Unbalanced

If there is one thing missing from the NBA these days, it’s a bitter rivalry. Not the manufactured type that is made from Kobe versus LeBron (and by proxy, Lakers versus Cavaliers) or even Carmelo versus LeBron (Nuggets/Cavaliers). What the NBA fans have clamored for are true, “we can’t stand those guys” rivalries born from seeing the same team more than two times a year and the Finals that may not materialize.

Granted, there are battles between teams that don’t get the national attention during the regular season that they should until the postseason comes around. In the West, San Antonio and Phoenix have provided some fireworks in recent years while Houston and Utah have had intense meet-ups. In the East, Washington and Cleveland traded barbs when the Wizards were a playoff participant while Boston and Chicago are likely to carry over their classic first-round series into the 2009-10 campaign.

However, the truth is that within the same geography is where sports’ greatest passions stir. Though the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings had a war of words earlier this decade, it was such a one-sided affair that it’s rarely brought up as one of the NBA’s most known rivalries. Not since the New York Knicks and Miami Heat traded fists and baskets have there been those kinds of regular season games that were hyped because of pure, unabated hatred within the division. Knicks-Heat (or Knicks against everybody in the 1990s) didn’t need to be aesthetically pleasing or be full of offensive superstars with great smiles to attract a crowd because mean mugging and hard fouls made the country ask “what else can these guys do to each other?”

The rule changes that essentially handcuffed defenses took a bit of the necessary surliness out of natural rivalries, but it does not mean that they can’t be reborn. If there’s one area that can be tweaked to bring back these kinds of games, it’s in team schedules themselves. To reemphasize division rivalries, I believe that the 82-game schedule can be modified in a similar vein of their major league peers.

They could take the slightly unbalanced schedule that baseball and the NHL use which features more games within the division, yet will retain the logistics of having visits from every team within the league. They could also rotate two interdivisional games between the other ten teams that would guarantee an equal amount of visits to every city over a five-year period in the way the NFL does in its schedule.

Sounds confusing? Let it be explained by using the Knicks’ schedule (trying to get to some games this season, so sue me for using the local team):

Current NBA Schedule: (H=home, A=away)

4 games apiece versus teams within the Atlantic Division (2H/2A) = 16 games

• Boston, New Jersey, Toronto and Philadelphia all split home and away dates evenly.

3-4 games apiece versus teams in other divisions within the conference = 36

• 3 games a apiece against two teams in the Central Division (one series of 2H/1A, one series of 1H/2A) = 6
• Cleveland visits New York once while the Knicks play there twice this year. Milwaukee comes to New York twice while the Knicks play there once.
• 4 games apiece against three teams in the Central Division (2H/2A) = 12
• Chicago, Detroit and Indiana have even splits of home and away games this season
• 3 games apiece against two teams in the Southeast Division (one series of 2H/1A, one series of 1H/2A) = 6
• Orlando visits New York once while the Knicks play there twice this year. Miami comes to New York twice while the Knicks play there once.
• 4 games apiece against three teams in the Southeast Division (2H/2A) = 12
• Charlotte, Washington and Atlanta have even splits of home and away games this season.

2 games apiece versus teams in the Western Conference (one home, one away) = 30

82 total regular season games (41 home, 41 away)

Got it? Good.

Suggested NBA Schedule:

5 games apiece versus teams within same division = 20 games

• Five games apiece against two teams (3H/2A) = 10
• Here, Boston and New Jersey would come to MSG three times and the Knicks would visit both markets twice.
• Five games apiece against two teams (2H/3A) = 10
• Here, Toronto and Philadelphia would come to MSG twice and the Knicks would visit both markets three times.

These teams will alternate the third home game every other year; the Celtics would visit New York a third time one year and host the Knicks a third time the following season.

3-4 games apiece versus teams in other divisions within same conference = 30 games

• 3 games a apiece against two teams in the Central Division (2H/1A) = 6
• Here, Cleveland and Milwaukee would come to New York twice and the Knicks would visit those markets once. Next season, this could switch depending on the teams.
• 3 games a apiece against two teams in the Central Division (1H/2A) = 6
• Here, Detroit and Indiana would come to New York twice and the Knicks would visit those markets once. Next season, this could switch depending on the teams.
• 4 games apiece against one team in the Central Division (2H/2A) = 12
• Chicago would have the even split of home and away games this season. This four-game series would rotate among the remaining teams in the division until all five teams in the division played this series within five years.

Repeat the Central Division plan for the Southeast Division:

• Orlando and Miami would come to New York twice and the Knicks would visit those markets once. The Knicks play Charlotte and Washington twice in those cities and host them once this season. They would have the four-game series with Atlanta. Similar to the Central Division, teams would alternate all three kinds of series over five seasons.

2 games apiece versus teams in the Western Conference (one home, one away) = 30

• This would remain unchanged.

82 total regular season games (41 home, 41 away)

Of course, there are logistical reasons for why games are scheduled in the current format that us fans and the media aren’t exactly privy to or don’t keep up with. For example, every season a few teams will go on lengthy road trips for annual events such as conference and national tournaments in college sports or local events like the famous San Antonio Stock and Rodeo Show that keeps the Spurs away from home for about two weeks in February. There is also the fact that ten cities house both NHL and NBA teams in the same arena, making scheduling an intricate dance during the offseason for both leagues. Finally, relocation and expansion have spread the pool of games a bit thin; the NBA has certainly done a great job in trying to retain the pre-Charlotte/New Orleans/Memphis/Oklahoma City schedule with respect to travel itineraries.

Yet, it’s unlikely that there will be a change in the amount of teams in the league any time soon. Despite economic uncertainties and mismanagement of some franchises, this would be the perfect time to explore changing the schedule to give a bit more meaning – literal and emotional – to crowning division champions with the added value of a properly calibrated unbalanced schedule.

Oops...

This may seem... well, just plain wrong, but doesn't the now-shuttered Kobe versus LeBron push feel more this:



For those of you who refuse to relieve much of the early nineties, Reebok launched a campaign featuring two relative unknowns in the mainstream sports world, decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson, as a part of hyping up their potential showdown in the Barcelona Olympics. What started as a "who the heck are these guys" during Washington's thrashing of the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI grew into the second-most talked about event in the States for those 1992 Summer Olympics (next to the greatest team ever assembled).

Of course, as fate would have it, there was no event to speak of.

O'Brien didn't qualify for the US Olympic Team (watching those trials live must have been painful for the Canton, MA-based sneaker company) and neither competed in the same events again.

As much as Reebok thought that Dan versus Dave was a sure thing, there was too much time between the campaign launch that January and the Games that summer for there not to have been a stumbling block. While O'Brien's shortfall came at the pole vault, the wrenches in the plans could have been anything from injury to the emergence of a stronger contender. Reebok may have sold a few more sneakers and Johnson was still able to capture a Bronze medal, but as mentioned in this morning's post, putting the cart before the horse is a very dangerous proposition in a field where prognositcations and performance differ drastically.

Fast forward to 2009 where some are pondering the question, "what will happen to the puppets?"

Actually, that's a pretty good question.

Big ups to bostonnewsarchives for the video.

Premature

The Orlando Magic reminded us all of the classic adage; NEVER put the cart before the horse.

These are certainly not the NBA Finals most of you wanted, but it’s the series that might provide the better show.

I’ll give you time to pick up your jaw.

Sometimes, the best matchups in sports are not always about superstar player versus superstar player in nearly the same position. The majority salivated from the thought of Kobe Bryant versus LeBron James as the best shooting guard and best small forward in the game would have defended each other for most of the Dream Finals. Yet, now, we have one of the game’s best backcourts in Los Angeles going against one of its best frontlines with those proverbial ‘X-factors’ littered all over.

Let’s cut through all of the broken dreams and the exaggerated “I’m not watching the NBA ever again” histrionics that many people are taking on. If this generation’s Dream Finals came to fruition, based on the game play we ‘witnessed’ in the Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers would have been destroyed in a sweep.

If those Cavaliers – with LeBron James having to do everything short of tying his teammates’ shoes, it seemed – could not get past the Orlando Magic, did you honestly think that they would match shot for shot with the Lake Show? The Magic has a pretty good roster; shooters abound with Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus and Rashard Lewis (who has been the best second-fiddle this postseason), heady point guard play between Rafer Alston and Anthony Johnson and the overlooked backup center in Marcin Gortat.

The Cavs, while still boasting a solid roster, would have had no answer for the depth of forwards the Lakers boasts between Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom (who could be a sixth man or starter, depending on matchups). Even the Lakers’ bench, as inconsistent as it had been for stretches in the season, is superior to Cleveland’s as Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic and Shannon Brown certainly provide more than Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, Daniel Gibson, Joe Smith and Sasha Pavlovic.

Of course, the most intriguing one-on-one matchup will be between the beast that is Dwight Howard and the coming-back-to-form Andrew Bynum. It may not be Patrick Ewing versus Hakeem Olajuwon in the best pairing of centers in the last two decades of the Finals, but there’s a potential for a classic battle in the paint.

To those who opined for Kobe-versus-LeBron, there was a pretty good chance that you would have been more than disappointed. Kobe-versus-Courtney Lee doesn’t scream ‘marquee matchup’, but the Lakers versus the Magic may be the best way to cap off what has been a banner year for the league.

Say What?!?!: While I believe that ratings should be taken in the proper context, TV by the Numbers wants to know how you think these Finals will fare. I say pretty well.

Sabotage

Deep down, I want to see the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals.

Realistically… no one has a clue which teams will play in the NBA’s Spring Classic.

Oh, sure, there are millions who want the spoon-fed Cleveland Cavaliers/Los Angeles Lakers matchup just as they clamored for these same Lakers against the eventual champion Boston Celtics eleven months ago.

There are millions who just don’t want to see Kobe Bryant playing in his sixth Finals; skeptically wondering if – or vehemently demanding to know why – we’re supposed to forget about Colorado as the arguably best player in the world has found himself back in the spotlight for sterling play. He’s also finding himself back in the good graces with some on Madison Avenue as there is a player of comparable skills, intensity and jersey sales that he can be paired up with (hint: it’s LeBron James!).

There are plenty who do want to see KB81, Pau Gasol and their teammates lose again in June; harkening the pointing and laughing that the New England Patriots endured after losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 42 as if the word ‘hubris’ was created for that thrilling, but agonizing night.

There are many in the masses who want to see James shine again in the Finals, but with a different result. After being annihilated by Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs in 2007, the Cavs reloaded for what has been destined to be a return appearance. The cast of characters should be far better in this play as Mo Williams, an underrated Delonte West and a very good team defense should give us a better show. For all of the Biblical references that surround him, James has done everything humanly possible to match the hype and expectations since he arrived on the scene. Yet, as we all know, that means little in this ‘win today or leave tomorrow’ culture.

Deep down, I want to see the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic ruin all of our visions of seven grueling games of Number 24 versus Number 23.

I don’t want to sabotage the Dream Finals so much as I wonder how many of these recently converted NBA fans are really going to hunker down and watch teams from seemingly unsexy markets do battle for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Neither the Nuggets nor the Magic have that superstar – a term used far too loosely these days – who brings instant recognition from the unfamiliar. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony has been one of the best players in the NBA since he arrived with James and Miami’s Dwayne Wade, his fellow classmates of the 2003 Draft who have actually reached (in Wade’s case, won) the Finals before Anthony finally made it out of the first round during these playoffs. Dwight Howard came out of high school one year later and is a consistent jump shot away from truly becoming the league’s most dominant big man. Yet, ‘Melo has never seemed comfortable in the non-basketball glare while for Howard and his goofy-but-fun personality, big men other than Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming don’t sell the way the ‘little’ guys do, regardless of what Greg Oden tells you.

Neither the Nuggets nor the Magic were supposed to be in the conversation of the best teams in the league. Yet, despite Boston’s title defense and hype around western teams such as New Orleans and San Antonio, this quartet features the teams that have been the absolute best from start to finish all season long. It took a long time to warm up to Denver, even after the trade for Chauncey Billups, because of the franchise’s recent implosions. The Magic were supposed to have been a second-round casualty because their offensive playbook consisted of just two plays: throw the ball inside to Howard and shoot a three.

These are two teams that outside of the keenest NBA observers are not following the script. In Johnny Ludden’s column for Yahoo! Sports, Kenyon Martin said it perfectly after his team spoiled The Lake Show in Game 2:

“Y’all can go home and play NBA Live or something,” K-Mart grunted, “if y’all want to see that matchup.”

“They got a fight on their hand over here,” Martin said. “And Cleveland got a fight on their hand, as well. It ain’t just going to be us and Orlando lay down, so they can play in two weeks.

“That ain’t going to happen. I’m going to make sure it don’t.”

If both of these teams win out and meet in the Finals, will many of you turn off the TV because the Dream Series that has been projected since last fall did not come to fruition? Any combination of these final four teams will provide us with a great championship series, no matter which names receive top billing. Let’s just hope that the sporting public will afford the same interest and appreciation, regardless of which teams are left standing.

Say What?!?!: Speaking of Madison Avenue, this article just came through Advertising Age's website while putting this post together. Not everyone will be excited if this 'dream' comes true.