Even the most devoted NBA fans are having a hard time keeping up.
Most nights feature nine games or more. Most sports highlight shows have time to broadcast little besides pro basketball. Most trade rumors are so five minutes ago.
This is what happens when a league tries to squeeze nearly an entire season into four tight months. But thanks to the lockout, the NBA was left with little choice.
It wanted games on Christmas Day, it wanted a 66-game schedule, it wanted the regular season to end when it normally does in April.
More games, fewer nights — and a season that is buzzing by like a Steve Nash-led fast break.
Every team has played at least 30 games, and some as many as 35. Except for usually light Thursday nights, the schedule is so packed it makes every day seem like opening day. It makes it difficult to not only follow what's going on around the entire league, but with your favorite team.
"Wait a minute, the Cavaliers play AGAIN tonight?" fans frequently ask. The answer is most often yes. And unlike many teams, the Cavs have yet to take part in one of those three-games-in-three-nights adventures.
As columnist Mike Imrem wrote in the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, "Too many games and too much of the season feel out of whack. There's hardly a chance to check the standings before another flurry of games shakes them up."
On the bright side, if you lose a game you thought you should have won — well, there's always tomorrow. And, hey, if your team stinks, it can turn around in no time.
On the downside, a big win can quickly be reined in by a defeat less than 24 hours later. Take the Milwaukee Bucks, for example. They won at Miami in January and talked of turning things around and making a run at the playoffs. Then they returned home and lost to the Atlanta Hawks the next night.
Now, that might not sound much different than your typical season. And in some regards, it's not. But there's a reason so many teams are staying around .500, with the idea of anyone beating anyone else on any given night becoming more of a reality than ever.
"Some nights, I know our guys only show up because there's a game on the schedule, and they're getting paid to be there," one Eastern Conference general manager said. "It doesn't happen often — I can only think of one instance for our team. But it happens. I can't say I really blame (the players), either. It's just too much."
The GM makes a valid point, because this isn't baseball. In the NBA, you need to sprint, jump, bump, handle the ball and try to get it to the basket. And you need to do all that and more against guys who are at least as big and strong and fast as you.
Occasionally, in a season like this, the result is fewer buckets for your buck and some of the game's greatest players looking downright ordinary. Heck, even Kobe Bryant has had an off night, and when was the last time THAT happened?
As for injuries, yes, they're part of the game. But in a season like this, there's considerably less time to heal. So guys push it, try to get back on the floor and help their team . . . and risk getting re-injured and missing the part of the season that means the most.
If the NBA really wanted to do its players, coaches and fans a favor, it would have scheduled 10-12 less games, spread things out a little more, and offered folks a chance to catch their breath every once in a while.
After all, this type of madness should be reserved for a few weeks in March, and was never intended for the pros in the first place.
Follow Sam Amico on Twitter @SamAmicoFSO
