The Cauldron

It is that time again, for the NBA as well as the NHL playoffs. Both sports started their playoff runs at the same time, yet I think that the NBA playoffs are just taking much longer than they should.

The NHL playoffs start out just like the NBA's, they both have four series and each series is seven games to get a league winner, yet they seem to go by faster than the NBA playoffs. I looked into the scheduling of both leagues and realized the NHL holds a game every day, with each series playing one game every other day, even when a team has to travel. Hockey also takes a day in between rounds to play again, not missing one beat.

The times are reasonable as well, the games that are on the West coast start at 10 p.m. eastern standard time. They just started the second round even though the league had two series go into seven games, and two more went into six games.

The NBA on the other hand, has days where a series will not play. Take for example the Cleveland Cavaliers series, now the Cavs did win in four games, but they had a three day break in between the first two games and both games were in Cleveland. It was not like they had to travel to another city and if they did, it would have been in Detroit. It takes one hour to get to Detroit from Cleveland on a plane. Also the announcers on Sunday's game said that if the Pistons were to win the game, then game five would have been Wednesday.

Some of the games in the NBA playoffs are starting late as well. I understand that some are on the west coast, but it is not necessary to have a game start at 8 p.m. on the west coast or 11 p.m. here. The league has had only one series go to seven games, yet they are still in the first round.

If the playoff season keeps this pace then NBA will crown their winner by early June, but the NHL will do so around mid to late May. I understand that the NBA is a better market and are trying to get all the endorsements and publicity that they can get, but it almost seems like once the playoffs end the NBA is already starting the draft and then pre season. The NBA season including the pre-season, regular season and the playoffs take approximately eight months, the baseball season takes just as long and they play 162 games and the same four, seven game series in the playoffs.

When it comes down to it, I will still watch the NBA playoffs. I think they are a thrill to watch - especially this season with the Cavs playing, and the Boston series is as exciting as Crosby facing Oveckin in the NHL playoffs. But I just think that the commissioner should look into the scheduling, it should not take what feels like months to play four playoff series, especially when a team gets swept.

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