We are careening into darkness. In just a month we will have NBA and NHL champions. The Night Before will come to an end and we will begin looking forward to football season. Though you should expect some NFL content within the next few weeks here on the blog and over at footballbreakdowns.com. The end of the sports season, with apologies to baseball, which I just flat-out refuse to watch unless it is in person. Time for the off -season, nearly, but we are not there yet.
NBA and a Youtube TV disaster
I would write about Heat Celtics and a thrilling game one, but guess what, I have Youtube TV. I pay an extravagant amount of money for it and it failed me in a big spot.
From about the end of the second quarter on the game was unwatchable due to buffering issues and finally the fact that for the last quarter, the streaming service lost the feed to the game.
Not a good look for the company that the NFL has entrusted Sunday Ticket to. I pause my subscription from June-August because again, I do not watch baseball, but I hope that for those that do pay for it YouTube TV gives them a discount.
These are the perils of the new way to get sports. In five to ten years we will likely have to pay for sports on TV. Gone will be the days of antenna television and ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox broadcasting sports for free. It’s not something I am looking forward to but something I am certainly expecting.
But having streams cut out in key moments of games is unacceptable for companies charging close to $100 a month for their services. Sports are becoming a luxury item, but I suppose if my disposable income goes anywhere I can live with it being professional sports leagues. It’s the price to pay to write the night before though, which I quite enjoy doing.
The Games
It seems as though we are set up to have two absolutely great series. The Lakers and Nuggets look to be two teams with tremendous star power and great matchups all over the floor.
Can Anthony Davis lock down Nikola Jokic? So far the answer seems to be no. Can Jamaal Murray defend effectively in the pick and roll? Again, the evidence from game one says he struggles in that regard.
What does LeBron James do in this series? In each of the past two, he’s done a good job of providing some load management for himself throughout the game. He picks his spots to engage, will he be able to do that against a dominant offensive team in Denver?
This is a unique series in my eyes, two teams, at peak health who have been billed as the west’s two premiere teams all year long.
It’s an intriguing fight between the old and new era NBA. I expect the Lakers to make adjustments, I expect the Nuggets to dominate at home. This thing has the makings of a series that goes 7. It will make for good night before columns.
The Night Before In Boston
I’d like to say the same thing about the Celtics Heat series, I really would.
I do believe the Celtics are a dominant NBA team with a complete roster that should be viewed as a title favorite, but the Heat exist.
No, it’s not the Heat. The fighting Miami Jimmy Butlers might just be the best team in the NBA. I really don’t think I’ve seen anything like this in my lifetime of watching basketball (about 2013 on) outside of maybe the Cavs title year with LeBron.
Even though that team had prime Kyrie Irving, the Heat’s secondary stars are Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo (nothing against those guys, they’ve been awesome in this run but neither are prime Kyrie).
Jimmy Buckets is on a run like I don’t think we have ever seen since maybe Kobe or Jordan. He just takes over games and he does it every night.
The funniest part is if you watched him for a stretch in mid February, you probably would think Jimmy Butler is a middling NBA talent who is at best a secondary contributor, something about bright lights though.
I am not sure I can think of another comparison, maybe prime Brady, but even prime Brady dominated in the regular season. Maybe it’s Joe Burrow, I sort of like that comparison, the two feel like they have similar genetics.
Clutch playoff performers that wait until the biggest moments to show up. Do the Celtics have a chance? Probably, Jason Tatum has found a rhythm.
Heat in 6 though and Nuggets in 7.
NHL Playoff Bullet Points
East
- The Panthers are a fantastic story. Win the president’s trophy, lose early in the playoffs, blow up the core, retool the roster. Look like a middling team from October-Mid March, now the team is on a run that has stretched over two months now and has included toppling the so-called best NHL team of all time in the Bruins and then quickly dismantling a Leaf’s team that got through one round of the playoffs and then decided to call it quits.
- Sergei Bobrovsky has had a rough two years. After winning the Vezina twice it looked as though late career regression had hit the russian goaltender. He was benched for a rookie in March, but after taking the reigns back in the second round he looks like the dominant Bob of old.
- Matthew Tkachuk is a beast, has been since he entered the league, excited to watch him now on the NHL’s second biggest stage.
- The Hurricanes are another great story, they lost their core stars to injury and through great coaching they are back in the conference finals. I’m sleeping on this team though, something feels special with the Panthers.
- Panthers in 6.
The Night Before Western Conference Preview
- Pretty much anyone can play goalie for Vegas and be great. It’s a credit to goaltending coach Mike Rosati.
- I am very in for this series, goaltending battle, my favorite type of hockey matchup. Styles also make fights and the Stars and Knights player a similar style of up and down hockey with a solid mix of grit and physicality.
- Jake Oettinger was up and down against the Kraken but found his best stuff in game 7, if he’s on, he is the best player in the series hands down.
- It’s nice to see Jack Eichel on this stage, always overlooked because of being drafted the same year as McDavid he has always to me been an elite top 15 type hockey player. His defensive smarts really show up on this Golden Knights team. It makes me sick as an Avs fan because of my general disdain for Vegas hockey but this does look like the best team remaining in the playoffs and that is largely due to Eichel.
- This thing better go 7, I need it to go 7. I will be doing my damndest to watch every game.
- Vegas in 7.