The Case for the NBA Playoffs

Yesterday, I posted about how, during the month of May, the only sport leagues really available to you are the NHL and the NBA, both of which conveniently are the middle of their playoffs. The NFL draft is over, college football spring games are done, and there's only so much you can do with college basketball recruiting. So, you're left with a choice. Which one do I follow? In all likelihood, neither is your primary league of interest. I made the case for the NHL yesterday; today, it's the NBA's turn. Keep in mind, these are for the casual fan.

1. It's much more relatable. Everyone's played a game of pickup basketball in their life, even if the last time it happened was in middle school. Everyone knows the silent satisfaction you get from making a jump shot that's slightly out of your range, and the frustration and embarrassment that comes with missing a layup. So that makes it all the more awe-inspiring when you see Ray Allen curl off a screen and hurl up a three pointer that magically finds it way into the basket, or when you see a guy only a few inches taller than yourself drive through the lane for a thunderous dunk. I'm about six feet tall and I can barely grab rim on a nine inch rim for crying out loud. Maybe that's just me, though. 

But anyway, the fact of the matter is you know how hard it is to play basketball. Odds are, you don't know how hard it is to play hockey. Once again, making generalizations here, but I feel like this is a good one. To me, a Lebron James slam makes me say "I want to do that" more than an Ovechkin wrist shot. 

2. True star power in every game. So you know Ovechkin and Crosby. The other hockey players still in the playoffs that are household names? Maybe Malkin. Maybe Cam Ward. Maybe Chris Pronger. Maybe Pavel Datsyuk, and that's a real reach. I'm sorry, but that's not too much. I counter those six with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant (pictured, right), Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki. Now those are household names. Those are players with personalities that are as tall as they are. Dwight Howard may actually believe he's Superman. None of them (um ... replace Carmelo Anthony with Chauncey Billups) are punks, either. They're good, fun players to watch who are good ambassadors of the game. And I haven't even talked about their level of play. 

3. A Cavs-Lakers final will go down as one of the best in history. I guarantee that. The first round games? With the exception of the Garnett-less Celtics and the Bulls, they were kind of boring. The second round games? Well, Houston has already shown they're going to go down with a fight, but I don't know if Boston, Atlanta and Dallas will do the same. The semifinals? They'll be fun. Howard keeping LeBron out of the paint, the Nuggets going deep to try to outrun the Lakers, that will be some good basketball. That being said, nothing's going to compare to the inevitable Cleveland-Los Angeles finals. You're going to see two of the top 10 players in the history of the NBA squaring off. It's going to be amazing to watch. Unlike the NHL, whose best matchup is happening right now in the quarterfinals, the NBA's best matchup will happen on the biggest stage.

4. Charles Barkley is the primary NBA analyst. And I don't even like Barkley. But come on. Whenever the guy opens his mouth, something absurd is going to come out of it. That's entertainment value. 

(Photo Credit: AP)