NBA Playoffs Lack "Watchability"

Warriors exit, playoff match ups, Suns suspensions take excitement out of the playoffs.

With the Golden State Warriors 100-87 loss Tuesday, not only did the Warriors take their leave from the post-season scene, the best story in the NBA Playoffs went with them.

The underdog Warriors, who upset the NBA best Dallas Mavericks in the first round, were easily the most compelling story in the NBA. With their "live by the three, die by the three," up-tempo style of play, the Warriors amassed a cult following and a legion of celebrity fans, including Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba. It seemed like every game that the Warriors played throughout the playoffs kept viewers from coast to coast on the edge of their seat, even if games would stretch into the early morning on the east coast.

With players like Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson, the Warriors were a powder keg of emotion and energy, and throughout the game the powder keg would explode; with multiple technical and flagrant fouls, along with a number of ejections. After years of half-court, methodical basketball in the playoffs, the Warriors were a breath of fresh air. Warriors coach Don Nelson refused to hinder the decision making of his stars, and it showed with the Warriors shooting an average of 33 three point shots a game throughout their series with the Utah Jazz. Also, in an era in which many believe scoring has gone down, there was not a game in the series in which a team did not score 100 points or more.

What made the Warriors so special was their fans, who are arguably some of the best in the NBA. The sea of yellow "We Believe" t-shirts and the constant noise coming from the crowd created an atmosphere that you could not help but get wrapped up in. In a majority of NBA arenas you find two major types of crowds; 1) The empty arena of a team who is a cellar dweller of the NBA (see the Atlanta Hawks) or 2) The arena in which a team who has become so successful that they have priced their tickets in a way in which the hardcore fans have been prevented from seeing their team live (See the Detroit Pistons). The Warriors' fans seemed like an arena of average joes, who had a great passion for their team and the game and whose emotions were palpable with every home game Golden State played.

Another reason that the NBA playoffs are missing something this year is the way that the league handles certain situations. For one, the seeding system in the NBA is totally flawed. In both conferences, match ups are taking place now that should be Conference Final match ups, with San Antonio vs Phoenix in the West and Detroit vs. Chicago in the East. All of the other major sports re-seed the playoff brackets with every round, except the NBA and it has led abysmal ratings for the Cleveland/New Jersey series, which may be the worst second round series in the history of the NBA.

Finally, Stu Jackson's handling of the situation brought on by Robert Horry's shoving of Steve Nash in the aforementioned San Antonio/Phoenix series was downright atrocious and will surely affect viewers, even if its for one night. For Jackson to suspend an aging roleplayer in Robert Horry for two games and two major players for the Suns in Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw for a game was the wrong move to make. I don't know how Jackson expects his players to act, but when your teammate is shoved into the scorers table in a violent cheap shot late in the game, especially in a series that has already seen its share of chippy play, including a knee to the groin of Steve Nash and an apparant attempt to injure Amare Stoudamire by Bruce Bowen, the first reaction is to come to the aid of your teammate. For Jackson to suspend those players, it majorly hurt the Suns chances of winning the series, only two days after the Suns took back home-court advantage, and seemed on the verge of taking control of the serie. These suspensions have ruffled the feathers on many people in the Suns organization, including Steve Nash, who told espn.com he was "too disgusted" to comment. The validity of these suspensions come severely into question after a video surfaced of Spurs players Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen leaving the bench and clearly stepping onto the court earlier in the game when it looked like a possible fight might break out.

With the best story in the NBA now gone, awful and boring matchups throughout the Eastern Conference, combined with questionable decisions by the NBA policy makers that majorly affect the premier series in the playoffs, its no wonder that ratings for the NBA playoffs are slipping and will continue to slip as the NBA playoffs lack more and more "watchability".