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The National Basketball Association plays an exhaustive 82-game regular season from October through April.
Most NBA regular season games are played with the intensity of a friendly intrasquad scrimmage. The players seem bored much of the time and more focused on building their personal statistics during the lengthy regular season.
About the only time you might observe any significant defensive effort being displayed during a regular season comes halfway through the fourth quarter during a relatively close basketball game.
The top four scoring teams in this year’s NBA regular season (Cleveland, Memphis, Denver, and Oklahoma City) all averaged more than 120 points per game. Just a couple of weeks into the NBA playoffs, only Cleveland and OKC still are scoring 120 points or more per game.
The NBA’s top defensive team in the regular season (Orlando) allowed 105 points per outing. Six of the 16 NBA playoff teams are allowing less than 105 points per game in the early round of the 2025 post-season.
The NBA playoffs bring out the fight in many teams
There were 16 (out of 30) NBA teams which qualified for the playoffs in April.
Fans have observed their favorite basketball team turning up the defensive intensity – much like those classic cartoon showdowns between Bugs Bunny vs. Yosemite Sam.
I watched the normally docile Houston Rockets get into two different physical altercations within 15 minutes on Monday night in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State’s designated heel, Draymond Green, was involved in both of those pushing and shoving matches.
A total of four technical fouls were doled out in those two angry outbursts by the two teams. Green also picked up a flagrant foul along with his “T”.
The Warriors lead the series with Houston 3-2 after the Rockets finally discovered their offense on Wednesday night in Houston in a 131-116 victory.
The series moves back to San Francisco on Friday night for Game 6.
The Warriors’ All-Star shooting guard Stephen Curry is being hacked by Houston defenders as soon as the ball is released from his shooting hand.
Curry’s thumb on his shooting hand was injured a few months ago and has not fully healed.
Houston Rockets defenders are quite aware that NBA referees will not call a foul if the shooter’s arm is hit after the basketball has been released by Steph Curry.
The referees say that the current rules allow this unnecessary extra contact. The Rockets defenders (unofficially, of course) will continue to hack away at one of the NBA’s top stars.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr (a former NBA player with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls teams) said that this officiating decision is “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Why don’t NBA referees call fouls consistently during the regular season and playoffs?
The answer usually involves something akin to “We want the players to decide the games.”
My translation is “Fewer people will watch NBA games on television if the star players are sitting on the bench in foul trouble before halftime.”
Whether in high school, college, or pro basketball, fouls should be called consistently.
Officials in every sport must be consistent to avoid any appearance of favoring one team over another.
Basketball players quickly notice how closely a game is being called by the referees in the opening minutes. Players will increase or decrease the level of pushing, shoving, and excessive physicality upon noticing how closely the referees call fouls in the opening minutes.
The NBA doesn’t want its top players like Steph Curry or Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics sitting on the bench with four fouls before halftime.
Remember that the NBA pays the salaries of the officials. The NBA could easily cut down on the increased physicality during its playoff games simply by calling fouls by the book.
NBA referees shoulder much of the blame for the increasing number of on-court outbursts during the playoff season.
The refs understand that their employer (the league’s management) wants the biggest stars to remain on the court.
That means that NBA players and their coaches know they can get away with more unnecessary roughness during the playoffs. And they do.
NBA East – Boston and Cleveland may be on a collision course
Last June, the NBA’s championship round featured the popular Boston Celtics winning their first title since 2008.
This year’s #2 Eastern Conference seed Boston Celtics just completed a 3-1 series victory over a very physical #7 seed Orlando Magic.
Next up for the C’s will be the winner of the New York Knicks vs. Detroit Pistons match-up. New York leads that series 3-2 heading into Thursday night’s Game 6 in Detroit.
The 2025 regular season NBA Eastern Conference winner was…are you ready…the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The top seeded Cavaliers steamrolled their way to the Eastern Conference title with an impressive regular season record of 64-18.
The #1 Cavs completely demolished #8 East seed Miami Heat in the opening round of the NBA playoffs this week. They set an NBA record victory point margin of 122 points (40.5 points per game) and sent a big message to future opponents that Cleveland’s regular season was not a fluke.
Next up for Cleveland is a Saturday opening game against the #4 seed Indiana Pacers in Round 2. The Pacers polished-off Milwaukee 4-1 earlier this week.
NBA West – A Round 1 “B’bye” to LeBron, Luka, and the Lakers
The 40-year old LeBron James is still playing basketball at a high level. He is starting to show his age playing against much younger stars who are quicker and able to block his shots with ease.
The #3 Western Conference seed Los Angeles Lakers added high scoring former Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic a few months ago in the biggest trade in recent NBA history. Luka’s conditioning and lingering injury status will continue to be a story line heading into next fall.
His new team was just shown the door – at home – in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs.
The #6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves ended the Lakers’ season on Wednesday with a sloppy 103-96 win in Los Angeles.
The T-wolves connected on just seven of their 47 3-point shots (15%) for the game – on the road – and still won.
Minnesota outrebounded the Lakers 54-37 and easily converted a number of shots near the basket. The Timberwolves now move ahead into Round 2 to face the winner of the Golden State vs. Houston series.
The #1 West seed Oklahoma City Thunder easily dispatched #8 Memphis in four straight games.
OKC posted the best regular season record in the NBA this season (68-14).
That’s an impressive 83% winning percentage.
Oklahoma City is getting some rest and will play the winner of the #4 Denver Nuggets and #5 Los Angeles Clippers series. Denver leads 3-2 with Game 6 to be played tonight in Los Angeles.
ABC fears a Cleveland vs. Oklahoma City NBA Finals match-up
Television ratings for the NBA Finals usually tank when there isn’t at least one major market East Coast or West Coast pro basketball team involved.
A June match-up of the NBA’s two regular season conference champions would cause panic at ABC.
Cleveland plays in the #17 ranked television market. OKC operates in TV market #45.
You can be sure that the network brass will be rooting for the NBA’s defending champion Boston Celtics (TV market #7) to oust Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals in a few weeks.
In the Western Conference, the television executives will be quietly pulling for the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers (#2 TV market) to rally and win their series over the #15 TV market Denver Nuggets.
The popular Golden State Warriors (#6 TV market) would show nicely to a national television audience if they are able to dispatch the Houston Rockets (#10 TV market and lacking a major star) on Friday night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves (#15 TV market) await the winner of that series.
OKC and Cleveland opened the playoffs with 4-0 sweeps of their respective first round opponents.
The odds continue to move in favor of the Thunder and Cavs playing in the NBA Finals beginning on June 5.
The biggest Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors fans in America during the month of May will be the advertising sales department at ABC.