Are the NBA playoffs out of control!?!?

On April 14th, the NBA played its final regular season games.  That marks 82 for all of you counting at home.  There playoffs, or NBA second season started just a few days ago with 16 teams entering the tourney, 8 from each conference.

There are only 30 teams in the league so this means more than half of the teams make it to the playoffs.  The eighth seed in the East, the Chicago Bulls, made a strong push to be the final team in, finishing up at 41-41 for the year.  They reached .500 only after winning the last three games.

NBA playoffs consist of four rounds, each containing seven games apiece.  That means there could be a possibility of 28 games played per team, with 16 victories required to capture the title in the end.  Comparatively, the MLB, which has the same amount of teams, has only 8 teams in the playoffs, meaning one less round and a round that’s only the best of seven.  For obvious reasons, the MLB playoffs go much quicker, ending in roughly a month.

In the NBA, each game has at least one day off afterward, even if the teams aren’t changing location and will play the next game in the same city.  This leads to an incredibly lengthy post season that runs as long as two full months.  All in all, the NBA full season runs from the last week in October to mid to late June.  That’s roughly 8 months.

People have complained for years that the playoffs run too long and don’t keep the attention of ADD America.

Is the NBA schedule out of control?  Should fewer teams be allowed in the playoffs, creating a more competitive batch of teams?  Should there be fewer off days in the playoffs to make things go by quicker and keep the waning attention of fans who now only show up for the Finals?  What makes the NBA think it can have 2/3 of the year?

–AJ

Baylor Brawl

6-foot-8 Brittney Griner had something to say about the physicality of the game against Texas Tech, in which Griner took a swing at a opponent who had flung her across the paint, knocking Jordan Barncastle in the face, causing her nose to bleed. Barncastle would eventually leave the game permanently.

Griner, who towers over a lot of women in college basketball, has an 88 inch wingspan, and size 17 shoes, which helped rocket her to almost stardom. Videos of Griner have been on YouTube for some time now.

After being ejected from the game, Griner faces suspension for possibly the rest of the season. Should the coaches have a more severe punishment for the phenom from Baylor, or should they simply suspend her because women like her do not come around very often?

Kelly Berk