This is lame...

 

Have you noticed the trend of blowout NBA Playoff games in recent years?

If you haven't become aware of this truly terrible new playoff tradition, perhaps there's an article out there doing some deep dive on the trend. I'll just bring up a few examples, first being the Heat vs Bucks score that I just checked on a few minutes ago. Keep in mind that the Heat won Game 1, and are led by one of the most hungry playoff competitors we've ever seen, and Giannis isn't even playing. But here we are, watching the Heat hand over a 32-point lead in the 2nd quarter of a playoff game?

Just browsing through last year's various playoff series, it's truly stunning how many blowouts show up in almost every series, and from both teams! Suns vs Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals is particularly brutal, and it culminated in one of the most infamous playoff blowouts in recent memory. Here are the highlights:

Game 1 - Suns win by 7

Game 2 - Suns win by 20

Game 3 - Mavericks win by 9

Game 4 - Mavericks win by 10

Game 5 - Suns win by 21

Game 6 - Mavericks win by 27

Game 7 - Mavericks win by 33

How do you account for a games like these? The answer is simple and pathetic, but everyone knows it and lives with it: Once an NBA team thinks a playoff win is unlikely, they phone it in for the night and begin conserving energy and resources for the next game.

It has led to some of the most unentertaining and cowardly playoff series you can imagine. In the above Suns vs Mavericks series, the teams essentially took turns letting one another win for four games, with the only real efforts coming in games 1, 3, and 4. Maybe they put in the work for a quarter, maybe two. But in today's load-management NBA, better to give up and stay healthy than fight to the end. 

This is a serious problem for the NBA. It's hard to generate hype for a game that you know has a 50/50 chance of being an intentional blowout for either your team or the opponent. I would have much more respect for (and much more enjoyment watching) a team that plays hard, honest basketball for 4 quarters, night in and night out. Not only that, but players that play hard for 82 games, or close to it. Imagine if regular employees took as much time off work as these multimillionaire pro athletes. No one wants to see the Heat's bench mixing it up with the Bucks' bench, with the game already decided before its halfway point. That's not playoff basketball.

A different but related problem is tanking, especially in the leadup to the NBA draft. Once again, we have teams intentionally losing games for a perceived longer-term benefit.

A New Culture

Know who this guy is? Probably not unless you're a serious NBA fan or casual Suns or Nets fan. He's Mikal Bridges, and he hasn't missed a game for 392 consecutive games. The guy doesn't take days off, or games off. He shows up and puts in work every night. 

That's the kind of culture the league needs to (re?)discover. A culture where it would be almost unthinkable, and absolutely un-classy to rest when healthy, or to give up on a game in the 2nd quarter. The problem is, our modern stars aren't in that mindset. Mikal Bridges isn't a big enough name to get the movement going. The biggest names like LeBron, Curry, Durant, Leonard, Jokic, etc. are all willing to go on with this little game.

A New Star

This is a league that grows and diminishes with the rise and fall of generational star players like Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron. We need a new generational player, a guy who pushes back against the load management era and competes hard every night in the spirit of MJ and the Black Mamba. Giannis is probably the new top dog, but he is renowned more for his physical abilities than his hustle and consistency in showing up. We need another guru, a guy with the talent to be the very best but the old-fashioned work ethic to dig the modern NBA out of its blowout-trading, always-resting, injury-prevention era. Maybe a guy like Evan Mobley, who played 79 games this season and is full of particularly defensive potential.

Just Stop

One way or another, I hope that the NBA as a whole realizes how pathetic its playoffs have often become, and does something to address it. It's a bit of a buzz kill to head into the playoffs each year filled anticipation, only to have your excitement fizzle out as the blowout trade game begins. Let's watch some real basketball, please.