S.A. Spurs on a roll

The Game Room
1

So does the current roll the San Antonio Spurs are on seem to indicate that they’re not going to give the NBA championship trophy up without a fight? (If so it also seems to speak to people’s belief that MOST of the NBA regular season is largely meaningless. Although, in defense of the NBA, that really can be said of pretty much every regular season of EVERY major pro sport on this continent, with the possible exception [to a lesser degree, anyway] of the N.F.L.'s)

2

That’s nonsense. The NBA’s and NHL’s regular season results determine home ice/court advantage in every round of the playoffs, which is a significant advantage (not as much as it used to be, but it still is.)

It’s also kind of bizarre to call a regular season “meaningless” that in MLB eliminates two thirds of the league and puts four more teams in a life-and-death single playoff game.

3

Couldn’t disagree more. Regular seasons are “important” only in the collective sense (for the reasons you mentioned). Individual regular season results are utterly meaningless. Example: When the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup a few years ago they had to get past the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, first. Regular season series count between the two teams: Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Boston Bruins - 0. Eastern Conference Finals series that year? Boston Bruins 4 - 0 Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m sure there are PLENTY of other examples out there of this, but that’s the one that popped into my head right away.

4

I’ve long been of the opinion that, in basketball, the importance of the regular season is inversely proportional to how much recent postseason success you’ve had as a team. For the defending champion Spurs, who’ve already proven that they can close out a playoff series on the road, the regular season probably doesn’t mean much. For teams like Golden State and Atlanta, who have never been out of the second round, in their current incarnations, the regular season probably means a little more.

There’s not a doubt in my mind that, for a rookie head coach like Steve Kerr, and a heavily favored but mostly unproven squad like Golden State, it’s a big deal to know that you have that trump card of Game 7 in front of your rabidly enthusiastic fanbase, where you have the best home record in the league, should any playoff series come to that.