That’s because the games are meaningless. Over half the league makes the playoffs anyway and going into the season you know who the final four or six teams are going to be.
With superstars jumping ship and going to play with their friends, it has created a league of teams that are based on who has the most stars. That made last years’ final that much better because the Mavericks were a team with only one superstar that took down the proverbial giant team of superstars.
The division races have no meaning because you can be the fifth best team in your division and still make the playoffs. It would be better if they just had two leagues and took the best eight teams from each league. That’s essentially what they’re doing now.
Sure there are a few matchups during the regular season that are nice games to watch, like Heat-Lakers because it gets all of the sports’ biggest superstars on one stage at the same time. But who cares what the outcome of the game is. They’re both going to make the playoffs and there is a good chance both teams will at least make it to the conference finals.
The NBA is so predictable. We know it’s going to be Miami, Chicago, Oklahoma City and some wild card team from the Western Conference in the final four. The other teams will just be warm up games as the best teams prepare for the championship.
In baseball and football there is more of an emphasis on winning your division. Only 12 of 32 teams make the playoffs in the NFL and only eight (as of right now) of 30 MLB teams make the playoffs. Both sports get tremendous support throughout the regular season and in the playoffs because the division rivals are important.
A Braves-Phillies matchup in May becomes very important because it could decide who wins the division in September. The Ravens-Steelers rivalry is great for so many reasons, but also because it almost always decides who is going to win that division. Do you think the Heat are going to sweat over a loss to the Hawks in December?
No doubt the NBA playoffs are great to watch and these super teams make it fun to root against them and I think actually make the sport more enjoyable. But the NBA’s regular season is watered down and meaningless to the casual fan.
The same can be said for NCAA basketball. While March Madness is one of the greatest events in sports, 62 teams make the tournament. Is it really necessary for me to watch Duke-Kansas in January? Both of them will make the tournament and this game two months before is not going to change that.
Fans are drawn to games that hold meaning. There are a handful of those types of games during an NBA regular season. If you want to draw interest the whole year through, make winning the division more important and don’t make the entry into the playoffs open to every team that post a .500 record (or below in some cases). That’s just ridiculous.
We want games that matter, and there won’t truly be a game that matters in the NBA until April. Hopefully I’ll see you then, but the Braves will be playing the Phillies so I doubt you get my undivided attention like you could if regular season games meant something.
You can follow Jake on Twitter at: @j8a1k0e or on his MLB Braves blog at: http://bravesandmore.mlblogs.com/
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