Fantasy Island
 Some Madness For Mavs' March?
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-03-04 00:00:00.000


By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
For the Mavs, the sports-prognosticating cliché ‘If the playoffs were to begin today. …’’ is almost as trite as Billy Crystal’s suddenly hoary Oscars musical montages.
Sure, if the playoffs were to begin at, say, 9 a.m. Tuesday before the Sonics’ visit to Dallas, the Mavs would have finishing this fake regular season:

  • In second place in the Midwest;
  • In third place in the West;
  • In fourth place overall in the NBA;
  • Preparing to crush the peach-fuzzy Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs;
  • Very tired and quite possibly a little hungover and certainly in need of a pre-tipoff jug ‘o java because the playoffs are not meant to start at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2!
    ‘If the playoffs were to begin today. …? Great. Except they don’t. If a 100-meter dash were to end after the first step, I’d have a shot at being a world-class sprinter! (Editor’s note: That’s just an example. As plodding as Fisher’s ensuing 50 or so strides would be in such a race, he is so slow that he couldn’t get a jump if he was also firing the starting pistol.)
    We’re all googly-eyed-in-love with the idea of the Mavs continuing to cruise toward the postseason at a .655 clip, which is where they are now at 38-20. Heck, as long as we’re fantasizing, why don’t we just dream of continuing to play at an .818 clip!
    Win about 65 percent of the remaining 24 games and the Mavs go 16-8 down the stretch, ending with a 54-28 mark. Which would be brilliant, a remarkable success after making so many changes in last year’s 60-win team.
    Squeeze shut your little eyes even tighter and dream about a continued .818 clip. Do that, and the Mavs are 20 of their final 24. Do that and the Mavs finish the regular season 58-24. Wow!
    Gee, that makes you wish the playoffs wouldn’t end today – because if that’s what is in Dallas’ regular-season future, there is a nice chance this club overcomes Sacramento and Minnesota and because the best basketball team in the history of the world!
    There are some problems with the fantasy, though, some problems that stem from the regular season not ending today. There is the little Seattle visit on Tuesday. Then comes a quote troubling stretch that features seven road games of the next eight, including visits to the very Minnesota (Wednesday) and San Antonio (Friday) and Sacramento (Thursday the 11th) teams Dallas is jousting for position with.
    Want more?
    Atlanta and Boston visit the Mavs mid-month. But then comes another pack-your-bags sequence during which the Mavs get five roadies in eight days. Among the delightful entertainment destinations on the itinerary: New Jersey and Indiana, the two best teams in the East.
    The Mavs are not good against the East. The Mavs are not good on the road. The Mavs have not established that they are quite as good as Minnesota. The Mavs can certainly play with San Antonio and Sacramento – and in fact have beaten them often enough for those two squads to be especially geared up when Nellie and Co. come to town.
    You want reality regarding March?
    A 12-4 record for this month would be a laudable accomplishment. Then you’ve got the coveted 50 wins going into the eight games in April, and you’ve got enough of a cushion to allow for a slight margin of error as you attempt to seal your position as a fourth seed – or, if things fall just right, the third seed.
    Oh, and the Grizzlies need to stay at six, too. No offense to the Memphis folks, but that’d be mighty nice – though we’re quite sure they’re queasy enough about their future, too, queasy enough to also wish the playoffs could start today.
    Sorry, all. We double-checked with the NBA offices. The regular season cannot end today.
    It’s against league rules.