NBA Finals

[Gil Dobie]

Best Player in the league will lead his team to the Championships. Golden State in 6 games.

[89Hen]

Best Player in the league will lead his team to the Championships. Golden State in 6 games.

I'm not a basketball fan and I'm sure there's a great case for Curry to be considered the best player this year, but it's REALLY hard to argue against 5 straight Finals appearances with two different teams and that the Cavs didn't make the playoffs last year.

[Grizalltheway]

Best Player in the league will lead his team to the Championships. Golden State in 6 games.

I'm not a basketball fan and I'm sure there's a great case for Curry to be considered the best player this year, but it's REALLY hard to argue against 5 straight Finals appearances with two different teams and that the Cavs didn't make the playoffs last year.

He's obviously part of it, but the Cavs didn't have Kevin Love last year, either.

[Gil Dobie]

Best Player in the league will lead his team to the Championships. Golden State in 6 games.

I'm not a basketball fan and I'm sure there's a great case for Curry to be considered the best player this year, but it's REALLY hard to argue against 5 straight Finals appearances with two different teams and that the Cavs didn't make the playoffs last year.

What about Mike Miller being in 4 of the finals with Lebron?

I have Curry, Durant (when healthy) above Lebron, and Anthony Davis and Westbrook on the cusp. Lebron is a great player, just thing the others are better.

[Gil Dobie]

I'm not a basketball fan and I'm sure there's a great case for Curry to be considered the best player this year, but it's REALLY hard to argue against 5 straight Finals appearances with two different teams and that the Cavs didn't make the playoffs last year.

He's obviously part of it, but the Cavs didn't have Kevin Love last year, either.

The Cavs only have 3 players on the team leftover from last season.

[clenz]

I'm not a basketball fan and I'm sure there's a great case for Curry to be considered the best player this year, but it's REALLY hard to argue against 5 straight Finals appearances with two different teams and that the Cavs didn't make the playoffs last year.

He's obviously part of it, but the Cavs didn't have Kevin Love last year, either.

Love has been a "waste" for the Cavs this year and out the entire playoffs
Irving has played about half the games

Timofy Mosgov, Tristan Thompson and then last years New York Knicks got into the finals because of Lebron James

[GannonFan]

Eh, it's the Eastern Conference - one really good player of course can take a team from not making the playoffs to being in the Finals. Until the Sixers are good enough in 2-3 years, there just isn't a quality team in the Eastern Conference. Just wait, Hinkie's working on fixing that.

[clenz]

Eh, it's the Eastern Conference - one really good player of course can take a team from not making the playoffs to being in the Finals. Until the Sixers are good enough in 2-3 years, there just isn't a quality team in the Eastern Conference. Just wait, Hinkie's working on fixing that.

By then the East/West thing may be gone...

As long as the Wolves get moved and paired into more regional division/pod i'm good with whatever

[GannonFan]

Eh, it's the Eastern Conference - one really good player of course can take a team from not making the playoffs to being in the Finals. Until the Sixers are good enough in 2-3 years, there just isn't a quality team in the Eastern Conference. Just wait, Hinkie's working on fixing that.

By then the East/West thing may be gone...

As long as the Wolves get moved and paired into more regional division/pod i'm good with whatever

Agreed, they should do away with the whole East/West thing anyway, maybe doing so after the top 16 teams (8 from the East, 8 from the West) are picked. Once you have the 16 teams, have them seeded right away as 1 through 16 by record and play from there. Cleveland doesn't sniff the semi-finals in that setup and you stand a much better chance of getting the best teams deeper in the playoffs, rather than having what we have now where some really good Western teams go out in the first round.

[clenz]

By then the East/West thing may be gone...

As long as the Wolves get moved and paired into more regional division/pod i'm good with whatever

Agreed, they should do away with the whole East/West thing anyway, maybe doing so after the top 16 teams (8 from the East, 8 from the West) are picked. Once you have the 16 teams, have them seeded right away as 1 through 16 by record and play from there. Cleveland doesn't sniff the semi-finals in that setup and you stand a much better chance of getting the best teams deeper in the playoffs, rather than having what we have now where some really good Western teams go out in the first round.

I'd love to see this set up.

I know it's been discussed as a possibility by people who actually have power as well

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/11/26/ ... p-playoffs



1. You would play the two teams in your hub five times each. These hubs are denoted by the vertical lines in the map above. Most are extremely tight geographically, with a couple unavoidable exceptions. This is 10 games.

2. You would play the other three teams in your region four times each. This is 12 games, for a running total of 22.

3. You would play teams from two other regions three times each. This is 36 games, for a running total of 58.

4. You would play teams from the remaining two regions twice each. This is 24 games, for a running total of 82.

What two regions would you face thrice a year? That would rotate annually, much as the NFL handles interconference play. In Year 1, the teams of the Pacific would theoretically face the teams of the Lakes and Big West regions three times each and the teams of the Atlantic and Southeast regions twice each. In Year 2, the Pacific teams would face the Big West and Southeast thrice each and the Lakes and Atlantic twice each. In Year 3, they'd face the Southeast and Atlantic thrice each and the Lakes and Big West twice each. In Year 4, they'd face the Atlantic and Lakes thrice each and the Southeast and Big West twice each. And the cycle repeats.

...

This makes a conference-free playoff system plausible. You can seed teams 1-16 knowing that the schedule is relatively balanced, unlike the current schedule, where East teams have had a much easier path to 50 wins. You're also tightening up some travel, especially for teams currently in the dispersed Northwest. (Portland is 1,400 miles from Minneapolis and 1,500 miles from Oklahoma City.) If the league wanted to award the top five seeds to the five regional champs, that's not a huge issue. I don't think it's necessary, but folks are pretty wed to the idea that winning your division should mean something and this isn't a hill I'll die on.

But the real benefit from reorganizing the league into five regions is in reforming overall scheduling. In theory, each team could complete their 30 out-of-region road games in five six-game road trips. A Western team would only need to fly to the East 2-3 times per regular season. The Eastern teams would only fly to the West Coast once or twice (depending on the regional rotation). For the other 11 road games within a team's region, travel would be reduced by the geographic tightness of the new regions. (Portland, for example, is not close to Oakland. But it's a helluva shorter flight than OKC. The same applies to the Timberwolves, who'd get to spend more time visiting nearby Milwaukee than Salt Lake City.)

...


MUCH MUCH more in the link

As a Wolves fan - I'm off the Clippers and full out Wolves at this point - To be able to watch them play Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and then Indiana and Cleveland, most of the year would be great. All areas/teams that Minnesota fans are familiar with from football/baseball. Natural rivalries would be easy to attain, etc...

[JohnStOnge]

For the life of me I don't know why anybody cares about the NBA or watches it. I mean, I realize a lot of people do. But I just don't get it.

[clenz]

For the life of me I don't know why anybody cares about the NBA or watches it. I mean, I realize a lot of people do. But I just don't get it.

We don't get why you think it's okay to fuck a 13 year old.


Different strokes, i guess

[Gil Dobie]

For the life of me I don't know why anybody cares about the NBA or watches it. I mean, I realize a lot of people do. But I just don't get it.

Much better than the No Fun League!

NFL 11 Minutes of game action.
NBA 48+ Minutes of game action.

[tribe_pride]

For the life of me I don't know why anybody cares about the NBA or watches it. I mean, I realize a lot of people do. But I just don't get it.

Much better than the No Fun League!

NFL 11 Minutes of game action.
NBA 48+ Minutes of game action.

Lots of times the NBA is just really action for the last few minutes of a game - and those last few minutes lasts about 45 minutes of real time due to timeouts and fouls.

[Gil Dobie]

Much better than the No Fun League!

NFL 11 Minutes of game action.
NBA 48+ Minutes of game action.

Lots of times the NBA is just really action for the last few minutes of a game - and those last few minutes lasts about 45 minutes of real time due to timeouts and fouls.

I disagree, many great plays during the course of a game. Games within the games, some nice runs, countered with nice runs by the other team. NFL has nothing on the NBA or NHL, as far as action is concerned.

[bluehenbillk]

Last night's game was awesome to watch. Best sporting event I've seen since football season. There could be 6 more games left!! (but with Kyrie out maybe not that many)

[El Griz]

Last night's game was awesome to watch. Best sporting event I've seen since football season. There could be 6 more games left!! (but with Kyrie out maybe not that many)

You obviously have not been watching the NHL playoffs.

[AZGrizFan]

Last night's game was awesome to watch. Best sporting event I've seen since football season. There could be 6 more games left!! (but with Kyrie out maybe not that many)

You obviously have not been watching the NHL playoffs.

Well, that goes without saying. If a tree falls in the forest....

Last nights game was incredible. And I do NOT like the NBA...

[93henfan]

[SuperHornet]

Best Player in the league will lead his team to the Championships. Golden State in 6 games.

Meh. He ain't worthy to tie Earvin's shoes....

[Grizalltheway]

You obviously have not been watching the NHL playoffs.

Well, that goes without saying. If a tree falls in the forest....

Fast paced
Hard hitting
Minimal stoppages of play
Lots of tension/drama, especially in sudden-death OT

Yeah, what a terrible sport.

[clenz]

Well, that goes without saying. If a tree falls in the forest....

Fast paced
Hard hitting
Minimal stoppages of play
Lots of tension/drama, especially in sudden-death OT

Yeah, what a terrible sport.

It takes time to get used to it though.

I've always enjoyed hockey but found it boring to watch - much like soccer. The last two years I've forced myself to watch more than I have in the past and sit through games rather than changing the channel at the first sign of getting bored. It's made a difference. I've gone from being a Red Wings fan, because that's who was good when I was growing up, to still being a Wings fan but a Wild fan first and enjoying the hell out of the sport.

[Grizalltheway]

Fast paced
Hard hitting
Minimal stoppages of play
Lots of tension/drama, especially in sudden-death OT

Yeah, what a terrible sport.

It takes time to get used to it though.

I've always enjoyed hockey but found it boring to watch - much like soccer. The last two years I've forced myself to watch more than I have in the past and sit through games rather than changing the channel at the first sign of getting bored. It's made a difference. I've gone from being a Red Wings fan, because that's who was good when I was growing up, to still being a Wings fan but a Wild fan first and enjoying the hell out of the sport.

All it took for me was seeing an NHL game in person and I was hooked.

[bluehenbillk]

Last night's game was awesome to watch. Best sporting event I've seen since football season. There could be 6 more games left!! (but with Kyrie out maybe not that many)

You obviously have not been watching the NHL playoffs.

Nah, I've watched the NHL playoffs. I'll agree that the NHL playoffs as a whole are better than the NBA. However, the NBA Finals are most always more entertaining than the Stanley Cup because in the NBA the two best or better teams are normally playing for the title. I'm sorry but a Cavs-Warriors title match up completely dwarves the Lightning & Blackhawks. Add onto that LeBron having a monster scoring night, the Splash Brothers doing their thing & a back & forth affair all night, I'll be watching all 48 minutes - something I'd rarely do all season.

[Gil Dobie]

Best basketball player in the league, puts a move on the best athlete in the league and scores an easy two.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pgsi1NYLiw[/youtube]