in the final standings anyway. A few which may come on final buzzer-beaters or nights where stars got a much needed night off.
Sure, I don't think for a moment that front offices and coaches will completely forget about favorable match-ups come playoff time. But with weeks where teams will play 5 games in 7 days and fly thousands of miles, resting some old legs in an attempt to just make the post-season dance will probably take precedence in an unprecedented season.
Musings from a sports fan with an opinion on pretty much everything.
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