The NBA playoffs in general have been very exciting. You had the Orlando/Philly series, Boston/Chicago series, Orlando/Boston series, Orlando/Cleveland series, LA/Denver and now the Orlando/LA finals. We all know that the NBA wanted a Lakers/Cavs series. What they got was a battle between Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant.
The series is exciting enough all on its own. It has already gone to two over time games, and the stars have been outstanding as expected. The only thing that bothers me is the ridiculousness of the coverage provided.
ESPN has non stop coverage of the Finals and has overblown it to an insane level. The amount of analysis that they attempt to provide is unnecessary and overall retarded. They have been providing stats such as “On a Tuesday night Finals game that starts at 7pm or later, Kobe Bryant is the leading scorer in 3rd quarter points in Finals history.” This has gotten out of control. They have introduced “technologies” that try to help explain the “intricacies” of the game to the lay person in humiliating ways. ESPN has taken the graphics from NBA Live and try to use it to provide in depth explanations of team strategies. Unbelievable. This stupid feature rivals in terms of crappiness with the hologram or holograph feature that CNN used during the presidential election in which Wolf Blitzer was interviewing Will-I-Am from the Black Eyed Peas.
Magic Johnson should give up his commentator position immediately. He brings very little insight and information considering his finals’ tenure. Mike Breen reports like a robot. Jeff Van Gundy tries too hard not to talk about his brother. The only person who is half way decent is Mark Jackson believe it or not, who attempts to bring honest insight into his discussion.
As much as I like watching the games, I almost wish the series were over already. I want to be able to watch Sports Center for a few minutes without hearing about Superman, Kobe’s scowl, or Mickael Pietrus’ decision not to wear Kobe Bryant sneakers during the finals. And please, someone tell Nike that their Lebron/Kobe ad campaign featuring puppets should come to an end already.
