The long NBA regular season is now over and the playoffs are starting tomorrow. I just realized I had blogged just five times about the NBA this entire season. Thats what happens when you are busy and your favorite team is 25-57. So I will blame my lack of focus on the NBA on the Phoenix Suns and their horrible season. But the playoffs are always fun and deserve our collective attention. As much as I hate the Lakers and Kobe, we will miss him in the playoffs. You don't want to see anybody get hurt, let alone a superstar like Kobe just before the playoffs. The Lakers are not even the same team to hate without him. They finally made it in as the 7-Th seed surprising everybody. They get the Spurs instead of the Thunder, which is supposed to be a friendlier matchup. I don't think it matters anyways. They will be bounced early. But do we really even care with no Kobe to love or hate? Thats the power of a NBA superstar. Kobe is Kobe, plus he had a phenomenal season. It was hard to see him go out so close to the playoffs.
The other problem with an injury so close to the playoffs is that it also means you are relatively close to the beginning of next NBA season, as crazy as that may sound. Derrick Rose is still not back from the injury late last season, but thats a topic for another day. So Kobe may not be back until mid-way into next season. He has vowed to come back and I believe him 100%, but it might be 2014/2015 before he is completely back and he might be too old by then. Thats why there are legitimate concerns about his career being over. I think it might be over for all practical purposes, but not officially yet. He will be back. The Lakers are still a story, but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol don't move the needle and Steve Nash has not been effective this year either. I remember talking to a scalper back when Charles Barkley was a superstar in Phoenix. He said the toughest part of his job was when Barkley was out injured. He just could not move any tickets. Lakers tickets lost a whole bunch of value with Kobe's injury.
On the schedule this weekend are a couple of interesting match-ups. Boston-NY is always interesting regardless of the sport. Golden State at Denver is another fun series. Stephen Curry is the next big star on the horizon and the Warriors look like a genius for locking him up at the beginning of the season at what will now be considered a bargain basement price for Curry. James Harden leading the upstart Rockets into Oklahoma city is intriguing too, but they don't have a realistic shot at doing anything significant. At the end of the day, the entire playoffs looks like a distraction while the Heat map out their way through the playoff maze to lock up their second championship. LeBron had such a phenomenal season that even thinking about alternate names for the NBA MVP honors sounds ridiculous. The biggest lock of this season might be the two awards - LeBron for MVP and Damian Lillard for rookie of the year. And of course Heat for the championship, though I am still holding hope that the Pacers or Spurs or Thunder will bother them just a little bit.
The other problem with an injury so close to the playoffs is that it also means you are relatively close to the beginning of next NBA season, as crazy as that may sound. Derrick Rose is still not back from the injury late last season, but thats a topic for another day. So Kobe may not be back until mid-way into next season. He has vowed to come back and I believe him 100%, but it might be 2014/2015 before he is completely back and he might be too old by then. Thats why there are legitimate concerns about his career being over. I think it might be over for all practical purposes, but not officially yet. He will be back. The Lakers are still a story, but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol don't move the needle and Steve Nash has not been effective this year either. I remember talking to a scalper back when Charles Barkley was a superstar in Phoenix. He said the toughest part of his job was when Barkley was out injured. He just could not move any tickets. Lakers tickets lost a whole bunch of value with Kobe's injury.
On the schedule this weekend are a couple of interesting match-ups. Boston-NY is always interesting regardless of the sport. Golden State at Denver is another fun series. Stephen Curry is the next big star on the horizon and the Warriors look like a genius for locking him up at the beginning of the season at what will now be considered a bargain basement price for Curry. James Harden leading the upstart Rockets into Oklahoma city is intriguing too, but they don't have a realistic shot at doing anything significant. At the end of the day, the entire playoffs looks like a distraction while the Heat map out their way through the playoff maze to lock up their second championship. LeBron had such a phenomenal season that even thinking about alternate names for the NBA MVP honors sounds ridiculous. The biggest lock of this season might be the two awards - LeBron for MVP and Damian Lillard for rookie of the year. And of course Heat for the championship, though I am still holding hope that the Pacers or Spurs or Thunder will bother them just a little bit.
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