This was the ugly scene last night between the Knicks and Warriors, and should be a microcosm of the NBA til about February. |
After watching the Knicks suffer an ugly loss to the Golden State Warriors last night, I realized something about the NBA season; don't expect the season to pick up 'til February.
Now that the overly anticipated Christmas Day games are over the NBA season came back down to earth, as we watched the Celtics go 0-3 and the Knicks and Bulls lose ugly ones to the Warriors. The NBA product just simply isn't there. Teams haven't had enough practice or preseason games to get into their rhythm and won't be until February. Due to the ridiculous amounts of back-to-backs coaches won't have as many opportunities to practice and get their new acquisitions to gel with their old players. Elite players will be colder than a Minnesota March, point guards will fill up the turnover column, and rebounders, well, won't rebound. Expect field goal percentages to drop faster than an Italian after a slide tackle. It's going to be the a sight for sore eyes.
Don't just ignore the NBA though, we still will get some great games. Any of the big games like Knicks vs. Heat, Heat vs. Celtics, Bulls vs. Heat, Grizzlies vs. Thunder, etc will still be high-quality. But your team's games that aren't as nationally important will make you wanna go grab an aisle of Tums. The teams with superstar individuals will still be able to steal games, but for those first 15 games or so the role players will be as lost as Gucci Mane at a country club. These 15 miserable games could help some random playoff team get a solid foundation in order for them to sneak into the playoffs. Though I'm not sure any of the serious contenders, like the Bulls, Knicks, Celtics, Thunder, or Grizzlies will build themselves a big enough hole not to get out of. Don't be surprised if by the 15 game make most of these teams sit at 8-7 or 7-8.
By February the NBA should be back in full swing, and I understand that's a long time to wait, but it will be well worth it. Before the almost disastrous lockout, the league was the most popularity it had been since the Knicks and Bulls were going at it in the 90s.
Guess the only people celebrating will be TNT, ABC and ESPN; they're the only ones getting good game for the first month.
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