NBA Playoff Excitement Continues

Simply because the most loved and most hated team in the NBA got swept out of the playoffs on Sunday, doesn’t mean excitement isn’t still reigning true.

Ratings thus far into the playoffs already confirm that more people are paying attention to the evoking moments. They are up 26% from this point last year. These numbers and the overall viewership speaks to how competitive these playoffs truly are.

Eight-seeded Memphis beat top-seeded San Antonio in the first round and are giving the fourth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder a run for their money, taking a 2-1 series lead into game 4 of the semis last night. The Thunder fought back by outlasting Memphis in a triple-overtime thriller to even the series at two.

Dallas has to be the favorite remaining in the West. This is due the week or more of rest they will benefit from given the Oklahoma City and Memphis series continuing for at least two more games. Their advantage may be even more tangible because of the big-game experience edge they will hold over whoever they will end up facing off with in the Western Conference Finals – the Thunder or the Grizzlies.

After Miami took game 4 from the Celtics in Boston in a overtime victory on Monday evening, the favorite in the East has to be the Heat. What amazes me even more than the Heat being able to find their glue so quickly in these playoffs, is the fact that no one is calling out Dwayne Wade for his malicious, wrestling-style, arm-hook take down of Rajon Rondo in game 3, causing him to dislocate his elbow. I believe this cheap play by Wade ranks up there right underneath Odom and Bynum’s flagrant displays. While Wade’s maneuver was not entirely as blatant, it was indeed obviously just as calculated as far as the ‘heat’ of the moment was concerned.

The Atlanta Hawks are working over the Chicago Bulls and are pushing the series in complete over-achievement. The Hawks taking game 4 in Atlanta to tie the series at two was somewhat unexpected. However, if Joe Johnson and Josh Smith can continue exploiting their mismatches, anything can happen, as I see this series going to the edge of a tightly-contested game 7. This series lasting the length that it could bodes well for the Heat, the same as it does the Mavericks out West, and is the key reason why I believe Miami is the favorite out of the East.

* * *

From this point forward anything can happen, and this is why people are watching these NBA playoffs more than they have been in recent years due to the dominance of one supreme team. I hope this evokes much more Fansmanship within the NBA, as a recent Sports Illustrated fan poll ranked the NBA as the average fan’s 5th favorite sport, behind: NFL Football, College Football, Major League Baseball and Nascar.

My NBA Finals pick: Dallas over Miami in 6. It may be wishful thinking, and picking with my heart and not my brain, as the Heat look close to unbeatable thus far – but I’m sticking with it and going down with the Western Conference ship if it happens to take on too much water come June.

Stay tuned.