NBA Playoff Schedule 2012: Teams Guaranteed to Struggle in Must-Win Games
The 2012 NBA Playoffs have been a strange journey, to say the least, and we are only one week in. As things stand right now, there are a lot of teams holding on for dear life in their respective series, but Saturday is going to put the proverbial nail in a few coffins.
With four games slated to take place today, it is put-up-or-shut-up time in three games. When the chips are down, you really see how much a team has left, and in this case, the answer will be: not much.
Here is a look at the Saturday schedule and teams who will fail in must-win situations.
| Game 4: Indiana Pacers at Orlando Magic (Pacers Lead Series, 2-1) | 2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN |
| Game 3: Memphis Grizzlies at Los Angeles Clippers (Series Tied 1-1) | 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN |
| Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks (Thunder Lead Series, 3-0) | 7:30 p.m. EST on TNT |
| Game 3: San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz (Spurs Lead Series, 2-0) | 10:00 p.m. EST on TNT |
Orlando Magic (Trailing Indiana, 2-1)
After a surprise win in Game 1, the Magic have looked like the team we thought they would be when the playoffs started: Some defense, no offense whatsoever.
Stan Van Gundy gets a bad rap because he is brash and speaks his mind, but I will bet money that he gets fired because the front office has built a team so dependent on one player—Dwight Howard—that if anything happens to that player, they are doomed.
Not even a trip back to the Magic Kingdom is going to be enough to help this putrid team put the ball in the basket enough times to compete with the Pacers.
Dallas Mavericks (Trailing Oklahoma City, 3-0)
Following the first two games of the series, the Mavericks had to be feeling a lot better than most people would have expected. No, they didn't have a win, but they kept the games close and had a chance to win at the end both times.
Everything collapsed on the defending champions in Game 3 at home, as the Thunder shut down the Mavericks offense and played their most complete game of the season.
No one was actually expecting the Mavericks to win the series, but now they are going to go home for the summer without winning a single playoff game.
Utah Jazz (Trailing San Antonio, 2-0)
Not that you would know it, because no one is paying attention to this series, but the Spurs and Jazz are in fact still playing each other. Things have gone about the way you would expect them to: San Antonio is dominating, and Utah looks lost at the wheel.
The Spurs have actually been exciting to watch—at least for them. They have scored 220 points through two games and are playing their best basketball of the season, albeit against an inferior team that has no business being in the playoffs.
For a team like the Jazz, who had no expectations coming into the year, the playoff berth alone should be enough to celebrate. Following another destruction in Game 3, the Jazz can sit back and reflect on how they were one of only 16 teams to play more than 66 games.
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