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)

Individuals Making NBA, NHL More Fun

Time for a quick break from the college basketball and NFL free agency talk you've been hearing on the show and reading on here. And no, this isn't Tyler. This is Tony, and I want to talk some hockey.

I've never had a problem with hockey. In fact, I used to play hockey. As I got older, though, I learned a hard lesson: There are only so many hours in a day. With sleep requirements, eating requirements, and school requirements, there simply was not enough time in the day for me to rationalize caring about hockey - especially when the Ravens were preparing for the draft and the Terps were making their annual end-of-season bubble push. Hockey just wasn't ... fun enough. 

Then, Alex Ovechkin (pictured, left) and Sidney Crosby came along. Their almost-daily highlights on ESPN followed shortly behind. Intrigue followed that, because I couldn't watch this and not think it's one of the coolest things you've ever seen in your life. They play each other, and it's on NBC, and I watch a period. I read about it after the game and learn that Ovechkin thinks Crosby is a whiner; Crosby thinks Ovechkin is a dirty player. Now I want to watch another game between them, this time all the way, and hopefully I see them go at it. During the process, I see another Ovechkin goal and I start checking the "NHL" page on ESPN.  

Wait, did I just become a hockey fan again?

I still don't follow the Capitals, or any other hockey team, religiously. But if I flip through channels and a hockey game is on, I'll probably stop to watch, especially if it's Ovechkin. Such has one man completely changed my perspective on a sport I thought I didn't have time for. 

It's really the same type of deal for the NBA. There is one notable difference, though. I still loved the game of basketball. I have never not been a college basketball fan. The NBA to me, though, was a completely different sport. There was no teamwork. Traveling was allowed. Players really didn't care until the playoffs started. 

Enter LeBron James. 

Remember that Ovechkin goal? Try this play, and you'll find they're about on the same plane. You have to get excited. Go a few days, and you see LeBron puts up something silly like 38, 13, and 11 or something. You think to yourself, "Man I have to see if he's for real." So you tune in to a Cavs game one night, but it's not on because they're showing the end of a Lakers game, and you watch as Kobe Bryant hits a fade-away three to beat the buzzer. You've never cared about the NBA, but instantly you are going to watch the next game because you want to see LeBron top that.

Like it not, you care about the NBA now. 

The NFL and MLB are undoubtedly the top two professional leagues in America, but both the NBA and NHL are surviving. It's now no wonder why. Individual players are driving both of these leagues, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as you know what you're getting when you go in. So, for the next few months, enjoy Ovechkin and LeBron singlehandedly will their teams on their championship runs. These are once-in-a-generation players, so don't miss them.