Friday, June 15, 2007

Did you know the NBA Finals were on last night?

I didn't. At 3-0 the series was a foregone conclusion, the U.S. Open was on until 7 so I barely watched Sportscenter, and even with the 8 hours of sports talk radio that I listened to yesterday I was unaware that game 4 was last night. Winning their fourth title in nine years, I'd say the Spurs have a dynasty going. But I still think the salient story from the NBA Playoffs is that the playoffs are broken.

If this were the NFL there would be a myriad of changes in the offseason. Realignment, reseeding in the playoffs, the silly "Leaving the vicinity of the bench" rule, the lottery, and the dirty play of Bruce Bowen and the Spurs would be addressed. I accept the fact that you can't just combine the East and the West and put the 16 best teams in the playoffs - travel concerns, a lack of geographic rivalries, and unbalanced scheduling make that impossible. But, judging from David Stern's interview on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday, there's the very real possibility that next year's playoffs will be just as flawed as this year's playoffs. Maybe it's for the best; that's 20 or 30 less hours I have to spend watching basketball.

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