NBA Playoffs Will Be Featuring a Disappearing Act This Season

This year has been an interesting one for the NBA season.

The NBA has had a circus in Washington, with Gilbert Arenas being the head clown.

A fire swallower in LeBron James (he's on fire if you didn't catch the drift).

A balancing act in New York between the financial stability and the success of the team.

A yo-yo performance with the Rookie guard Brandon Jennings, scoring 55 points months ago and being rather inconsistent since.

Then there was Portland's act after being devastated by injuries earlier in the season and losing both centers to season ending knee injuries. These injuries include starting small forward Nic Batum, shoulder surgery, (once) backup power forward with a broken foot, and All-Star guard Brandon Roy, who had a nagging hamstring injury for 12 games.

Blazers players have been vanishing.

If I would have said last season that at one point the Blazers would be starting Andre Miller, Steve Blake, Martell Webster, Dante Cunningham, and Jeff Pentergraph, you would have asked me if the plane had crashed and if these were the only survivors.

It's been that bad.

But despite these set backs, the Blazers have put themselves in position to catch a ticket to the playoffs.

After a dismal start to the season and really a "below expectations" kind of performance until the All-Star break, the Blazers have kicked it into playoff drive since they traded for Marcus Camby and inserted now-healthy Forward Nic Batum into the starting Lineup.

The Blazers have scored 100 points in their past 12 road games and 100 points in their last six home games. They are third in the NBA for points against and fifth in the association for points since the break.

Rudy Fernandez has recently found his stroke from long range, shooting nearly 50 percent (.439) in the past 10 games. Nic Batum, who has shown the NBA he can ball, has been on fire, shooting .57 percent from the field and 47 percent from distance. He is averaging 10 points and 3.5 assists in 23 minutes.

Overall, the team is in business mode. They don't seem to care who the opponent is or what they have done lately. They are just setting 'em up and knocking 'em down.

They have put themselves in good situation and within swinging distance from the playoffs.

But the problem with the Portland Trail Blazers' success is that the fans have been scarred by the early season injuries. Every time someone goes down, the stadium is quiet, the bars are quiet, and my living room is quiet.

Because you never know who will disappear next.