The Day My Basketball Head Went Insane

So the NBA playoffs are here the Western Conference is a molten pile of teams all within a few games of each other. Aside from those bastard Lakers, the wild west is anyone's conference. It will all be about the right match ups.

The Phoenix Suns might be able to run Portland out of the stadium, but the Utah Jazz might give them fits. Meanwhile, Denver might smoke Utah, but can't beat Portland. It's all a nice muddy ball.

That's why I'm actually happy that the Dallas Mavericks are playing the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

Say what? I'm happy the Mavericks get the Spurs, the only team other than the Lakers to win multiple championships this decade? Four championships to be exact. That's how many rings Tim Duncan has on his fingers. Then you have Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, coach Papovich...that's a lot of winning right there.

Oh, and the Spurs are getting healthy at the right time. The team is coming together to make a playoff run and they look nasty. So why in the name of Mark Cuban am I happy?

Because Dallas is built to beat the Spurs. The team obsessed with San Antonio because for most of this decade, that was the team to beat. The Mavericks know the Spurs. They aren't afraid of the Spurs.

The other option would have been Portland. That seems like a great match-up now that All-Star guard Brandon Roy isn't playing for the Trailblazers due to a knee injury. Yet Portland is 3-1 against the Mavs this year and the last game in Portland was ugly. Fouls were called, fans were ejected, debris was thrown on the floor.

These are not things you need to add into a playoff game if you want to advance. It's hard enough to move forward in the west without adding a fan frenzy against your particular team. Portland fans would be out for blood against the Mavs and it all adds up to extra energy needed to survive during the away games. Dallas would probably win the series, but they'd advance as a tired team into the next round. Add in the extra travel to Portland compared to San Antonio, plus the two hour time zone change and you're talking lots of added stress.

I may rue the day I actually rooted to play San Antonio, but I'd rather see a familiar foe that's only an hour plane ride away rather than the great unknown in a distant land known as Portland.

It's the playoffs and I'm craaazy!