The NBA Playoffs are Pretty Entertaining

By Travis Stahl

                The spring is typically a pretty dead time of year for me in the sports world.  I like baseball enough to play fantasy baseball, but not enough to watch it.  I don’t watch NASCAR and I’m not about to watch the NHL playoffs.  Typically I fall asleep after the NFL draft and wake up to watch the NBA finals if it is two teams I can tolerate to watch on TV.  This year I decided to do something I haven’t done since I was a kid; I’m actively watching the NBA playoffs.

                OK, so I’m not sitting down with a bag of Doritos and watching all of the action unfold play-by-play.  But the telly is on and I am paying attention to what is happening.  I can’t say that I missed watching the NBA playoffs after all these years away, but it certainly isn’t terrible either.  And you know what; the second round is going to be really good.  There are two great match-ups coming in the playoffs that are going to be wildly entertaining to watch.

                In the Western Conference the top seed San Antonio Spurs are sitting and waiting for the winner of the Clippers-Grizzlies match-up.   If the Clippers win than we are going to see a great point-guard battle between Chris Paul of Los Angeles and Spurs point guard Tony Parker.  If the Grizzlies win we get a rematch from last year’s playoffs when Memphis eliminated San Antonio.  Do you the Spurs want Memphis?  You bet. San Antonio is much better this year and would love the opportunity to take it to the Grizzlies.  San Antonio will win either of these series in six games and it might only take five.

                Sunday is game one of the Eastern Conference series between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers.  In theory, Miami should win easily.  But you know what the Pacers have that most teams don’t, a lot of athletic players.  The Heat thrives when they can get in the open court and run teams to death.  The Pacers can run though too and are sneaky good defensively.  This series is going to be much closer than some people think it will be but the Heat should still pull it out in seven games.

                Typically if given the choice I would prefer to watch an old NBA playoff game on ESPN Classic.  Especially if they are airing game four of the 1984 NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Celtics.  This year though I’m giving the NBA another chance and actually watching the playoffs.  There really isn’t a whole lot on TV right now so I’m not missing anything.  I consider myself a Spurs fan so I’m hoping for a San Antonio-Miami match-up in the finals.