The NBA playoffs are the best around.
MLB, NFL, NHL, the NCAA Tournament, you name it – none of the other professional or collegiate sports compare to the excitement of the NBA postseason.
While the NBA goes without the one-and-done format of the NFL and NCAA Tournament, it makes up for it with its rivalries and storylines built up over a seven-game series.
The players are well-known commodities, unlike the NCAA Tournament, where many players are unknown and I have little attachment to them. Most of the initial rounds of the NCAA Tournament are shown during the week, when I’m unable to see the games, and have to settle for short highlights on ESPN. If I miss an NBA playoff game, I know I’ll have another opportunity to see the two teams square off before the series is over.
I enjoy the NFL playoffs, but grow tired of the hype between the respective conference championship games and the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl in itself makes for an exciting afternoon, provided you can stomach all the commercials that in recent years have become less comical and more annoying. The NBA Finals are stretched out, reducing the number of overwhelming ads and lessening the chance of seeing an aging Rolling Stones or Prince at halftime.
Meanwhile, I’ve never enjoyed grown men on skates in the NHL. I’m also not going to admit to liking America’s favorite pastime, although I find the MLB’s postseason slightly more entertaining than the endless 162-game regular season.
And this brings me to my favorite postseason of them all: the NBA playoffs.
For all the critics of NBA playoffs, who say they go on too long, offer no real excitement, little emotion or chance for upsets, this spring offers a great example of why people should tune in.
My longtime favorite Los Angeles Lakers have been sent home already, courtesy of the Phoenix Suns, but that’s OK. The Golden State Warriors have emerged as the underdogs of the once 16-team field and survived to the round of eight with an improbable upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
Golden State relies on a breakneck, up-and-down pace that dares viewers to keep their eyes focused on the television screen or risk missing a highlight reel play worthy of ESPN’s Top 10.
My passion for everything NBA left me with background about the Warriors players, having followed UCLA grads Baron Davis and Matt Barnes, watched the play of Jason Richardson and read about the troubled career of small forward Stephen Jackson. But then I watched them in the playoffs and saw the emotion emerge, sometimes with an ill-advised technical foul or screams of joy after a rim-shattering dunk.
I caught the end of the Houston Rockets-Utah Jazz game-seven showdown Saturday night and afterwards watched all-star Rockets guard Tracy McGrady break down in tears when he failed to advance in the playoffs.
The Warriors gave fans a reason to watch the last week of the NBA season when the best teams rested their best players and the terrible teams shut down their injured stars and began looking toward next season. Golden State poured itself into the remaining few games to secure the last remaining playoff spot in the west, which it did in part thanks to the Los Angeles Clippers, who lost to the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Hornets in the final week.
I could go on for days listing why the NBA playoffs are worth watching, but maybe you should watch yourself to see why I’m enamored with the NBA playoffs.
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