Regional Sports

A sweep would be the best thing for the NBA

Game 4 becomes the interesting part of the NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors have a chance to make history by going undefeated in the postseason by winning this game, and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will try to avoid being swept on their home court.

So many storylines. So many legacies at stake. So much intrigue. Despite how bad the NBA Finals have been, people will watch to see something special or see if James avoid being swept for the second time of his eight NBA Finals appearances.

It would be some story if James and the Cavs pull another comeback and beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals for the second straight year, but we live in a realistic world, not a perfect world. It’s hard to believe the Warriors are choking a 3-0 lead. Not when Durant is motivated to win his first championship of his career. Not when Stephen Curry wants to get last year’s bitter experience out of his mind once in for all.

Rather than prolong the inevitable, the NBA and the fans are better off seeing history. The Finals have been unwatchable just like the NBA playoffs and the NBA regular season. There’s nothing worth celebrating unless you work for the Warriors or root for them. The sooner the series ends, the better off everyone will be.

The NBA has been tough to watch all year. There is one great team in the Warriors, two above-average teams in the Cavaliers and Spurs and many mediocre to awful teams. It’s not what we call a great product. The Finals reflect everything to what’s wrong with the league, which is there’s no competition. The Cavs are outclassed and overmatched against the Warriors just like any other team in the league.

Honestly, there’s no point watching the series anymore. That’s why it’s the league’s best interest that the Warriors end this as quickly as possible. A sweep would get people to watch, but once the series goes to five or six games, it would be hard for anyone to watch unless this goes to seven.

It would be a better story anyway if the Warriors finish their postseason record undefeated than lose a game or two in the Finals. This would be an accomplishment after falling short of a championship last year despite beating the Bulls’ regular season record of 72 wins by getting 73.

Since people want to see greatness, the Warriors sweeping the Cavaliers would be the perfect illustration to it. It would be anticlimactic if they win the series in five, six or seven.

The Warriors will go for it. They will try to make history. They will approach it as an elimination game just like the Cavs will. They don’t want to give their Finals opponent any hope as they did last year. They want to end this grueling season as quickly as possible. There’s no incentive for them to extend this series.

The Cavaliers winning this game does nothing other than avoiding humiliation of being swept at home. If they are going to win this, they might as well take this to seven games, but it’s going to be hard to beat that powerhouse Warriors team four times in a row. It’s a tall order as it is winning a game.

The league does not care if the Warriors sweep. In fact, one can say the league would promote it for the excellence factor. But ABC paid so much right to the NBA FInals, and the network has gotten nothing out of it outside of a great game 3. The network would like to see this go as far as they can just for advertising revenue and ratings purposes, not for the sanctity of the game.

A sweep would be the only thing appealing about the Finals since the first two games have been awful to watch. There’s no need for any of us to be subjected to any more awful basketball games. It’s better if the Warriors put us out of our misery.

Most basketball fans have checked out. There’s another reason why this should end quickly and painless. They already know who is going to win. Unless the Cavaliers make an impression in Game 4 and maybe beyond, they are not going to change their mind.

There’s no benefit for this series to go any further. This series would be cheapened if this goes any further. We can say excellence happen if the Warriors sweep.

The NBA stinks as it is. Having the Finals go seven is not going to make the league any better, especially when those two teams play for the Finals for the last three years and counting. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

A sweep would be a fitting finish to an awful NBA season.

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