UA-59049186-1 Are Super Teams Ruining the NBA? - Good if it Goes

Are Super Teams Ruining the NBA?

On Monday night, the Golden State Warriors put the finishing touches on their second consecutive sweep of this postseason. The day before, the Cleveland Cavaliers did the same, thus making this year’s playoffs the first time in NBA history that two different teams have gone undefeated through the first two rounds. There have been times in years past where there was one juggernaut team, but we have never seen two teams doing it at this level at the same time. All year, most NBA aficionados have been proclaiming that the Warriors and Cavs were on a collision course to meet in the NBA finals for a third straight year, which, were that to happen, would be the first time two teams have met in the finals three years in a row. So far, from what we have seen in the first two rounds, those experts appear to be right. While the other NBA teams struggle to win hard-fought series these two dominant teams are simply coasting alone, wrapping up every series in four games.

This level of dominance by both teams has somewhat taken the drama out of these playoffs and it has a lot of fans and pundits alike asking one question: Has the dominance of the Cavs and Warriors been bad for basketball? From what I have heard on various talk shows and read from many others on social media, the sports world is definitely divided on this topic. Those that side with the “bad for the NBA” crowd claim that the Warriors and Cavs are taking the suspense out of the playoffs. They also cite excessive blow outs and the predictability of having the same teams over and over again in the finals as reasons to why this is bad for the NBA. However, not everyone feels this way and those on the other side claim that it is reminiscent of the 80s when the Lakers and Celtics were dominating the league. They also point to the fact that we could get one of the greatest NBA Finals series of all-time this year.

I fall somewhere in the middle of this argument and would say at this moment it’s hard to say which side is right because the season is incomplete. On one hand people can say that they are tired of the same teams all they want, but I am definitely not interested in a Jazz/Wizards or Celtics/Rockets final just for the sake of something new. It is  definitely exciting to think about the possibility of LeBron James having the chance to upset what I believe is the most talented team ever assembled on paper and by doing so, legitimately putting himself in the conversation for greatest NBA player of all-time.  On the other hand, if the Cavs as a team do not show up and the Warriors dismantle them in five or less, I think that could potentially spell disaster for the NBA. This entire season and playoffs have been about a build up to the NBA Finals. “Just wait until the finals” everyone says. Well I am waiting and I will be watching with the rest of America and we better not be disappointed or this season really would have been bad for the NBA and a waste of all our time.

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