May is the most intense month in professional sports, as both the NBA and NHL are in the thick of the playoffs. Between the two, there are 32 teams fighting for their championship lives, looking to hoist the trophy high, the result of 82 games each of fighting, clawing, and driving for the final goal.
The difference in playoff intensity this year, though, could not be more different. In the NBA, it has been a downright boring playoffs. Of the opening series, only three of eight went to six games, while there was only one Game 7 across the board. Since then, the Cavaliers and Warriors have each waltzed right into the Finals, with little more than a few token wins for their opponents. Games have, as a general rule, been blowouts, lacking anything that resembles the drama we all have come to love from the playoffs. Last year, we saw the eventual champion Spurs have to flex their muscles just to get to the Finals, getting the best play from Dallas, to Portland (ok, not really Portland, but still…) , and Oklahoma City en route to the Heat and the championship. This year, only the Bulls were able to put even the slightest of dents into the Cavaliers’ domination, and the Grizzlies were the closest to giving the Warriors even a hint of a hard time.
This could not be in greater contrast with the absolutely epic playoffs coming out of the NHL. Six of the first eight series went to a game 6, with no team earning multiple sweeps this post-season. For the first time in 15 years, both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals are going to a Game 7, and it is next to impossible to predict who will win either. The hard-hitting Ducks square off against the finesse game of the Blackhawks, while Ben Bishop’s Lightning try to find the net against King Henrik and the Rangers. Overall, there hasn’t been a dull game yet, and Friday and Saturday will be absolutely epic to set up next week’s finals.
The real difference comes from league parity, something that the NHL has in abundance, but is a fatal flaw for the NBA. When teams enter the playoffs with a losing record, it can be assumed that they won’t put up much of a fight against the best in the league. Nobody was very interested in a Celtics-Cavaliers matchup, nor Pelicans-Warriors. Meanwhile, any NHL team can match up against any other, depending on the night and the arena. Only ten points separated the best team in the Western playoffs from the lowest, leading to 4 simply epic matchups. The East is a little more diverse (15 points from top to bottom), yet the Wild Card team who was the 8 seed happened to be the very legitimate Cup threat Penguins.
Despite the lackluster NBA and the electric NHL, national attention is almost entirely on the hardwood. Yet this should be a huge opportunity for hockey’s coming out party. For anyone who has never seen the excitement, felt the passion, and felt to breathe for minutes at a time, the NHL playoffs are, by far, the cream of the crop when it comes to the post-season. There is no better feeling than the anxiety of driving your team forward in the playoffs. Overtime playoff hockey is the single greatest showing of sports drama, and has happened in abundance this season. When one city can talk about nothing but their boys on the ice, you know you have a playoffs worthy of your attention. The City of Chicago is painted red, and it isn’t for the Bulls.
I’m voting with my remote control, and you can bet that, next week, when both Finals are going on, I’m going to pick Lord Stanley over Larry O’Brien. (C’mon. Which is more illustrious sounding between THOSE two?)
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