Stat of the Day: The hardest Schedule played

After their Game in Chicago, the Dallas Mavericks climbed to the #1 Spot in the Category SOS (Strength of Schedule) with an Average Winning Percentage of Teams Played of .544. Which is to say, decent Competition.

(via HPR)

The Mavs played 23 games at Home and 19 on the Road. They are already done with the Heat and Bulls, have one Game left @Boston and  vs San Antonio, two with Utah and LA (both split in home and road).

Obviously, the Mavericks remaining Schedule will not be quite as hard as the first part of the Regular Season. Considering the Roster, Injuries and Player Movement, this strikes me as both good and bad.

Good, because it offers the theoretical opportunity to get healthy knees, ease Rodrigue Beaubois into the lineup when he returns (probably right after Duke Nukem Forever is released) and get some Blowouts in which the Heavy Lifters can log not-so-heavy Minutes.

Bad, because none of that will actually happens, since Dallas has a history (and no real counter-evidence) of playing down to the level of competition, throwing away big leads, thereby overplaying the stars and wearing them down. Also, old people don't get healthy, they die just less pained. The Mavericks had trouble scoring all season long, so bon courage, Rodrigue.

Home and Road Games are not much of a concern, since the Mavs do not play much worse on the Road than at home. In fact, they lost more Games at Home (8) than on the Road (7). Homecourt Disadvantage, anyone?

Feel free to disagree.

Note: Stat of the Day is a regular Topic at MavsMoneyball.com. And by "regular", i mean every 14 months.