Are we about to witness the best NBA playoffs ever? And by that I mean, could this be the best professional sporting tournament of all-time?
Excuse the sweeping, possibly naive, fan boy statement. I’m not going to preface that rhetorical question with a justification or hammer away on why this version of the NBA is better than anything the NHL, MLB, or NCAA can produce (sans future football playoff). I’ve made that case already.
If you tuned in at any point this weekend, which is likelier than ever as NBA ratings continue to climb, there’s a 100 percent chance you were entertained.
Saturday morning the eighth-seeded Indiana Pacers outplayed the Chicago Bulls for 45 minutes behind a balanced offensive attack until Derrick Rose happened. The Heat were bailed out by Dwayne Wade in the closing moments. The uber-talented Atlanta Hawks shot lights out and survived one of the most dominating playoff games of all-time from Dwight Howard. Dirk Nowitzki hit clutch shot after clutch shot against the Portland Trailblazers, a team that outplayed the Dallas Mavericks for three quarters — and Saturday paled in comparison to Sunday’s drama.
Here’s the thing: The talent in the NBA has gotten so great that seventh and eighth seeds are capable of taking high seeds to the wire.
It has never been this competitive before. There has never been a time in any sport that I know of where there is this kind of combination of young, in-prime and veteran hall-of-fame talent.
This weekend alone you saw six future hall-of-famers either take over the final moments or hit game-winners. Kevin Durant, Nowitzki, Rose, Wade and Chris Paul were each unstoppable in their own unique, totally entertaining way.
Ray Allen, arguably the greatest shooter of all-time, made another clutch playoff three set up by another Hall-of-Famer only to see another future HOF’er come up just short.
There are three other NBA post-seasons that I think have a chance at comparing with this one when it’s over.
In 1984 there were seven series that came down to the final game, including six in the first round. But 1984 was short on transcendent talent, as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Isaiah Thomas and Bernard King were the only sure-fire future hall-of-famers. That class is not as good as the current one.
Alex English, Daryl Dawkins, James Worthy and Robert Parrish headlined the second-tier of stars, as Clyde Drexler and Dominque Wilkins were just coming into their own.
There were eight series decided in the final game in 1988, and that year included the epic battles between the Pistons and Celtics and the Karl Malone/John Stockton Jazz and Lakers and a great Finals between the Lakers and Pistons.
It featured a physically in-prime Michael Jordan (who began his domination of the Cavaliers, which were an underrated team of that generation), Drexler, Wilkins, and a broader mix of great young and veteran players.
The 1993 playoffs probably comes in second behind 1988 when considering talent and great teams. It was the era of great forwards and centers, including Charles Barkley and the Suns, David Robinson and the Spurs, Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets, Malone, Alonzo Mourning and the Hornets, Patrick Ewing and the Knicks, Shawn Kemp and the up-tempo Seattle Supersonics and the end of McHale Celtics.
It was probably Jordan’s best post-season, and it featured two of the best conference finals of all-time: Bulls versus Knicks and Suns versus George Karl’s Seattle Supersonics.
The 2011 playoffs have a lot to live up to if they want to beat the 1988 and 1993 post-seasons, but if the weekend was any indication, it’s got a great shot.
Reach the columnist at nick.ruland@asu.edu
