For those of you who have followed the National Basketball Association for the past couple of seasons, you have probably seen their “Where Amazing Happens” ad campaign for the playoffs.
They’re actually pretty hard to miss, since they are shown at literally every single commercial break.
Some of the more exciting moments of the playoffs are set to dramatic piano, which is an attempt to elicit gasps, tears and in rare cases, mild heart attacks.
The commercials do an excellent job of making people reminisce about past playoff glory; however, these advertisements tend to ignore the fact that the NBA playoffs are tied for the most drawn out system in sports (together with the National Hockey League). The whole ordeal simply takes way too long.
Don’t believe me?
Take a look at this year’s first round matchups.
The two big questions this round: Can the Bulls can defeat an incredibly banged up Celtics team that won’t make it past the second round anyway?
And the second major question: Which team is more likely to lose a single game, the Lakers or Cavaliers? Positively riveting!
Don’t get me wrong, the conference finals and the championship series make for some of the most exciting sports television available for your viewing pleasure.
I suppose as a Dallas Mavericks fan I have some sort of a mental block against the first round after the devastating loss to eighth seeded Golden State a couple years ago.
Historically, however, a team seeded seventh or eighth has never won the championship and it isn’t looking any better this season for the Jazz or even the Pistons.
If there is to be any drama in this year’s playoffs, expect it to be a bit later, as in “don’t get excited until the middle of June” later.
A showdown in the Eastern Conference between Dwight Howard and LeBron James would certainly spice things up. Expect the real interest to peak if Kobe Bryant and LeBron James lead their respective teams to the grand finale.
In my opinion, an NBA Finals that didn’t feature Bryant or James would be a gigantic ratings failure for the league and a colossally boring series for fans considering the buildup that has taken place.
Regardless of who ends up in the NBA Finals, I think a change needs to take place in the playoff system.
It already has serious potential, but the NBA can capitalize off this potential even more.
The NBA really needs to cut down the first round to a five game series or just limit the field altogether.
People’s attention spans are far too short to care about a first round series between the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat, especially in St. Louis, where Cardinals season has just gotten underway.
The casual basketball fan will start caring about the NBA playoffs if and only if their team is involved or a great matchup like Celtics versus Lakers or Lakers versus Cavs occurs.
Anything with less appeal is simply not exciting enough to merit serious attention.
But until that glorious and much-anticipated day comes, wake me up when the first round ends. It should take long enough, after all.
