Every player that participated in the first round of the NBA playoffs should be getting a box of chocolates from new commissioner Adam Silver. Because the first round was quite possibly the best cluster of playoff games the sports world has ever seen. So many close games, so many buzzer-beaters, so much controversy, so many overtime games, so many juicy storylines, and finally so many instant classic moments, how can you as a sports fan be even remotely upset at anything that has transpired? Even the teams that disappeared like the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, and Golden State Warriors should be extremely proud for putting up such a good fight.
And the biggest reason why Round One was so crucial to the NBA’s future was this: the regular season horrendously sucked. And it was quite possibly the worst regular season in the history of the entire league.
The Eastern Conference was disaster from start to finish. You had the Miami Heat practically give away games because they knew the teams around them were never going to really take off and leave them behind. You had the on-their-final-pulse Indiana Pacers royally screw things up by trading Danny Granger and signing I-still-can’t-believe-he-makes-more-money-than-me Andrew Bynum. The Nets are too old, the Raptors are too young, the Chicago Bulls should just be renamed Fragile, and a team with a dismal 38-44 record wound up in the playoffs. The Phoenix Suns missed the playoffs, but if they played in the East could have gotten the 4 seed. I am sure the Suns are considering moving to Virginia.
Half the teams were tanking, and some were so bad that the commissioner(s) had to play fire control and assure everyone that the product being put up there wasn’t designed to manipulate the lottery chances (Leading to an angry article from me). The Philadelphia 76ers had a losing streak of over 20 games and STILL didn’t finish last in the league. The talent level is deeper than ever (Have we seen the Orlando Magic's core of young players?), but the all-or-nothing approach from the smaller market teams like the Jazz and the Bucks are damaging the game severely.
Ratings were down, attendance was down, and as a matter of fact the NHL was increasing significantly in popularity and was selling out more home games than basketball. ESPN was desperately trying to keep the league relevant with high market storylines from the Knicks and the Lakers (despite their dismal records). It was all headed towards a disastrous full year of basketball:
And then everything happened.
Both #1 seeds needed 7 games, the Blazers/Rockets and Nets/Raptors series were so evenly matched that with each passing game nobody could even come close to figuring out who was coming out on top, and then we saw favorites like the Clippers and Thunder have to claw their way out of the first round by their knuckles. Everyone suddenly looked vulnerable, beatable, unintimidating, and led to every team out there truly believing they had a shot.
Blazers/Rockets ended on a buzzer-beater (after enduring a series with 3 OT games), which had not happened since the John Stockton days. Thunder/Grizzlies have four straight overtime games, and Oklahoma had to climb from a 3-2 hole to win it. The Mavericks saw the rise of Vince Carter and nearly etched out a major upset against the heavily-favored Spurs. But alllllllllllllllllllll this was happening while one team relaxed:
I present you, the team to best: The Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat had the perfect formula to surviving the season and quite possibly cruise through the playoffs: don’t exert too much effort in an overlong season, rest your veterans for chunks at a time, don’t be afraid to hit a few winning streaks, look beatable and vulnerable by offering false hope to the competitors, and ultimately toy with several different lineups to see which one works. Now, the Heat had the East to compete in so they had much more room to mess up and not panic, but they literally allowed for the media to freak out while they silently held the keys to the NBA and remain the biggest obstacle for anyone out there.
The Heat are still the champs, the Heat have still remained champs since June 2012, and know what the road is like. They destroyed the Bobcats without even having to shift gears. LeBron James didn’t enter assassin mode until the second half of the fourth game. And now they have all the rest they could possibly need to take on a tired Brooklyn squad that needs more time to recover—and are already old to begin with.
Who can possibly stop them? Honestly? The Nets are too old, the Pacers are inches away from a total breakdown and the Washington Wizards just don’t have the talent to take on the deep lineup of Miami. And out in the West there are plenty of options, but if everyone keeps killing each other then we will see a watered-down version of the Western Conference champ when the NBA Finals finally arrive come later this summer.
To sum it all up: the first round was easily (easily, easily) the best in the history of the NBA, and even overshadowed the incredible first round of the NHL (which always seems to deliver come playoff time) and the very clustered start of MLB (Which has the ….Brewers running the show…wait..what?). That being said, it’s all about the Heat as they are the only team that survived the first round with no scratches and have a nice clear path towards the title…again. I predicted the Heat winning last year against the Spurs before the season even took off, so I feel like I got the pulse of the NBA right now.
The Heat will be in the Finals, and will make it look quite easy too. But it will be entertaining to see every other team battle for that silver medal.
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