Watching the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams fight for a spot in the NBA Finals gives new meaning to the word pointless.
Ever since the departure of Michael Jordan, the team to come out of the East was just icing on the cake for the team to come out of the West?a ceremonial whipping post.
The Eastern Conference means nothing, even though everyone wants the East to conquer the Western favorites. This year is no different.
The NBA Playoffs can be likened to the NCAA Championships and the National Invitational Tournament.
The Western Conference matchups are the Big Dance, the one that every fan cares about and knows that this is where the true games are played.
The East is the consolation prize?the NIT. The Eastern Conference continues to prove that basketball can be more boring than staring at a ceiling. Ah, the wonders of staring at a ceiling?it’s better than watching that God-forsaken thing we call Eastern Conference basketball.
There is no doubt there is talent in the East, since players such as Tracy Mcgrady, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, Baron Davis and Jerry Stackhouse are competing in the playoffs.
But why should I care, and how does that make the East exciting? The answer is that it doesn’t.
The players can’t make the games exciting because the games don’t even matter. Just take a look at the matchups in the first round for the East compared to the West.
Top-seeded New Jersey is playing the eighth-seeded Indiana Pacers. Now, conventional wisdom would tell me the Nets should roll, considering they had the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.
I like a little bit of parody now and then, but a Game 5 was a little ridiculous.
Remember how surprising it was to watch the Nuggets defeat the Sonics, which was the only time an eighth seed toppled a one seed, and Dikembe Mutombo looked as if he was half-stoned and half-ecstatic?
I really don’t need to see that picture again. It gives me nightmares.
But it was an actual upset and was shocking to a certain degree, while a Pacers win wouldn’t shed this type of reaction from me.
Whatever. If the Jazz were able to beat the Kings in the first round, that would send me into shock immediately after the game.
Why?
Maybe the other Eastern Conference matchups could hold my attention. Yeah right.
How in hell did the Detroit Pistons get the No. 2 seed this season, a year after they did not make the playoffs? Hmmm.
Once again parody looms large in the East. A team that seemed to be a complete waste of space two years ago following the departure of Grant Hill is now vying for the championship in the Eastern Conference.
But the problem is that it is not exciting like the NFL has become, even though the quality of play has gone down.
Why?
Because the winner of the East will have absolutely no shot at beating the team in the West.
Its so futile that it is starting to bore me.
Maybe a realignment is in order. I know it might not make sense to move a team like the Jazz or the Sonics to the Eastern Conference due to travel logistics, but the league needs to do something to right this wrong.
Possibly putting some of the bubble teams in the other conference would provide an injection of excitement, as each of those teams would probably take its division by storm.
Oh well.
I guess it doesn’t matter anyway, but it could just be a prize for the winner of the West.
All I know is that I will watch the playoffs. That is, the real playoffs that does not include that abomination of a conference we call the East.
I don’t need to see who will win the chance to get defeated in the Finals.
What an honor.
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