In Through the Out Door

There is one story we can all expect to hear over the next week – is the Sonics’ playoff fate sealed because of their crappy play at the end of the year?

Well, I’m all about the numbers, so I crunched a few and came up with this conclusion:
YES.

Here’s what I did: I looked at the last four seasons and took the top 4 teams in each conference. Then I added up what they did during the last 10 games of the season and compared it to how they did in the post-season. The relationship of last 10 games to playoff success was shocking. Here's a look at the numbers:



(Editor's Note: Big thanks to Nels of Give Me The Rock fame for help with the chart! -Paul)

Anyway, it’s pretty evident that teams that finish well in the regular season tend to do well in the playoffs. Of course, teams that finish well during the regular season played well all season, so it’s natural that they’d do well in the playoffs. Still, it’s amazing how the numbers drop almost in uniform fashion. (Strange that the only team to run the table over its last 10, San Antonio, flamed out in the 2nd round of the playoffs to the Lakers). Even more amazing, of the 32 teams seeded 1 through 4 in the playoffs in the past 4 seasons, not one team has finished the year with less than 4 wins in their last 10 games. In fact, I had to go back more than 10 years to find a team with as little as 3 wins in its final 10.

It was the spring of 1994. Led by David Robinson, Dale Ellis and Dennis Rodman, the Spurs tore through the league, amassing a 39-14 record by late February before cooling off , finishing in a slump with 7 losses in their final 10 games.

They lost in the first round.

Media Watch: April Edition

Horked from www.sports.IGN.com

The Bad News: So the Supes are limping, figuratively and literally, into the playoffs.
The Good News: They're finally getting some pub. Check the linkage:

>IGN Interview with Nick Collison
He's on the front page of their sports section even. And looky thar: they also chat with our old pal, GP.

>SLAM shows more love for the 206
I love when SLAM loves Seattle. But maybe there is such a thing as too much love. Like, ain't it strange how Ray Allen's hit a mini-slump since his face got plastered on the cover? Not content to put the voodoo on just the Sonics' best player, this month's issue of SLAM might just hex the entire city:

• Sonics PG duo of Luke "Frodo" Ridnour and Antonio Daniels featured
  
• City Game section sizes up Seattle's game through the years and at all levels of comp. There's some nice reminiscing here--Seattle U's Elgin Baylor (not the Clips'), Spencer Haywood, '79 Sonics, Reign Man, the Storm even. Worth the $4.99 cover price alone.
  
• Piece on Franklin High alum Jason Terry
• Open letter to ex-Gonzaga Bulldog, Dan "The Disaster" Dickau, tracing the unspoken "beef" between the mag and he.
  

Oh, and visit www.slamonline.com and you'll find those same articles, plus the online edition of last month's issue, including the Ray Allen feature.

>Fox Sports.com: Best pro teams to not win a championship
The 95-96 Sonics come in at number 9 in the top 10. Not exactly pub for the current team, and not really a good thing to be recognized for, but it's Sonics pub nonetheless. The 2001 Mariners are No. 3.

Rockets' Glare

All together now: The Sonics have no chance against the Rockets if Rashard Lewis isn't healthy.

Man, how painful was it to see Wilkins, et al trying to guard T-Mac? A nice effort from Collison, and the Potato managed to post double-figures and get in Yao's grill a few times. Still, it was obvious the Sonics need Rashard to be healthy if they're going to compete with the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs (if, of course, they play the Rockets and not Sac. or Denver).