I don't watch a lot
of NBA basketball. When I do watch it is usually something I planned based on
the matchup or with friends. I don't dislike the NBA, but without a pro team in
Seattle it is hard for me to feel invested. However, fans are tell me all the
time how exciting it is. They insist the games are full of drama and
excitement. However, that wasn't my experience this year. I have only watched
four games and all four were duds. The closet final score differential was 15.
The first game I
watched was back in November. The best team in the NBA, the Golden State
Warriors, were set to play the Los Angeles Lakers. The game looked poised to be
an exhibition of the Splash Brother prowess. I was hoping to see the Dubs in
their full offensive juggernaut glory. Against a team like the Lakers (who
ended up the third worst defense team at the end of the year) there seemed to
be a chance that Steph Curry or Klay Thompson could drop 50 points. Instead I
got treated to see the first time in 157 games157 games that Curry didn't make
a three point shot. I got to watch the Lakers beat the Warriors by 20 points.
Sure seeing D'Angelo Russell play adequately was kind of interesting, but it
wasn't what I was hoping for when I decide to watch the game.
The next game I
watched was a random Thursday night game in February. I was on babysitting duty
and channel surfing during a nap. I found the Knicks leading the Cavs early.
The first quarter was a high octane offense driven affair. The score at the end
of one quarter of play was 34-33 Cleveland. Sure, I knew the Knicks were bad
and they should have no chance to hanging with the Cavs, but that one quarter
had got my hopes up. I decided to stick around and see what happened. What
happened was the Knicks remember who they are and fell apart in the second
quarter getting outscored 35-18. That score doesn't even do the quarter
justice. Watching the game it felt like the Cavaliers outscored them by 30.
Carmelo Anthony and Courtney Lee tried valiantly to bring the Knicks back in
the third, but the Cavs were just too much for them to handle. After the first
quarter it never felt close again. The Knicks ended up losing 119 to 104.
The third and final
regular season game I watched was in March. The San Antonio Spurs were set to
take on the Golden State Warriors. This matchup should have been a great one.
The Spurs and Warriors are two of the best teams in the league year after year.
At the end of the season the Warriors ended up with the Western Conference's
number 1 seed, yet again, and the Spurs landed the number 2 seed. Unfortunately
both teams decided to rest their starters robbing us of this potentially
awesome matchup. Ian Clark was the Warriors leading scorer and Patty Mills lead
the Spurs. Those guys are far from stars, but being the leading scorers for
their respective teams doesn't have to be a bad thing. The game could still be
interesting. However, the thing is the Warriors, one of the greatest offensive
forces in basketball history, scored a season low 85 points and they lost by 22
points. The Spurs B-squad at least showed up to play. Other than Ian Clark the
Warriors bench looked like trash.
Yesterday I decided
to watch the Boston Celtics third playoff game against the Washington Wizards.
University of Washington Alum and PNW basketball hero Isaiah Thomas is the
Boston Celtics star point guard. Thomas averaged 28.9 ppg on 46.3% shooting
during the regular season. In the first two games of the playoff series of
Thomas scored 86 points. The guy is also only 5'9" (which is generous),
which makes it all the more amazing that he is able to score so dominantly in
the NBA where the average height is 6'6". But that isn't all. Thomas is
also overcoming the recent death of his younger sister and getting one of histeeth knocked out during the first game of the series. I was excited to watch
Thomas continue his run of stellar playoff run and build his epic narrative. Instead Thomas went 3 for 8
shooting from the field, scored only 13 points and the Celtics lost by 27 to
the Wizards. On the bright side I got to see John Wall run really fast, shot
poorly, and get fouled a bunch all while scoring 24 points.
Like I said before I
have had rotten luck picking NBA games to watch this year. The closet final
score differential was 15 (Cavs vs Knicks). In three of the four games the
losing team didn't even score 100 points. The player that scored the most
individual points in any of these games was Ian Clark. Basically every game I
watched was a complete bust. So NBA, if you want to convince me that your games
can be exciting show me a game that isn't a blow out and where the star players
actually perform
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