This ridiculous group stage system is complicated me past perception, and zapping my enjoyment of the NBA Cup. Fortunately, I’ve ideas to repair it.
The NBA Cup is getting on my nerves.
I’m completely in favor of the idea in idea — I spent a great many phrases defending it firstly of final season and completely loved Joe Mazzulla declaring struggle on Andre Drummond and deliberately fouling him to run up a 27-point victory to advance to the quarterfinals.
However I’m type of over this complete group stage idea, which works higher in soccer when scores are 3-1 as an alternative of 138-129. I’m type of over “the Celtics have to beat the Bulls by 16 and the Magic must lose to the Pacers or beat them by lower than 7 and/or the Knicks have to commerce for Joel Embiid and the planets have to align in good parallax and all of us must sing ‘Wealthy Lady’ by Daryl Corridor and John Oates in four-part concord” for the Celtics to advance.
I’m type of over 124 phrase Tim Bontemps tweets explaining the situations. I’m type of over the Celtics’ broadcast group brazenly admitting they don’t know precisely what the Celtics have to win, and I type of don’t blame them for it. No person can count on them to know that, as a result of the Celtics are presently profitable by 9, they want the Magic to win, the Bucks have to beat the Pistons by 5 or extra OR the Pistons have to beat the Bucks by six or extra. Like, come on.
The mathematics checks out, however I’m flagging this for the sanity police to try. The truth that the Celtics have some sliding scale of outcomes for a Bucks-Pistons sport is totally asinine, and I don’t perceive why it may’t simply be a knockout event.
Image this: each group is positioned in a 30-team, single elimination bracket, with the 2 NBA Finals groups from the earlier 12 months receiving byes. One sport, midseason insanity, since I’ve had it as much as right here with this group stage absurdity. It can’t be that onerous to place some TBDs on the common season schedule and fly groups out for the video games, proper?
This will sound like bitter grapes, with the Celtics on the mercy of a very absurd three-way barnyard explosion of outcomes that makes Steven Hawking’s idea of parallel universes appear comparatively easy. However I legitimately suppose this may enhance the product that’s nonetheless new sufficient to considerably change.
To those that would say a totally single-elimination bracket would infringe on the sanctity of the playoffs, I’d say that’s pointless fearmongering. No person within the English Premier League thinks the FA Cup holds a candle to the precise Premier League title, and it will make the event a billion occasions extra thrilling and a billion-and-one occasions extra vital.
This group stage feels prefer it was designed to make the event really feel prefer it issues much less, and I’m of the opinion that the NBA ought to lean into the idea relatively than handicapping it by complicated everybody. If the league desires followers to care concerning the NBA Cup, a totally single-elimination event is a method to go, regardless of how logistically complicated. But when they need followers to have the selection to care or to not care like they’re some form of bizarre NBA-cup-based model of Hamlet, then positive, let’s preserve it like this. I want the previous.
