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Heat facing the Warriors without Steph. And Jimmy and Herro both questionable. Another potentially great game that will be a nothing burger. Utah/Boston tonight could be interesting. But ESPN showing Griz/Nets instead. Which I understand but Ja is out.

What an embarrassing season for the nba even if it’s not their fault, luckily it’s shaping up to be a crazy competitive playoffs because this has been least entertaining season I’ve watched.

Hope the Heat lose. So we can get closer to 1st place.

Was hoping that the Nets would lose but without Ja, chances of that are slim.

Milbucks96 wrote:What an embarrassing season for the nba even if it’s not their fault, luckily it’s shaping up to be a crazy competitive playoffs because this has been least entertaining season I’ve watched.

In what way? Obviously Covid yet again shook things up a ton, but we have one of the tightest scoring title races in history, 3 MVP candidates putting up some of the best statistical seasons ever and the top 4 teams of the east within 2.5 games of each other with 10 games to go.

OT: Who's this new clown on First Take? I never watch it, but came upon it today and there's this annoying old white guy arguing with Stephen A. Smith. He's like a skip Bayless clone! Are they hurting for rating since Skip left or something?

BTW, what kind of person has you address them with their middle initial? Looking at you, STEPHEN A.

FrieAaron wrote:

Milbucks96 wrote:What an embarrassing season for the nba even if it’s not their fault, luckily it’s shaping up to be a crazy competitive playoffs because this has been least entertaining season I’ve watched.

In what way? Obviously Covid yet again shook things up a ton, but we have one of the tightest scoring title races in history, 3 MVP candidates putting up some of the best statistical seasons ever and the top 4 teams of the east within 2.5 games of each other with 10 games to go.

I've really enjoyed this season. Lakers turmoil, Ja's rise, East being competitive as **** for the first time in forever, Harden/Simmons trade and the obvious drama there, etc....seems to be much more enjoyable storylines this season than normal

It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

MickeyDavis wrote:It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

Yep.

I'm going to Memphis this weekend, had it planned for a couple months and already bummed Ja is likely out.

Just hoping Giannis plays, although, this isn't my only shot to see him or anything like it is for some who travel to games.

EastSideBucksFan wrote:

MickeyDavis wrote:It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

Yep.

I'm going to Memphis this weekend, had it planned for a couple months and already bummed Ja is likely out.

Just hoping Giannis plays, although, this isn't my only shot to see him or anything like it is for some who travel to games.

Ugh, that sucks. The first time we played them it was great. Giannis and Ja both had monster games.

FrieAaron wrote:

Milbucks96 wrote:What an embarrassing season for the nba even if it’s not their fault, luckily it’s shaping up to be a crazy competitive playoffs because this has been least entertaining season I’ve watched.

In what way? Obviously Covid yet again shook things up a ton, but we have one of the tightest scoring title races in history, 3 MVP candidates putting up some of the best statistical seasons ever and the top 4 teams of the east within 2.5 games of each other with 10 games to go.

As far as individual games goes for me, so many great matchups have been ruined by injuries/rest/Covid. It’s been about 3 or 4 good non-bucks games I’ve watched this year and they all featured Luka or Ja.

Every game that has seeding on the line or just two top teams playing feels like it’s multiple starters out on each side and ends in a lopsided game for the healthier team.

It’s been very hard for me to tune into random games which is my favorite thing about the nba. Mvp/scoring titles mean nothing to me in terms of entertainment value night to night.

MickeyDavis wrote:It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

Yea I've thought about this recently too. Only 'solution' you can come up with is reducing regular season games (which I know is impossible anyways) but even that I don't think solves or improves that much. Sure, it does put greater value on each game in terms of playoff seeding, but when it comes down to it they're always going to value health/rest to be ready for playoffs over everything else. So imo the vast majority of times these players are still going to sit out.

Probably the biggest thing that could make the top teams and players to push it and play could actually be reducing teams to make the playoffs. But, again it's impossible plus it massively increase the amount teams playing meaningless games earlier in the season. So that tradeoff imo would outweigh any benefits of the top teams playing harder. Long story, I really can't come up with a reasonable solution.

I actually think it's been a really compelling season and quite competitive. There's a lot of talent across the league.

I think they need to eliminate about 15 games from the regular season schedule, mostly so that the league can do away with back-to-backs. Keep the playoff format the same.

1.) 82 games is too many.

2.) Back to backs are where you usually see teams rest players because they know they're the most taxing and likely to lead to injury. Get rid of back to backs and the other games will be more exciting with more of the stars suiting up.

The biggest positive of now vs say 4ish years ago is the GSW and LBJ almost guaranteed finals showdown is gone. Basically since LBJ went to MIA everyone was saying they wanted a more even playing field where many different teams can win, we finally have that now.

not even a milwaukee bucks mention on nba today even though they were only 1of 4 games last night

LBJ out tonight

DingleJerry wrote:

MickeyDavis wrote:It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

Yea I've thought about this recently too. Only 'solution' you can come up with is reducing regular season games (which I know is impossible anyways) but even that I don't think solves or improves that much. Sure, it does put greater value on each game in terms of playoff seeding, but when it comes down to it they're always going to value health/rest to be ready for playoffs over everything else. So imo the vast majority of times these players are still going to sit out.

Probably the biggest thing that could make the top teams and players to push it and play could actually be reducing teams to make the playoffs. But, again it's impossible plus it massively increase the amount teams playing meaningless games earlier in the season. So that tradeoff imo would outweigh any benefits of the top teams playing harder. Long story, I really can't come up with a reasonable solution.

Reducing teams in the playoffs is just going to create more meaningless regular season games. The play-in games are one of the best things the NBA has done in years.

One of the issues with the playoffs right now is there isn't a major incentive to achieve a high seed. The playing field is basically level whether you're the 1 seed or the 6 seed. One way the NBA could make the regular season more competitive is by giving higher seeds an advantage. This could be done by having the first round series be a best of 6. Another thing they could do is allow teams to choose their opponents. For example, the #1 seed could choose who they play in the first round between seeds 5-8.

FlagsFlyForever wrote:

DingleJerry wrote:

MickeyDavis wrote:It's been a fun season in some ways but even though Covid is no longer an NBA issue there seems to be major stars out of almost every marquee game for various reasons.

Yea I've thought about this recently too. Only 'solution' you can come up with is reducing regular season games (which I know is impossible anyways) but even that I don't think solves or improves that much. Sure, it does put greater value on each game in terms of playoff seeding, but when it comes down to it they're always going to value health/rest to be ready for playoffs over everything else. So imo the vast majority of times these players are still going to sit out.

Probably the biggest thing that could make the top teams and players to push it and play could actually be reducing teams to make the playoffs. But, again it's impossible plus it massively increase the amount teams playing meaningless games earlier in the season. So that tradeoff imo would outweigh any benefits of the top teams playing harder. Long story, I really can't come up with a reasonable solution.

Reducing teams in the playoffs is just going to create more meaningless regular season games. The play-in games are one of the best things the NBA has done in years.

One of the issues with the playoffs right now is there isn't a major incentive to achieve a high seed. The playing field is basically level whether you're the 1 seed or the 6 seed. One way the NBA could make the regular season more competitive is by giving higher seeds an advantage. This could be done by having the first round series be a best of 6. Another thing they could do is allow teams to choose their opponents. For example, the #1 seed could choose who they play in the first round between seeds 5-8.

Right, which is why I said the mass increase of meaningless games for lower teams would outweigh any benefit of pushing the higher seeded teams to play harder. Your solution is the problem I was getting at. Reducing reg season games won't help drastically since as you say seeding isn't a huge deal so health for playoffs is all that matters.

Not sure what you mean on best of 6. Choosing opponents I don't think is enough for them to care, plus I think teams would vote against it since it creates the PR/locker room stuff of it being a slight to pick your opponent. One thing I thought of in your vein though would be more home games in round 1 for say the top 2 seeds but I still don't think that would push them too much. Really the main thing that would matter enough to move the needle would be a full bye, likely for the top 2 seeds. So you'd basically be going to 10 teams in on each side. Positive is more teams in means more meaningful games reg season, but negative is that having such a big percent of teams make playoffs increases the meaninglessness of regular season.

All 3 of Bucks, Lakers, 76ers play on the final day of the regular season. Will be interesting based on the scoring race what happens. Also be extra interesting if the games are all 2hrs apart i.e. if Lebron has the higher ppg and plays last do they sit him with a fake injury to not risk him falling into second?

Personally, I think the top 3 getting to pick opponents would be cool. It avoids situations like we have with the Nets where everyone basically acknowledges a team, for whatever reasons, ends up way lower than they are in the playoffs, and it manufactures some drama.