NBA playoffs need to sit out a few plays
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Playoffs are in full swing, the games are all on channels most of us can actually watch without breaking blackout restrictions, and the high-stakes nature of each game keeps fanbases wrapped up in more rampant speculation with each passing day.
Are the Warriors garbage without Steph Curry? Are the Rockets garbage despite Dwight Howard’s monster showing in Game 4? Is James Harden the single worst recent MVP candidate in recent memory?
Oh also, hockey playoffs are going on too.
Sorry hockey, almost didn’t see you there. I don’t know why, you’ve been the most exciting postseason in any professional sport for a few years now. Sudden death overtime? Chicago rebounding from down 3-1 in the series? Are you kidding me?
Look, even as a sports junkie I don’t really keep up with hockey 90 percent of the time. The season is long and I don’t come from an area with a team anywhere close by, none of my family members have teams I can bum fandom off of, and all my friends are Blackhawks or Bruins fans. Those are both kind of bandwagons, and I’m against that kind of thing on principle.
But when hockey playoffs roll around, I sit up and watch. I’ll stay up late to watch two teams I have no emotional investment in. It’s that good.
The NHL playoffs are so badly ignored by the sports community that even this year, during the lamest first round of the NBA postseason in recent memory, fans aren’t buying a ticket on the Patrick Kane express.
What’s the deal? Do people just not get it? Not know the rules? Are they like me and just don’t know who to root for? It’s well-televised, excellently broadcasted and generally officiated without much complaint in the referees’ direction. What’s not to love?
You’re right, watching the shattered remains of the Memphis Grizzlies’ season come crashing down is super good television. Watching the Spurs sweep a playoff series for the hundredth year in a row was riveting. The Warriors played around with us for a game against the only No. 9 seed to ever make the playoffs before crushing them again after being tied at 56 at the half.
There’s only a handful of compelling storylines in this year’s NBA playoffs. The Cleveland Lebrons are still hunting for a title. Portland is trying to prove the chip on their shoulder actually deserves to be there. The Warriors are so good it’s literally not even fun.
Even as a basketball-first sports fan, I can’t see how this summer’s NBA playoffs could ever live up to the NHL, both this season and for seasons to come.
— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism. Contact him with feedback at logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @Logantj.