{"id":859,"date":"2013-05-22T08:32:55","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T12:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2013-05-22T08:39:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T12:39:40","slug":"tuesday-teabag-may-21-2013-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, May 21, 2013 – NBA Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The only thing amazing is that people are still watching.<\/p><\/div>\n

Did you happen to fall into a month long coma?\u00a0 Well, The Machine\u2019s here to say congrats on waking up\u2026and don\u2019t worry, if you\u2019re an NBA fan, you didn\u2019t miss much.\u00a0 We\u2019re just getting underway with the conference finals (as The Machine types this, Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals is underway and the Eastern Conference Finals begins tomorrow).\u00a0 One question:\u00a0 are you kidding me?<\/p>\n

The NBA Playoffs have been going on for more than a month, and we\u2019re not even in the finals yet.\u00a0 Not only is the outcome completely predetermined (come on son, you know the Heat are going to win), but each series stretches out so long that you lose interest\u2026not to mention that the product itself is quite painful to watch (how much ISO can one man take?).<\/p>\n

But Machine, you may say, can\u2019t that be because each round is a best of 7 series, and these games have been so competitive that they\u2019ve gone the distance?\u00a0 Good thought, we\u2019d say, and then would point out this:\u00a0 of the 12 playoff series so far, only one, Brooklyn\/Chicago, went the distance.\u00a0 If that game seems like it was played weeks ago, it\u2019s because it was.<\/p>\n

The first game of the playoffs was played on April 20 (was it intentional or a coincidence that the playoffs started on 4\/20\u2026NBA players smoke tons of weed, get it).\u00a0 Think of everything that\u2019s happened between now and then:\u00a0 the Draft, the IRS Scandal, Titus Young got arrested 3times (there\u2019s still plenty of time for a 4th<\/sup> before the playoffs are over).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Machine, way back on April 22nd<\/sup>, gave its expert advice<\/a> on the playoffs.\u00a0 Not to gloat, but our Heat\/Spurs prediction looks pretty damn good.\u00a0 We also gave some sage advice regarding the playoffs:\u00a0 don\u2019t watch it.\u00a0 There is no reason for the NBA to stretch out each series (other than trying to maximize ad revenue by having games on weekends and prime time weeknights).\u00a0 This conduct shouldn\u2019t be rewarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s an example of the absurdity:\u00a0\u00a0Knicks\/Celtics Round 1.\u00a0 Game 1 (at MSG) on Saturday.\u00a0 Game 2 (still at MSG) on Tuesday.\u00a0 Why do you need two full days off when there\u2019s no travel?\u00a0 Granted, there’s a lot of sight seeing to do in New York, but come on.\u00a0 Those games should be played back-to-back.\u00a0 It\u2019s even more absurd for traveling.\u00a0 Another example:\u00a0Knicks\/Pacers Round 2, Game 2 (at MSG) on Tuesday<\/strong>, Game 3 (in Indy) on Saturday<\/strong>.\u00a0 Did they ride bikes from NYC to Indiana?\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Machine, you may say, these are professional athletes and they play so hard that they need a lot of rest.\u00a0 Whoop, Whoop, Whoop\u2026hear that noise kids, it\u2019s our Bullshit-dar, and it\u2019s off the hook.\u00a0 Playing basketball may be tough, but there\u2019s no way basketball is more demanding than say\u2026hockey.<\/p>\n

Consider this, in the Bruins\/Maple Leafs series (which went the distance and was an exciting series, btw, easily more compellig than any NBA series thus far) Games 5, 6, and 7 were played on Friday (in Boston), Sunday (in Toronto), and Monday (in Boston), respectively.\u00a0 They played 3 games in four days, and traveled between each game.\u00a0 There is no way you can (correctly) argue that basketball is more demanding than hockey.\u00a0 Hockey is one of the most physically demanding sports there is, and these guys are playing on back to back nights with travel!<\/p>\n

Perhaps what we\u2019re most upset about is the quality of the play (as we type this, the Spurs take a 15 point halftime lead).\u00a0 The Machine could possibly live with long, drawn out series if they were entertaining.\u00a0 But this is anything but\u2026despite the media\u2019s attempt to make these games appear interesting.<\/p>\n

Remember (way back) when Chicago beat Miami in Game 1?\u00a0 Everyone jumped on the Bulls bandwagon, and suddenly everyone saw that holes in the Heat.\u00a0 Anyone remember what happened the next 4 games\u2026the Heat completely smoked the Bulls, winning Games 2-5 by an average of more than 17 points\u2026including a 37 point beat down in Game 2.\u00a0 Get ready for another double digit snooze fest as the Heat take on the Pacers.\u00a0 Sorry Frank Vogel, the Heat are not just another team\u2026they\u2019re the 96\u2019 Bulls reincarnate, and you\u2019re about to find that out first hand.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s absolutely no reason why the NBA Playoffs is stretched out over two months, making it easily the longest postseason event in all of sports.\u00a0 Christ, even baseball has a shorter playoff schedule.\u00a0 Considering more people watch the Draft than the NBA Finals (the NFL is rumored to be moving the Draft to May right in the middle of the NBA playoffs) the NBA needs to change something or else risk further erosion from fan involvement.\u00a0 The NBA needs to create more excitement and buzz for the playoffs.\u00a0 Condensing the playing schedule is one way to do that.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s not going to help the quality of play, but at least it will be over quicker.<\/p>\n

Considering falling back into another month long coma?\u00a0 Go ahead; you already know what\u2019s going to happen, and you\u2019ll still wake up in time to catch the finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enjoy your teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you happen to fall into a month long coma?\u00a0 Well, The Machine\u2019s here to say congrats on waking up\u2026and don\u2019t worry, if you\u2019re an NBA fan, you didn\u2019t miss much.\u00a0 We\u2019re just getting underway with the conference finals (as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tuesday-teabag"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-dR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}