I would not be the first person to suggest that NBA basketball looks a bit different in the playoffs than it does in during the regular season. By all accounts, it’s more physical, more intense, and perhaps best put, played at a higher level. That makes sense, of course, because the stakes are much higher in playoffs, where a loss can mean the end of the season and, long term, the juxtaposition of history and legacies. There’s never that much riding on a single game played in November, outside of Vegas at least. The same is not true for a game played in June.
Of course, right now we’re in the middle of some particularly significant matchups despite it being the very beginning of what will be a long playoff run. Technically, it’s not even the playoffs, which officially start on the 22nd. Last night began the play-in tournament, which the NBA would like to be known as the State Farm play-in tournament for obvious reasons. This new format asks the 7th through 10th seeded teams in each conference to play a one to two game series to officially earn your way into the actual playoffs. Prior to this year, the top eight teams automatically made it. Now, it’s not so simple.
I’ll spare you the details of process, but this whole concoction seems to be based on two ideas. First, it forces more teams to play harder during the back end of the regular season, either to try and earn a spot in the play-in or to avoid it by getting up to the six seed. The NBA has become someone synonymous for the concept of mailing it in, essentially killing time until they play the games that really matter and reducing physical tax and injury risk of a long regular season. The League also hopes this keeps a few more teams from completely folding when the playoffs are out of reach, trying to lose to get a better spot in the draft lottery. At the very least, the NBA hopes this might keep the final few weeks of the season, shall we say, interesting.
By very early estimations, the play-in event does look pretty interesting. Maybe not last night, when the Celtics and the Pacers won easily in the Eastern Conference. But tonight, in the West, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors in a one game showcase – the winner is in, and the loser has to beat either San Antonio or Memphis to make it. That means the League’s two biggest show teams featuring what I’d still consider its two biggest stars in LeBron James and Steph Curry. After tomorrow night, one of them will be just one game from watching the playoffs just like the rest of us – on TV.
It’s no surprise that we’ve seen vocal opposition against the new format from players – and some owners, like Mark Cuban. From a player perspective, especially a mega star with lots of miles on tires, this does nothing but provide new and unique opportunities to both get hurt and get bounced from the post-season without even the dignity of a best of seven series. Considering risk/reward, this falls just south of drinking old milk because it might not make you sick. It’s also no surprise that the experiment is likely here for the long haul. The next time that a major professional sports league decides to play fewer big games to make less money will be the first.
What we don’t and can’t yet really know is whether this will change the way athletes address the NBA regular season, or if that ship left the harbor long ago. Adding a few extra games to start the post season doesn’t make an 82-game regular season any less taxing. And it ignores the fact that seven and eight seeds don’t win NBA Championships anyway. So while it creates some excitement at the edges, it’s more ripple than tidal wave.
Of course, in the end, it’s all quite simple. This extra play-in, like the extra-long regular season, is simply the opportunity to make more money. Which, as you know, is the goal of this any every other professional sports organization. It’s a calculus in which all members of the League – from owners down to players – are complicit. So beyond the arguments about whether this is a good idea remains a constant – it will generate more revenue. And it will be here to stay. As will the difference between the NBA regular season, and whatever comes after it.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler
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