Unfamiliar Territory

I don't touch on the NBA much.  The main reason for that being, I really don't care much for it.  I attended two Indiana Pacers games, and I was not impressed with the kind of play.  One of the biggest things in basketball is TEAMwork.  In the NBA, there is no team.  I watched Carmelo Anthony battle with Amr'e Stoudemire for the star role, or to be the hero that brought them back from behind.  The Knicks trailed by double digits by most of the game to an inferior Pacers team.  Had they played together like they should, they would have beat down the Pacers from the very beginning like they should have.  They were too concerned about being in the spotlight, and lost to a last second shot by Danny Granger.  My other problem with the NBA is making too much of a show of it.  The game takes twice as long as it should because of TV time outs, Pacemate performances, Mascot performances, etc.  What should be a 30 or 60 second time out turns into about 5 minutes.
I have not gone out of my way, or made an effort to cover the NBA much because I don't care for it.  I don't have the passion for it like I do football, college basketball, or baseball.  The playoffs are in the middle of the second round, and there are a few things I wanted to point out.  I haven't watched any of the games, just caught highlights and analysis on ESPN and TNT.  During the season I didn't follow enough to know much about the teams, again going by what the "know it all's" say.  As the playoffs are well underway, we are seeing that these "know it all's" don't really know what they're talking about again.  The biggest headline of the season was the Carmelo Anthony trade to the Knicks.  Some people were putting them in the NBA finals before they even played a game.  Well, post-carmelo trade, things happened a little differently.  The Knicks got worse, and the Nuggets actually improved without Anthony.  But, the most popular topic was how the Miami Heat were performing with the "Big 3".  They had a hard team beating teams with a winning record.  So these guys rushed to the conclusion that the Heat would get bounced from the playoffs early, if not immediately.  The San Antonio Spurs didn't get the coverage that the Lakers got, but had the best record in the NBA all season long.  But the Lakers and Spurs were by far the "Best in the West."  They put the Spurs and Lakers in the western conference finals.  Then, lastly, the Boston Celtics, who happen to be the defending champs, kind of limped their way into the playoffs.  They did the same thing last year, and won it all, yet they still wanted to advance the Knicks over the Celtics in round one.  Here we are, well into the second round, and let's follow up with these "headlines".  The defending champs swept the Knicks right out of the playoffs.  The Knicks didn't win a single playoff game.  The overall #1 seed Spurs were bounced in the first round by the #8 seed Memphis Grizzlies.  The Lakers managed to get by the first round, but the Dallas Mavericks made them look like they didn't belong in the playoffs at all, getting out the brooms and sweeping them back to LA LA land, ending the Phil Jackson era in LA.  Now, let's see how the Miami Heat, the team that couldn't beat a team with a winning record have fared thus far.  They beat the 76ers in 5 games.  That's no big accomplishment.  They Celtics would be a bit more of a test.  Or would they??  Well, the Heat just beat the defending champion Celtics in game 5 tonight.  So the team that couldn't beat a team with a winning record has won 8 games and lost 2.  They lost more than the #1 overall seed Spurs won!  The "best in the west" are sitting at home watching on TV, and the team they predicted to be watching is pretty hot right now.  But, this is good for the NBA.  There are several positive aspects with the remaining teams that people will enjoy.  Everyone likes to see something new.  We are guarranteed two new teams in the Finals.  Everybody loves an underdog.  There are several teams that can claim this title.  The Mavericks have been under rated all season long.  The OKC Thunder are proof that small market teams can succeed, and the Memphis Grizzlies are the #8 seed.  Then you have a villain in LeBron James and the Miami Heat.  Then you have the real best team in the NBA, in the Chicago Bulls.  After Jordan retired (the second time) and Jackson left, ownership stripped down the team and started a LONG rebuilding process.  Well, they are back.  I might actually find myself watching the conference finals, and probably the NBA finals as well.  I could not say that if it were going to be the Knicks, Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, etc.  OKC v Dallas starting an NBA version of the Red River Rivalry perhaps??  MVP Derrick Rose and the Bulls against the "Big 3" and the Miami Heat.  Both very appealing matchups I think.  Half of those matchups are set, the other half still in limbo.  But that's something I would really enjoy watching.  I think...