Now, don't get up in arms thinking I hate basketball (never ever) or that I'm writing off the NBA; I'm just losing interest in it thanks to a combination of fatigue, boredom, and annoyance. I brought in my good friend Devil's Advocate to have a little discussion about all this.
Devil's Advocate: Fatigue? Why fatigue?
Scott: Why Fatigue? Well, shit, the NBA playoffs have been going on since April 17th, 2010. Check your calendars now--it's June 17th, 2010. For those of you going to UCD, that's since Picnic Day. That's two entire Goddamned months of playoff basketball. I don't care about giving an underdog a chance in the playoffs; in a seven game series, there are rarely upsets of that magnitude. A two-month post-season is an absolute joke. Remember the Bulls? Or the Bobcats? Hell, the Blazers or Mavericks? Yeah, just barely, right?
Recall this exciting action from Round 1? Of course not.
The NBA can only go to the well so many times, and frankly, allowing over 50% of the teams in the league into the playoffs is really pushing it. Too many games, too many blowouts.
Devil's Advocate: Boredom!?! Game 7 of the NBA Finals is tonight! How could you be bored?!?!
Scott: It's quite possible. Pardon my cynicism, but honestly, there's nothing else to talk about. Check any of the major news outlets that cover this stuff; there's nothing else to say. All of the storylines have been beaten to death.
Celtics-Lakers rivalry? Check. Kobe's legacy? Check. The legacy of the Big 3? Check. The health of KG and Bynum's (and now Perkins') knee? Check. Ray Allen's fleeting jumper? Check. The bench play of both teams? Check. Paul Pierce and Ron Artest? Check. Rondo becoming the best point guard alive? Check. (That one is total crock, by the way. If you can't make an 18 footer as a guard, you can't be the best at your position.)
Just look at Kobe and Pau; they're bored with it all too.
There's nothing new anymore, nothing exciting. No amount of analysis or posturing will change anything. Just let them play this last game already.
Devil's Advocate: But annoyance? Really?
Scott: Oh most definitely. I'm especially annoyed with these two franchises and their respective fanbases. Yes, I'm an open and proud Lakers hater. But don't let that trick you into thinking I'm a Celtics homer. Far from it; both teams have won way too many times. And because of that, their fans have become bloated, feasting on victory with unchecked gluttony. I'm sick and tired of seeing openly ignorant and mindless Facebook statuses about this series. People who clearly don't follow the sport until late May all of a sudden get a strong desire to exclaim their love for a team after every big game. Ask them cursory questions about their teams, or hell, the sport, and you'll get terrible answers in return.
Tell me, sudden NBA fans: without looking it up, who is this?
But I'm annoyed for many other reasons as well. The officiating, for instance, irks me to no end. No, this series hasn't been terribly biased one way or the other. But what it has been is straight-up awful. Too many touch fouls from the beginning have taken major players out of games all series long. But it goes deeper than that. Maybe it's just me, but the charge/blocking foul distinction has really gotten under my skin. It's honestly just a guess when it comes to that call now. Those guys are moving with such speed and force that an official doesn't have time to see the contact, find the location of the defenders feet, and ascertain if they are firmly planted to make the right call. The result? An uninformed guess.
Charge, block, or flop? Your guess is as good as mine. (Hint: the Laker got the benefit of the doubt.)
These uninformed guesses open the door for super-star treatment (If someone like Kobe gets in the lane to stop a drive? It's most definitely going the other way), make-up calls, and the like. It'll never happen, but the NBA needs to reform the foul system. Get rid of fouling out. And absolutely change the charge/block call distinction. All it does is lead to flopping and missed calls.
And don't even get me started on the arbitrariness of the new official reviewing system. Eeeesh.
Devil's Advocate: Well, this is all very depressing Scott. Is there a cure for your Summertime Blues?
Scott: First of all, great song, Devil's Advocate. And second of all, maybe. Perhaps, like a relationship on the rocks, I just need a break. At least from the playoffs. All the teams in the playoffs get so much media time that I really have reached a type of overload. I'm tired of hearing about the Cavaliers, the Suns, the Magic, the Nuggets, and definitely the Lakers and Celtics. Let's talk about the Timberwolves again. Will Kevin Love finally get some playing time? Will Al Jefferson return to form after his bad knee injury? How about their point-guard situation? Sure Jonny Flynn is good, but what about that whole Ricky Rubio debacle?
Or the 76ers? Or the Warriors? Or the Clippers? The less successful teams are interesting to talk about as well.
I want fantasy basketball to come back too. Updating rosters, checking the depth charts of every single team to get an edge, refreshing the injury page on Yahoo! Sports for updates, working my way through mock drafts--it's all awesome. It adds a whole new layer of enjoyment to what is often a long season.
Maybe I should just detox from it all; take the summer off, watch some baseball, go swimming, enjoy good BBQ, good beer, and good company.
Thankfully, this season ends tonight, no matter what. The boneheaded analysts will go quiet for a little bit, the bandwagon fans will switch to baseball and start rooting for the Red Sox, and I'll be able to take some time away and write about the aspects of the sport of basketball that I enjoy. At least I have that to look forward to, right?
Devil's Advocate: Hey Scott! ESPN just had a piece discussing LeBron's Free Agency!
Scott: Goddammit! Fine. You win, Devil's Advocate. You win.
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