Cancel the Rest of the NBA Playoffs
Published May 23, 2006
I may sound like a deranged serial killer pointing a gun at something so beautiful and so pure with intent to murder, such as the NBA Playoffs.
Playoffs: "Don't kill me! I thought you loved me!"
Suss: "Alas, it's because I love you so much that I have to kill you."
Keeping with this theme, I'm afraid we must kill the NBA playoffs right away before the conference finals commence.
Am I crazy, you ask? (Well, yes, but stick with me here.) After all, the second round was amazing. Three of the four series went the full seven games. Last year's NBA Finals also went seven games.
And this year in the playoffs so far the big bad Pistons almost lost to a team with a budding superstar in LeBron James. The defending champion Spurs were upset by the defense-free Dallas Mavericks. And shit, the Clippers almost made the Western Conference Finals. In a nutshell, there was excitement on every court.
Which is why the NBA playoffs must end pronto.
There is no way the league can match or beat the excitement the second round provided for us. In a world where I'm usually focused on the NFL in the fall, curling in February, college basketball's March Madness, and then baseball all summer, I tend to glance at the NBA Finals in June to see if anything cool is happening. But they caught my attention earlier than normal. Hats off to them. Now stop playing basketball immediately.
The conference finals and the championship series will probably bore the rest of us to death. Even though all four remaining teams are full of personality, the two teams left standing will be polar opposites of each other. The NBA Finals will feature a high-scoring fast break team (Phoenix or Dallas) vs. a slow-tempo, half court juggernaut (Detroit or Miami). With two different styles of basketball on the same court, that indicates hardcourt boredom.
Besides, most of the recent NBA Finals have been extremely boring. Save for last year's seven-game fisticuffs between the Pistons and Spurs, the last NBA Finals to go seven was back in '94. Traditionally one finals team is simply overmatched. And this year we won't have both the Pistons and Spurs.
Matt Sussman is the sports editor of BC Magazine and also writes for Deadspin, SPORTSbyBROOKS, The Futon Report, and the Toledo Free Press. Catch him Mondays and Fridays at 8 p.m. ET with asst. sports editor Tuffy on Treehouse Fort, the official show of BC Sports. E-mail sports-related inquiries (or inquiry-related sports, such as full-contact Twenty Questions) to matt.sussman@blogcritics.org.
- Cancel the Rest of the NBA Playoffs
- Published: May 23, 2006
- Type: News
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Basketball
- Writer: Matthew T. Sussman
- Matthew T. Sussman's BC Writer page
- Matthew T. Sussman's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
the only flaw in suss's plan is that it leaves no chance for the NBA officials to screw up the proposed 4-way debate over which team would have won...otherwise it's solid!
heh
Now I gotta run to rockies (no kidding).
You can't be serious - are you?
If you are, then I am tempted to write an heartfelt opposite view :-)
Re: Seinfeld -- you know, when I watched it, I didn't give a goat's lick who was in the writing room. It was good to the end, even if it demoted from great.
Hey man,
You make a good point, but think about it........lopsided NBA playoff games are a helluva lot more exciting than June baseball. What do you want me to do with my free time? Spend quality time with the Mrs.? Yeah Right!!!!
Wow. I found your link on deadspin.com. You've reached blog heaven.
Dallas plays no defense? Huh? Did you actually watch the NBA this year, or have to ability to check, like, stats and stuff? Why don't you look at the defensive rankings for this year and get back to us.
Extremely valid point Don -- Dallas opponents have been averaging in the high 90s, well among the top in the league, both regular and post season.
But look at the season series vs. Phoenix. They each won two games, with the average final score of Phoenix 109, Dallas 106. (Note: Not necessarily an indicator of who will win.)
It'll be just almost as high scoring as the Suns/Clips game, that's my point.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/48151)
NBA, don't do it. I've got money riding on Miami to win the whole thing since before the season started.
"So, my dear NBA, do what Seinfeld did and finish on top."
Wha? While you may be technically correct ratings-wise, the show was a shell of its former self in the last few years. Once Elaine turned into one of the guys, probably the year producer Carol Leifer left, who Elanie was based on, the show went into the toilet and it's painful to watch after Larry David left.