The NBA must really think the Warriors are unstoppable if this scheduling conflict tells us anything
The Golden State Warriors are heavy favorites against the Portland Trail Blazers in their first-round playoffs series that tips off Sunday.
Self-appointed experts, armchair pundits, and casual fans alike feel a Golden State sweep is highly likely.
But the actual NBA itself?!? Damn, that's shady.
The NBA released its playoff schedule Thursday. If Golden State sweeps Portland four games to none, their best-of-seven series will end on April 24.
But if the series goes longer than that, Game 5 is scheduled for April 26 in Oakland.
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Small problem: Chance the Rapper is scheduled to play Oracle Arena, the Warriors' home court, that very same night as part of his nationwide spring tour.
Whoops.
The schedule clash's subtle slight was not lost on denizens of Warriors Twitter, who have taken to calling this year's campaign, with the addition of Kevin Durant, "arrogant season." Could NBA commish Adam Silver be in on the joke?
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Chances -- ahem, no pun intended -- are that someone in the NBA scheduling office just made a little mistake and that a work-around will be announced soon. We've got an inquiry out to NBA reps, and will update this post when we hear back.
But even with that benefit of the doubt, it's an amusing Freudian slip of sorts that speaks to just how dominant Golden State looks with the playoffs set to begin. And now Portland has a little extra motivation to prove its many naysayers wrong.
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Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
