5 Reasons the NBA Playoffs Are Delightful

Apologies if you saw the beginning of this last night – I’m still not sure how touching a post marked “local draft” in the WordPress app made it publish, but here’s the full version.

We have been watching a LOT of NBA Playoffs at my house. It started because we were checking on the Knicks and the Thunder (uh, and the Nets- we have a lot of basketball allegiances) and yet “hey is a game on tonight?” has become a common refrain.  There’s just so many things I find delightful this year. Here are five of them.

Five for Friday: Superstar Owners

Smoldering Justin is everybody’s favourite Justin

Remember when Justin Timberlake was a musician? Neither do I. But according to this report, he’ll soon be adding “Memphis Grizzlies co-owner” to his list of roles which currently include actor, SNL quasi-regular, and Jessica Biel arm candy. That’s great. So instead of recording a followup already to 2006’s Futuresex/Love Sounds we’ll have to settle for seeing his mug at Grizzlies games.

(Hey, it’s a good pop album.)

Timberlake isn’t the first celebrity investor to pour truckloads of cash into a sports franchise, however ill-advised it can be. Here’s five more that come to mind:

Mr. Monday: Kevin Durant

Since it’s been all of five months since we did a post on Kevin Durant, we thought it was time for another montage of the Thunder’s forward. Never mind, of course, that he led Oklahoma City to a Game 7 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday with a stellar postseason offensive performance (39 points!) The team will return to the West final for the first time in 15 years when they were the celebrated Seattle (Super)Sonics. It won’t be an easy task, mind you: they’re facing the Mavs. But aren’t you glad to see a West final that doesn’t include Kobe for a change?

More Durant deliciousness and your Monday music fix after the jump.

Great Eight: The Memphis Grizzlies

If a miracle 3 pointer hadn’t saved the Spurs last night, this post would have been a celebration of the Memphis Grizzlies unlikely domination of the #1 seed in the Western Conference. Not only have 8 seeds won NBA playoff series only two previous times in history, the Grizzlies, in both their Memphis and Vancouver incarnations, had never won a playoff game before this series.

So it’s now 3-2, and still possible the Spurs (being the Spurs) could pull off two more wins and restore numerical sanity to the playoffs.  Regardless, Memphis has been entertaining to watch … and not too shabby in still pictures, either! Perfect for trying out our new gallery capabilities.

NBA Haiku Preview Part III: Pacific and Southwest Divisions

Chris Paul is good for America.

The NBA season starts in just under a week (I know!), so it’s time for the last installment of our Haiku Previews. (If you missed them, part one is here, part two is here .)

Again, this week’s haikus would not have been possible without TrueHoop, Henry Abbott’s excellent NBA blog and the various NBA team blogs hosted at SBNation.   If you are even mildly curious about what’s going on in professional basketball, you should check these sites out.

Today we tackle the last two Western Conference divisions: the Pacific and the Southwest. As usual, the teams are listed in order of last year’s final regular division standings.