Previously I had mentioned that I was “fiending for some NBA playoff action”. Well the playoffs are here and I’ve got a veritable cornucopia of NBA with 4 games today and 4 tomorrow. The first couple of games, Eastern Conference I might add, were duds. The Cavs smoked, then coasted on, the Bulls. Meanwhile, the Hawks ran away from the Bucks. I don’t expect much out of either of those series, but the Heat might give the Celtics some heartburn. They’ve been leading for most of the game in Boston.
But there’s also the NHL playoffs getting started too. The Washington Capitals being the only winning team in the DC area, and the best regular season team in the NHL, are generating a lot of excitement. They slipped up in game one of their series with Les Habitants, but game 2 was a roller coaster, overtime thriller victory. Forget Ovie, Backstrom is the man. Rock the red!!
A late comer to hockey, I’ve finally figured out at least one of the really distinguishing feature of the game. In many other sports, the game slows down at the end. Football? Get out of bounds, throw an incompletion, spike the ball, the clock stops. Basketball? Foul or call timeouts to extend the game. Baseball? Keep bringing in relievers or keep fouling it off until that 27th out. In hockey, due to continuous play and limited time outs, it’s hard to slow the game down. So the players work harder, faster, and with more desperation in the amount of time remaining. A hockey game accelerates at the end, a refreshing change from other sports.