This is a few days old, so forgive us for missing it. But as somebody who watches the NHL playoffs every dang night and has watched a good dose of the NBA playoffs this year too, this clip from ESPN’s Keith Olbermann spoke to me.
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I know you’ve been watching the NBA playoffs. We’re Americans, that’s what we do. We watch what we’re told is the best — even, you know, when it’s not the best, when it’s just what you’ve gotten used to. Like fast food. Like the comedian said about the famous fast food chain: I always eat there! I’m even beginning to like this expletive!
So far there have been 37 NBA playoff games, average margin of victory has been nine points, five have gone to overtime, which as you know is not sudden death, it’s just a shortened version of the fourth quarter. There’s been one serious, maybe deliberate injury to Kevin Love. Otherwise relax! All the super star travelers are safe!
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7 of the 8 surviving Stanley Cup Playoff teams have lost a key player heading into the second round and five of the top eight regular season point scorers who made the playoffs are now out of the playoffs. And of the top seven point scorers left, three of them had two goals total among them in the opening round. No one is safe.
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So why is a sport in which the four playoff games where the Rangers beat Pittsburgh each ended 2-1, the one they lost was 4-3, why is that not holding it’s own in the battle for time and space against the hum-drum NBA?
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The NBA gets all the publicity in the United States, but that first line from Olbermann couldn’t be more true, huh? “We watch what we’re told is the best — even, you know, when it’s not the best.“
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
I mean, look at this comparison of the first round between the two leagues:
It’s not even close, yall.
