The Clackamas print., May 03, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

NBA rales postseason
BY DOUG FRY
|L A lth o u g h b e in g a
Portland Trail Blazers
i fan meaps. I can no
longer root for my
team this season, I
can still enjoy the thrill
of the NBA playoffs.
The Big Four are known as the four
major professional sports leagues in the
United States and Canada and it consists
of the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL. Each
league relies on a p layoff system to
determine their champion. The MLB, NHL
and NBA use the best of seven series in
their post season play, while the NFL uses
a single game, single elimination playoff
system to whittle down to the last main
standing.
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To determine which
league has the best
postseason, it comes
down to three things:
competitiveness,
entertainment and
viewership.
To determine which league has the best
postseason, it conjes down to three things:
com petitiveness, entertainm ent and
viewership. Judging those three factors,
the NFL and NHL can be eliminated. ,
A lthough the NFL has the highest
viewership and revenue of the Big Four,
without a best of seven series, it limits
the competitiveness and entertainment.
By only having one game - win or go
Home - teams are forced to give their all
•in entertainment^ but injuries are not
allowed time to fully heal and athletes are
forced to play or sit. The competitiveness
is taken away when you only have one
outing to see both teams perform at their
best or worst.
Playoff hockey is often talked about as
being one of the single most competitive
postseason sports. In any given year,
an eight seed can upset the No* 1 seed,
showing that from top to bottom there is
little spread in talent and skill. With the
game speed being faster than any of the
other Big Four, hockey makes for one of
the most entertaining postseason sports.
The NHL lacks viewership, in the past ib Tipoff between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trailblazers ended
seasons, the NHL is dead last, averaging with the Blazers’ loss during round one of the NBA playoffs. The Trailblazers were
at 4.4 m illion viewers per year o f the: swept in the series, ending their ‘16-’17 season.
Stanley Cup Finals. In that saine Span, the
W here the NBA takes its edge is MVP Steph Curry.
MLB and NBA have nearly quadruple the
The NBA has only a slight edge when
amount of viewers for their championship entertainment, the NBA has more ‘heroes
it comes to viewership over the MLB. In
and villains’ than any other sport.
series.
In any given year, fans will find their the last tenyears, the MLB averages 16.2
The two left of the Big Four are the MLB
and NBA. Each league is comparable in villain, whether it is LeBron James taking million viewers of the World Series while
com petitiveness, entertainm ent and . his talents to South Beach or Kevin Durant the NBA finalsholds 16.4 million; showing
using the motto “i f you can’t beat em that it has more fans watching.
viewership. ,
F a c to rin g in c o m p e titiv e n e s s ,
In recent years, the MLB and NBA join em” and signing with the team that
have been sim ilar in com petitiveness knocked him out of last year’s playoffs., entertainment and viewership, the NBA
and entertainm ent. The MLB had the The heroes are usually pegged as those stands alone as the best postseason of
excitement and drama just like any other that ensure the villain never wins, like the Big Four sports. The NBA playoffs
major league sport. In competitiveness, the Sah Antonio Spurs beating Miami’s con tin ue to be th e m ust w atch o n ,
there is ho clear cut edge between the big three or Kyrie Irving sinking a late television aftet one of the most historic
two because the championship series has fourth quarter three in game seven to seasons to date has led to record breaking
knock off the defending champions and playoff performances too.
always been full of anticipation.
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