NBA Playoff dullness...

[secretariat]

The gap between games doesn't bother me in the least because I don't watch the NBA.

Which is obvious, given your post's ignorance of the realities of today's league.

 

[bpoindexter]

The gap between games doesn't bother me in the least because I don't watch the NBA.

Which is obvious, given your post's ignorance of the realities of today's league.

Ahhh, an NBA fan. Well, we're both entitled to our opinions now, aren't we?

 

[DanOregon]

Agree that the playoffs should be more of an endurance test. Teams could easily go back to back in the same city, throw in the long and frequent timeouts and I don't think even I would be winded.

 

[Football_Bat]

With the Lakers, Spurs and Celtics all on the golf course ... these NBA conference finals have been anything but dullness.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Okay Friday aside, since that's all you got from my argument, why don't we see back to back games at the beginning of homestands? I wasn't just pissed about today having no basketball, I'm pissed that the NBA playoffs drag on with off days that aren't needed when you have two home games in a row. Doesn't anyone else think it's ridiculous how long the playoffs go on for?

Crappy shooting despite the fact defense is near non-existent.

This is just absolutely not true. I don't know why people keep saying it.

I love the NBA, but from a pure entertainment standpoint, I think the biggest issue is that a lot of times the first three quarters or more can feel irrelevant. I know that's a cliche, but I think it is one borne out of some kernel of truth. There's really no way to fix it, though. Just the way the game happens to ebb and flow.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Why is the WCF - last game Thursday - being played before the ECF - last game Wednesday? Does Oprah have OKC's arena tomorrow?

 

[BTExpress]

Agree that the playoffs should be more of an endurance test. Teams could easily go back to back in the same city, throw in the long and frequent timeouts and I don't think even I would be winded.

Based on what Heat players are saying about Bulls series, it's not so much a problem of being winded as it is just banging bodies and giving bruises and strains a little time to heal.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

The gap between games doesn't bother me in the least because I don't watch the NBA.

Which is obvious, given your post's ignorance of the realities of today's league.

Which are?

 

[Den1983]

There seems to be a lot of ignorance in here about today's NBA, which makes sense since it's coming from people who don't watch the game.

I have no problem with the layoffs. If it means Rose gets a chance to rest that ankle instead of playing at 60% in a pivotal game, so be it. It adds to the drama and it's not backbreaking. The playoffs begin and end at around the same time every season; who cares how they work out what's in between?

I find it laughable those who are saying there's no defense in today's game. Laughable. Reeks of stupidity. The game has never before seen better players, offenses and defenses.

And this is not panning 80's NBA. The game has evolved greatly, and it's as if some people refuse to acknowledge it.

And to put "dullness" in regard to these playoffs, too, is absurd as well.

 

[Webster]

I love the playoffs this year, but the wait is a bot long. Nothing wrong with back to back games at home, which seems verboten.

 

[Dick Whitman]

They should play four games a day. Outside. At the equator. And if you need a sub, you're done, just like baseball.

 

[JakeandElwood]

They should play four games a day. Outside. At the equator. And if you need a sub, you're done, just like baseball.

So you think having four days off between games is a good thing?

 

[Blitz]

One day off for each series, with two off when the teams travel back and forth.
Thats what the NBA conference finals should feature, as well as the Finals.

 

[Mark2010]

A seven-game series should take no longer than 11 days to complete. Game 1, G2, travel day, G3, G4, travel day, G5, travel day, G6, travel day, G7.

If it's a 2-3-2 format it shouldn't be any longer than nine days.

Two games, travel day, three games, travel day, two games?

How often do NBA teams play on three consecutive days during the regular season?

Not anymore. Players Association had it outlawed in the CBA more than 10 years ago, although they can go 4 games in five nights: tues, Wed, Fri, Sat, etc.

As someone said earlier, the issue is that because of TV, the Finals cannot start before June. So if you compress the playoff schedule and then get a sweep somewhere, you might have two weeks of dead time between series. The only other scenario would be to extend the regular season so the playoffs start later.

 

[bpoindexter]

There seems to be a lot of ignorance in here about today's NBA, which makes sense since it's coming from people who don't watch the game.

I have no problem with the layoffs. If it means Rose gets a chance to rest that ankle instead of playing at 60% in a pivotal game, so be it. It adds to the drama and it's not backbreaking. The playoffs begin and end at around the same time every season; who cares how they work out what's in between?

I find it laughable those who are saying there's no defense in today's game. Laughable. Reeks of stupidity. The game has never before seen better players, offenses and defenses.

And this is not panning 80's NBA. The game has evolved greatly, and it's as if some people refuse to acknowledge it.

And to put "dullness" in regard to these playoffs, too, is absurd as well.

Laugh all you want to Den, and call me stupid. But remember, I'm laughing, too, and shaking my head at the same time. You my see one day what we're talking about. Then again, you may not.

 

[NickMordo]

There seems to be a lot of ignorance in here about today's NBA, which makes sense since it's coming from people who don't watch the game.

I have no problem with the layoffs. If it means Rose gets a chance to rest that ankle instead of playing at 60% in a pivotal game, so be it. It adds to the drama and it's not backbreaking. The playoffs begin and end at around the same time every season; who cares how they work out what's in between?

I find it laughable those who are saying there's no defense in today's game. Laughable. Reeks of stupidity. The game has never before seen better players, offenses and defenses.

And this is not panning 80's NBA. The game has evolved greatly, and it's as if some people refuse to acknowledge it.

And to put "dullness" in regard to these playoffs, too, is absurd as well.

Injuries are part of the game. So, if LBJ hurts his hand will Game Five be on Thursday? Don't get that logic. There's no excuse for series to drag out this long, especially when a Friday-Sunday schedule would have sufficed -- and Fridays are prime bar nights, no less.

 

[service_gamer]

There seems to be a lot of ignorance in here about today's NBA, which makes sense since it's coming from people who don't watch the game.

I have no problem with the layoffs. If it means Rose gets a chance to rest that ankle instead of playing at 60% in a pivotal game, so be it. It adds to the drama and it's not backbreaking. The playoffs begin and end at around the same time every season; who cares how they work out what's in between?

I find it laughable those who are saying there's no defense in today's game. Laughable. Reeks of stupidity. The game has never before seen better players, offenses and defenses.

And this is not panning 80's NBA. The game has evolved greatly, and it's as if some people refuse to acknowledge it.

And to put "dullness" in regard to these playoffs, too, is absurd as well.

Laugh all you want to Den, and call me stupid. But remember, I'm laughing, too, and shaking my head at the same time. You my see one day what we're talking about. Then again, you may not.

This is going to open a can of worms, but I'm going to say it anyway. In my personal experience, when I come across a basketball fan who despises the NBA, race is almost always the underlying issue. I don't necessarily think you are a racist, but whenever someone just eviscerates the NBA, I think of how an old Bill Maher joke can be tweaked to fit the situation: Just because you hate the NBA doesn't make you a racist, but if you're a racist, you probably hate the NBA.

 

[3OctaveFart]

Please, go ahead and hate the NBA.
It matters not.
The worst thing NBA lovers can do is become touchy and defensive like soccer fans.
I love it, but I couldnt care less what anybody thinks about NBA.
And really, the issue isn't that folks call it ****ty and terrible, it's that they'd call anything they didn't like ****ty and terrible.
As though we don't yet comprehend (as 5-year-olds do) that some people like some things, and some people like other things.
Great, you don't like it.
What do you want already?
Do you feel like you're going to cause an epiphany in us where we're like, oh ****, this asswipe is right, NBA sucks! What have I been thinking this whole time!!

 

[bpoindexter]

The worst thing NBA lovers can do is become touchy and defensive like soccer fans. ...
Great, you don't like it. What do you want already? Do you feel like you're going to cause an epiphany in us where we're like, oh ****, this asswipe is right, NBA sucks! What have I been thinking this whole time!!

Which is exactly what you just went and did, 30.

... Look, this is what spj is. We sports types put subjects on the table and discuss them. This one started with the OP questioning all the extra time off between games. Others weighed in. Others cracked jokes. LongTime called the NBA a "rigged sham." Michael_Gee suggested "script problems." I submitted my opinion on this version of the NBA, and my/our thoughts since have been referred to as "absurd," "ignorant," "reeking of stupidity" and, finally, I'm an "asswipe." I usually reserve opinions that negative to the crackhead who stole my vehicle a couple of years ago, or maybe someone who damn-near causes you to crash when he cuts you off on the freeway when your children are in the car with you, someone who steals the Christmas lights off your front lawn ... someone who really does something rotten to you personally. But some of y'all are getting all worked into a lather simply because some of us don't like your sport.

I've taken a particular interest in this thread for several reasons. One, I used to love the NBA and still love college and high school hoops (sorry, service, but you never should have gone there, but hey, you're entitled to your say, too). Two, my eyes began to see changes in the NBA game, notably with the officiating, in about the mid-1990s. Finally - again, in my eyes and, obviously, in the eyes of many others, too - I got sick of seeing preferential treatment for the "superstars," which you don't see on the ice, basic rules of the game no longer enforced, officials helping losing teams get back into games (you can count on a 20-point comeback every night in the NBA, and there's help involved there), and so forth and so on.

What makes it worse is that our business - sports journalism - has fallen in line and gone along with the program instead of addressing the issue and trying to do something about it, as we did in the good old days. Alleged crookedness in the NBA has been written about in books (Bill Simmons' book is marvelous, for those who haven't read it).

Why is it that football and baseball players, race car drivers, golfers, etc., move step by step up each rung of their sport's ladder by learning and continuing to grow into the game, while college and high school basketball coaches (many of whom despise the NBA game, at least many of those I know) feel the need to take X amount of days at the start of camp each season to break the NBA habits of some of their wanna-be players - "No, you can't carry your dribble above your head; that's carrying the ball."

The NBA is a billion-dollar industry - one of the "big three" sports - built and maintained on the public's wallet. Writers and talk-radio cats speak openly of a series guaranteed to be extended so as to squeeze another game's worth of money out of the fans, of certain players "not getting that call" because he isn't well-enough known yet in the league while established "stars" do "get that call."

This version of the NBA, which I believe to be tainted, continues to collect its billions during a horrible economy (I've been laid off twice myself in the last 2 1/2 years), but I'm the "asswipe" for saying I believe it's wrong.

If people are going to pump their money into a sport, any sport, they deserve the best possible product the sport can produce, and that includes you, too, den, 30, et al.

 

[Mark2010]

There seems to be a lot of ignorance in here about today's NBA, which makes sense since it's coming from people who don't watch the game.

I have no problem with the layoffs. If it means Rose gets a chance to rest that ankle instead of playing at 60% in a pivotal game, so be it. It adds to the drama and it's not backbreaking. The playoffs begin and end at around the same time every season; who cares how they work out what's in between?

I find it laughable those who are saying there's no defense in today's game. Laughable. Reeks of stupidity. The game has never before seen better players, offenses and defenses.

And this is not panning 80's NBA. The game has evolved greatly, and it's as if some people refuse to acknowledge it.

And to put "dullness" in regard to these playoffs, too, is absurd as well.

Laugh all you want to Den, and call me stupid. But remember, I'm laughing, too, and shaking my head at the same time. You my see one day what we're talking about. Then again, you may not.

This is going to open a can of worms, but I'm going to say it anyway. In my personal experience, when I come across a basketball fan who despises the NBA, race is almost always the underlying issue. I don't necessarily think you are a racist, but whenever someone just eviscerates the NBA, I think of how an old Bill Maher joke can be tweaked to fit the situation: Just because you hate the NBA doesn't make you a racist, but if you're a racist, you probably hate the NBA.

Probably true, but I think it goes deeper than that. It's not just race alone, it's the "ghetto culture" that seems to predominate the league. One step to make it more palatable would be to go to mid or long sleeve jerseys since it seems like just about every player nowadays is virtually covered in tattoos. I find that disgusting, regardless of the race.