Why no one cares about the finals

[FerdBrown]

for people who don't care about the finals, you sure do post a lot about it.

I notice too.

[FerdBrown]

[/quote]It just seems that whenever something doesn't work out as planned, there's suddenly a huge problem that needs to be fixed immediately. If David Stern adopted that line of thinking, the playoff format would change annually which would be ridiculous.[/quote]

I agree with you and especially this last point. It is not healthy for the league to be subjected to changes when the Finals does not feature acrobatic players. The 2007 NBA Finals happened as is because the so-called "great teams", the "ohhs and ahhs", ie GSW, DAL, etc, take your pick -- except Spurs, were not that excellent really. They failed their games.

If people want acrobatic basketball, then they can hit the streets. Or create another league called National Dunkfest Associaton.

[air gordon]

if the Spurs played in a big market such as L.A, New York, or Chicago, the name of this thread would be "why everyone cares about the finals"

the forum would be full of Duncan, Manu, TP sigs & avatars, Spurs bandwagoners everywhere. forget Karl Malone- there would be heated debates on whether Duncan is better then Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain

can you imagine that

[jonthefon]

Yeah, they would. But San Antonio's a quiet part of Texas

Hell, I reckon people would know more of Austin than San Antonio.

[BigKaboom2]

No one cares about the finals because it's not a matchup of the two best teams. The Spurs-Suns series was, however. That's why Bill made the proposal he did - so that the conferences didn't impede the Finals from being the best team in the league (from the West) against whichever East team managed to squeeze through the cracks.

Anyway, check out his podcast from Friday in which he interviews David Stern - it's apparent that David Stern isn't an idiot and that there's no easy solution to the current state of the NBA.

[shadowgrin]

Even if I find him funny, Bill Simmons is a douchebag with anything that seriously relates to basketball.

[BigKaboom2]

How so? I've never gotten any sort of holier-than-thou vibe from him - he just watches tons and tons of basketball and is one of the few hardcore NBA fans left.

[shadowgrin]

My personal opinion mostly.

All he does on most of his articles is bitch and whine. I think the only way he would stop the whining is that if the Celts win the championship, and we all know how impossible that is at this point in time.
If the Celts do win a championship in his lifetime, he would probably have no job, because the foundation of his whinyness would have been gone and he would have no more to write about.

[Sauru]

you know instead of changing the playoff format, why not fix the league? throw a hard cap on the teams and stop allowing for powerhouses. the league is also too big now and thats causing problems. i tell ya remove 2-4 teams and throw a hard cap on everyone(btw the players union would never allow it so oh well) and the entire league becomes a shit load better

[Jeffx]

Remember Jordan did not always do it by himself, he needed teammates to help him.

LeBron's in the same situation. He needs better teamates who can finish plays when he gets them the damn ball. Here's where management has to step up.

Sauru is right about the league being too big. For years, I've been saying expansion is killing the NBA.

[Gundy]

Bill Simmons irks me as well. I just can't stand (or read on a regular basis) articles written by someone that is completely obsessed with sports. I mean, I'm sure he has a life and family, but he tries to make sports seem way more important than they actually are.

[Axel]

[quote="ixcunicle"]The Spurs are "boring" because they don't play Phoenix "And1" basketball and actually play defense. I have never understood how people find teams like Phoenix and Washington etc exciting teams , to me I will watch the game regardless of the team playing and enjoy it as long as it is a close , competitive game. [.quote]

oh please. Don't start with the argument that everyone is hating on the Spurs because they play defense. Wrong.

Watching the Spurs play is like being on a rollercoaster that just goes in a circle. The Spurs are efficient, but there is no excitement to their game. You never actually feel involved in the action which is what a fan wants most. I love to watch a good defensive dogfight, but the Spurs don't play the 'hustle' type of defense. They're just always in the right place at the right time. Watching players take charges, flop, etc isn't exciting at all. I would much rather see players taking chances at steals, diving on the floor for loose balls, or watching someone like Josh Smith come in and make a fantastic block. You don't get that with the Spurs.

Then, offensively, they're equally 'nonchalant'. Same play every trip essentially....

A few years ago when the Pistons were playing the Lakers in the finals, I thought those were the best finals I had ever seen. Not because I liked the Pistons, but because I loved the energy they brought on DEFENSE. The Spurs just dont have that energy that draws people to them.

[Laxation]

Horry had some pretty sick blocks in game 3

Offensively they can get boringly repetitive, in that they go through Duncan all the time, but the chance to see Parker make an awesome layup in between 2 7 footers makes it worthwhile
Or even the chance to see Duncan do an awesome move... Or the chance to see Varejao flop, get a no-call, followed by a Duncan dunk!

[Andrew]

Personally I find most, if not all, of his suggestions to be totally logical. I agree with nearly everything he says (and its usually comedic too...)
The way he argues it doesnt affect me, since I agree with his suggestions in the first place.

He knows his stuff and it's not as though his suggestions are all completely outrageous but he's not an infallible genius either. If his solutions were all the logical course of action, the league probably would have gone that way by now. David Stern isn't infallible either but it's become popular to paint him as a clueless moron who's running the league into the ground and while I don't agree with all his decisions, I think that's still a wild exaggeration. If Stern was as incompetent as a lot of people like to portray him, the league would have folded a long time ago.

But yeah, it stands to reason that anyone who agrees with his point of view won't have any argument with his style. Given that I don't, I'm naturally going to find his stance on "true fans" somewhat objectionable.

Not really, hes been bitching about the state of the NBA for a long time
You just have to go through one or 2 pages of his archives to find about 6 articles...

That's what I find strange. For one of the "19 biggest basketball fans on the planet", he sure doesn't seem to enjoy the sport or find many positives about it. I guess we all approach our fanatical devotion differently though.

That's bullshit. People need to stop whining and accept that one team was simply better than any other, they ended up against a less experienced team this year, but it's not like this kind of situation has been happening every year. If it had, there would have been more sweeps in the past 10-15 years.

Exactly. Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces. 2007 wasn't the first time that one team has been overmatched in the Finals, the series ended in a sweep or a more desirable matchup was derailed by an upset. It isn't the ideal situation but if we want unpredictability in sports, the simple fact of the matter is that not everyone is going to be enthused about the outcome.

Last year's changes now look like a joke since a huge song and dance was made about the travesty that was a Conference Finals calibre matchup taking place in the second round. So the change was made to ensure such a matchup wouldn't take place before the Conference Finals and lo and behold, it didn't happen anyway because of an upset. If they want to manipulate the Playoffs so certain matchups take place, they might as well rig the whole thing.

The only thing that is "boring" in the NBA is blowouts , Game 2 was so bad I nearly fell asleep on the couch. Games 3 and 4 remained relatively close , so I couldn't say those were boring.

That's what I felt was boring about the first four games of the 2005 NBA Finals, not the style of the Spurs and Pistons. When you neither strongly like or dislike either team playing, a close game is preferable to a blowout. The final three games made that series much more interesting since the game was in the balance down to the final minute.

How so? I've never gotten any sort of holier-than-thou vibe from him - he just watches tons and tons of basketball and is one of the few hardcore NBA fans left.

It's the fact that he keeps using terms like being one of the last true NBA fans or one of the "biggest 19 basketballs fans on the planet", often suggesting (something implicitly, other times more explicitly) that his view is the truth and those who see it differently aren't true basketball fans. We all approach our fanaticism in different ways and while he's not an idiot, I do believe it is possible to question Basketball According to Bill Simmons. Watching tons and tons of basketball doesn't automatically make him unquestionably correct in all his assertions.

[Jugs]

People who think that change is needed in the NBA are just bitter fans. What needs to change is your team, the way it plays, what it does, etc. Not the freakin play-off format or suspension rules.

Get over it, people don't realize what happens, happens, and you can't change that. The Spurs happened to beat the Suns, Jazz and Cavs to win the finals. The Mavs, heavy contenders, lost in the first round. Yeah, they weren't the best team when it counted.

So the Spurs were the best team when it counted, a lot of people don't realise this and then they have a vagina rant about how rigged everything is. You can just go and lick my balls.

Honestly, just because the team that the vast majoriy of people like do not succeed, it's not the league's fault, its the team fault.

Better luck next season is all I can say.

Edit: as hypocritical as this sounds, I actually like the Entertaining-as-Hell tournament idea

[jonthefon]

They should make two occasional expansion teams and hold a March-Madness-esque tournament during the off-season to create excitement