Dear David Stern: Please, Please, Please Shorten The NBA Playoffs!
At least, that’s what you’d believe if you spent this week watching Sportscenter or reading Yahoo! Sports or standing anywhere in the vicinity of an NBA fan. Because LeBron James has basically gotten thrown to the wolves this week when it comes to NBA analysis. And there’s a very simple reason for that: The NBA Playoffs have gotten to the point that they’re too long. Way. Too. Long.
Hear me out. It’s not all the NBA’s fault here. To his discredit, LeBron James sucked in Game 5 of the Cavs/Celtics series. As a result, he deserved to get called out on it. But the problem LBJ ran into is that, after the Cavs/Celts game on Tuesday night, there was nothing else for NBA fans to talk about. The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns both advanced to the Western Semifinals earlier this week and won’t play again until they take the court on Monday. The Orlando Magic also advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals at the top of the week and won’t play another game until next week. As a result? This week was all about bashing King James—all day, all the time.
The NBA makes a ton of money by spacing their playoff games out to maximize their dollars. And there’s nothing wrong with that when the playoff matchups are competitive and the series last for six or seven games. It actually works out for them. But in a situation like this, where the Lakers, Suns and Magic all wrapped up their respective series by sweeping the competition, it puts the NBA in a situation where they’re forced to play the waiting game. In that respect, it’s bad for business.
It’s also not fair to the players. In certain cases, they have to sit around and wait up to a week between games. In others, they have to move more quickly to end a series. And in the case of the Cavaliers and Celtics series, LeBron James has come under a ton of heat because, frankly, he was the only hot topic in the NBA this week by default.
NBA Commissioner David Stern needs to figure out a way to make better use of the league’s time. He needs to increase the pace of the first round. Have less days off for players between games during a series. Capitalize off the prime time slots on Sundays, but keep in mind that you need to get more games finished during the week. Whatever it takes.
The NBA Playoffs are, no doubt, intense. It’s some of the best basketball you’ll see played in any given year. Unfortunately, that means nothing when you consider you’ve seen very little basketball actually being played this week. Instead, you’ve heard a bunch of people sitting around and dragging Lebron’s name through the mud for playing a bad game. And while he definitely deserved some of it, it’s hard to believe the same thing would have happened if Kobe Bryant or Dwight Howard was due to play the next day and taking it off all of our minds.
So Mr. Stern, shorten the playoffs—and shorten them now. It’s a move the NBA has to make. It can only make one of the greatest games on Earth even better. Until then, the rest of us will do our best to enjoy the rest of the NBA Playoffs: Where amazing sitting around and waiting for the next playoff series to begin happens.
Photo Courtesy of Lebron360.com
Seriously what they start around April 17 and go until the 1st or second week in June. Pretty long indeed.
This has to be the dumbest rant from a LBJ schlongrider i’ve ever heard. You are basically saying, “HEY my daddy LEBRON is being humilitated. Let me find something to complain about to lessen the severity in my own warped mind”. To nullify your complaint, if Lebron and his team would have swept the Celtics, Guess what? There would have been no wait. So no excuses buddy, the other teams swept their foes (which is pretty much never the case in conf semifinals) and the cav’s couldn’t get it done. Sorry maybe next year FOR THE KNICKS OR THE HEAT, whichever bron chooses
Oh yea and kiss my ass
You know how much money they would lose from taking away games. In the words of Ed Lover “C’mon Son!” in the words of XXL “Negro Please” Again in the words of Ed Lover “Get the F outta Here Wit Dat $#!t”
I for one don’t like David Stern one bit, and if it were up to him he would probably turn the NBA playoffs into a best out of 11 affair.
On the LBJ situation, this needed to happen so that people can see that he isn’t as good as the NBA hype machine has built him up to be. You can only get so far getting every call, travelling every second game, and charging your way down the lane.
Don’t even get me started on Kobe…Does the guy have to complain after every shot he misses? Oh wait if you missed a shot it means you were fouled. Just play the game and shut your mouth.
I disagree with this article. You can’t get mad at the NBA that Orlando, L.A. and Phoenix swept the competition. Their reward for sweeping the competition is the time off before their next match up, giving coaches and players more time to prepare for the next team. For example, Robin Lopez of the Suns wasn’t able to play the series vs the Spurs because he was injured, and now he has extra time to get into basketball shape to play against the bigs of the Lakers. Yes the playoffs do take long to wrap, but it is good as the teams that played well and quickly disposed of their competition get a break in between to better prepare, and the teams that needed 6 or 7 games to end their opponents won’t be rewarded by playing a lot sonner. P.S. Forget Lebron James, he will never be Jordan.
You clearly know absolutely nothing about basketball.
Let me remind you that Lebron James is 25 years old. 25! No one, at anytime, in the history of the NBA, has ever peaked at age 25, unless it be due to a career-ending injury. Lebron’s durability is absolutely unparalleled; this will never be an issue.
He “messed up his legacy? … Really?!? No, not at all.
Lebron is about to sign, no doubt, the biggest, most expensive, contract that the NBA has ever seen. His legacy will only grow, and the best days are yet to come.
Watch what you write before you write it. You are such an idiot.
My little sign off may not be classy, I fully understand that. But it is warranted for you, my friend.