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With still 5 months before the real playoff battles commence, the Lakers and the Pacers have drawn first blood. The Lakers are 14-10 and 6th in the Western Conference. The Pacers are 13-8 and currently 5th in the Eastern Conference. Will they be able to sustain their In-Season brilliance? Or will the heavyweights make their presence felt in the months ahead?
The sudden-death winner-take-all format for the finals favors the Lakers. The format takes away the stamina requirement that is a great advantage in a long best-of-seven series. Luck has also played a big role in this abbreviated competition, in that the West’s big guns were all minus some key personnel in their rosters.
This is it, folks, the NBA playoffs in a frenetic college-style no-nonsense knockout affair. Action will be hot and heavy, it will be wet and wild. It will be intense, it will insane. It’s the In-season tournament. Go watch.
So far, the new set-up has provided for more interest in the early season games. Players are hyped up to really dive for loose balls. Fans are more attentive to the team standings this early, as they hope for qualifying stage tickets for their teams. The only red light to my mind are the loud court colors, which somehow makes it difficult for guys with weak eyes to see ball movement better.
In a new exciting development, the NBA’s first-ever In-Season Tournament started off last week with a bang. In an effort to add more spice to the early goings of the 82-game long regular season for each team, the NBA came up with a creative abbreviated tourney with an NBA Cup at stake.
The NBA is off to a flying start. There are new players, new alignment of stars and new coaches. As the performance of some older stars start to dip (Lebron James et al), there are mid-level stars who are ready to take over (Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, etc). Plus there are exciting high-flying rookies whose death-defying moves bode well for the NBA. And European-bred players euro-stepping their way to the league. The in-season mini-tourney for the first-ever NBA Cup is something to look forward to. It tells us that the NBA is dynamic and forward-looking. It is creative with good ideas and are willing to try them. Let’s see how it goes.
Color My World 