The National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have finally begun their playoffs after regular seasons spanning more than 80 games, many of them played by teams "tanking" in order to receive higher draft picks next year as a reward for finishing lower in the standings. Also, these regular season games have often featured marquee players sitting out entire games as a coaching strategy, in spite of the fact that they were the main factor drawing people to spend their hard-earned money to attend their games...what a ripoff. One of the biggest stars, Lebron James, was actually shut down for the final games of the Los Angeles Lakers schedule after it became clear that they wouldn't make the playoffs. Even if you ignore the letdown to Lakers fans (and those in cities the Lakers visited) with this decision, it also affected the other teams as those playing Los Angeles dealt with a lower level of competition when many were vying either to reach the playoffs or attain a higher seeding. I'm not familiar with whether the NHL has these problems, but I imagine something similar has been going on as well. But now we're in the playoffs and tanking and shutdowns are over...and that makes the games legitimate, finally...
I don't really have any teams in the playoffs that I am strongly rooting against, but I will note that for a number of seasons the Philadelphia 76ers had allegedly deliberately lost games during their lean years in order to secure higher draft picks and build the team that way...well, they have a strong team now and I don't feel like rewarding them for doing it that way. In the NBA East the nearby Orlando Magic not only made the playoffs for the first time since 2012, they also surged at the season's end to finish with a winning record and beat the #2 seed Toronto Raptors on the road in the series' first game. In the West I traditionally root for San Antonio and, like Orlando, the lower seeded Spurs upset their opponent Denver in their first game...go Spurs and Magic! I also enjoy sitting back and savoring the excellence of the Golden State Warriors whenever they're on the air. In the NHL I was going to pull for Tampa Bay throughout the playoffs, but the Lightning can't seem to score against a surging, defensively tough Columbus team in the first round and are behind 3 games to 0 and likely to exit the playoffs way too early. After the Lightning, I don't have any particular favorite although for some reason I feel drawn to Boston and Vegas...let's see whether they get to the finals and make me appear psychic...
During this time there's almost always a playoff game going on late in the evening when I get off from work...ahh, games that actually matter with the coaches and players giving it their all, for a change...
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