Sports Time Radio

We’re getting close to the end of the NBA regular season and just like last season there will be a play-in tournament for the teams that finish in the 7th through 10th positions in the standings. Now it is a little oddly set up as the 7th place team will face the 8th place team while the 9th place team plays the 10th place team. You’d think that 7 would face 10 and 8 would face 9, but that’s not what the NBA has scheduled right now. These are one game play-ins; so if you just happen to have a down night in that game you’ll be out of the playoffs before they even start.

So as of right now in the Eastern conference the Boston Celtics would face the Charlotte Hornets. While over in the Western conference the Portland Trail Blazers would face the Golden State Warriors. While the Memphis Grizzlies would take on the San Antonio Spurs.

Now these final four teams could change as there aren’t too many games between a team moving into 5th or 6th place and this is what brought my attention to this little play-in tournament.

Now if you’ve read the blog before or have ever listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that I don’t care much for the NBA and I don’t spend much time actually watching the games. The NBA game has become very boring to me as it’s guys standing around the 3-point line shooting the basketball. There’s also zero defense played as the league believes that fans want to see scoring; so if you actually try to play defense you’d probably foul out of the game before halftime.

What really drew me to this point was after I heard a post game interview with LeBron James. Now the Los Angeles Lakers are currently tied for 5th place in the Western Conference, but are just one game ahead of the 7th place Trail Blazers. Now during this interview James was asked about the play-in tournament and how he’d feel if the Lakers ended up in it. I believe he said that the NBA should fire the person who came up with that idea. Now I actually got a chuckle out of that because if you can remember back to last season James thought that the play-in tournament was a great idea. What changed? I guess the fact that the Lakers could end up with it really swung James opinion the other way.

The one thing that James either forgot or I really should say would never want to admit is that the NBA will make sure if the Lakers end up in that play-in game that they advance. The NBA wants James in the playoffs because they think he equals ratings. Even though last season when most people where stuck at home because of the Covid-19 pandemic the NBA finals with James and the Lakers in it drew the all-time lowest ratings in league history. Unfortunately the NBA hasn’t been smart enough to realize that there’s something wrong with their current game and they are going to continue to jam James down our throats until he retires.

Let’s face it does anyone really not expect to see James and the Lakers in the NBA finals against whoever ends up coming out of the Eastern conference?

I won’t be surprised at all when the Lakers enter the playoffs as whatever type of lower seed they get and then go all the way to the NBA finals. Then will get to listen to the media talk about what a great run this team made from the underdog seed. Really the Lakers with James and Anthony Davis an underdog, but that’s how they’ll try to sell it. I just hope they’re are people who aren’t dumb enough to buy that. This Lakers team was picked to go to the NBA finals by just about everyone. Now injuries to Davis and James have slowed them down and that’s why they’re currently tied for 5th in the Western conference, but like James himself has mentioned before; the regular season doesn’t matter.

So what do you think. Are the Lakers the team that will represent the Western conference in the NBA finals? Or is it possible that a team like the Utah Jazz or the Phoenix Suns ; who are tied for the best record in the Western conference make it to the NBA finals? How the teams right behind them like the Los Angeles Clippers or the Denver Nuggets. Let me know who you’ve got coming out of the Western conference?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

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