NBA East playoffs: an ugly duckling
The pro hoops playoffs that are about to begin have four brackets: two in the east, and two in the west. The Blazers have a great bracket for them, with Phoenix, Dallas, and San Antonio -- all teams that Portland could conceivably beat. But in the east, there's one bracket that requires a clothespin for one's nose: Atlanta, Milwaukee, Orlando, and Charlotte. Yikes!
Meanwhile, out herein the west, I've developed a special prayer. Please recite it with me:
Dear Lord, about Kobe Bryant and his broken finger. Lord, I wish him no pain. May he not suffer. But Lord, may he be hindered, greatly hindered. Amen.
| Posted at 4:46 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (2)
I fear the officials are going to come in and help out Kobe and the Lakers. The NBA desperately wants a Lakers/Cavs final.
Posted by Justin | April 16, 2010 6:42 AM
Justin is right on. The chalk almost always rules in the NBA, at least with the favorites. The league wants the Cavs and Lakers, and in a pinch, the referees will manage to come up some wildly imaginative calls at key times to make that happen.
As for the other teams, the league doesn't care who wins or loses unless it affects one of the favorites. Whether Phoenix beats Portland or vice versa only makes a difference to the league office if one of those teams could threaten the Lakers--and they don't. However, there is no league where the chalk rules more than in the NBA, which is why I stopped watching most of the games years ago. The ESPN playoff preview shows tell you all you need to know. In a conference where there were 7 games between the #1 and #8 seeds, not only does every analyst concede that the Lakers are a mortal lock, I have yet to see one select any 5-8 seed in the first round in either conference.
Contrast this with the wild playoff results in the NHL or NFL.
I can't wait to see what weird calls will save the favorites in 2010. They can't be any more unbelieveable than the Portland vs. Lakers and Kings vs. Lakers robberies earlier in the 2000s. There's a good reason the NBA doesn't want Tim Donaghy's book to be discusseed.
Posted by rural resident | April 16, 2010 9:30 PM