The NBA playoffs are bringing out the crazy in mainstream media talking heads. People need to think, calm down and most importantly, breathe.
In 2017, a person looking for a successful career either talking or writing about sports needs to understand a few things. You can’t be reasonable. You can’t be honest. You have to be a raving lunatic, willing to go mouth-to-mouth with Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith and the like.
Have fun with that.
We’re seeing plenty of the breathless nonsense that always comes form high-stakes games. Russell Westbrook has a bad Game 1 against James Harden and the Houston Rockets, and he’s supposed to get dinged in the MVP race (which has already seen the votes cast). The Boston Celtics lost Game 1, and they are suddenly falling victim to a rising Chicago Bulls team.
It’s all wildly premature and uninformed, but that’s what the average viewer wants. Therefore, you get what you deserve, right? Wrong. Because some of you, most of you, want more.
For you fine folks, think about the Utah Jazz. This is a team that lost its best player in the first quarter, on the road, and was able to win. Utah, facing a front line that includes Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, took down the Clippers without Rudy Gobert, relying on a mixture of Derrick Favors and Joe Johnson to earn the victory.
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The real story of these playoffs is yet to be written. Of course, nobody can wait for that, because it would make for measured takes. And who has time for that, when you can be entertaining by screaming about things that don’t matter, 24/7?