NBA regular season simply a way to ea earn money before the playoffs begin
As the first round of the NBA playoffs nears its conclusion, fans are faced with many questions, perhaps none more compelling than this: “Does the regular season really matter?”
The short answer seems to be, “No.” It’s easy to remember last season’s hardcharging Golden State Warriors – who famously eclipsed the 1996- 97 Chicago Bulls’ record for regular- season wins, then infamously blew a 3- 1 lead in the Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Post hoc fallacy? Sure. But that doesn’t mean fans discount it entirely.
And what about this year’s Cavaliers? Despite having the most talent- laden roster in the watered- down Eastern Conference, they began the playoffs as its No. 2 seed behind the spectacularly unremarkable Boston Celtics. Any fan who was paying attention realized that the Cavaliers were willing to sacrifice a handful of regular- season wins in order to be fully rested for the playoffs.
Presumably, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich would approve. Much to the league’s consternation, Popovich has been pacing his teams in this manner for many years. The results – five championships and one additional Finals appearance in 16 seasons – speak for themselves. No team in its right mind wants to play the Spurs ( this year’s No. 2 seed in the Western Conference) once the playoffs roll around.
So if the regular season is such a grind that coaches regularly hold their starters out of “meaningless” regularseason games, wouldn’t it make sense to shorten the 82- game regular season, thus allowing players, coaches and fans to focus on the playoffs?
That would never happen, of course. The league makes a healthy profit taking fans’ hard- earned money from October to April, so why would it agree to a schedule that includes a pay cut? Maybe a more intelligent response for fans would be to simply pay less attention to the regular season, knowing full well that NBA games don’t really matter until the playoffs begin.