NBA Playoff Schedule: League Wise to Open Playoffs by Featuring Marquee Teams

There's a lot happening in sports right now. The Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, baseball has settled into its routine, the NFL draft is upon us and the European soccer season is winding to an exciting close.

It's almost enough to just skip over the beginning of the NBA playoffs on Saturday.

Almost.

But the NBA must have anticipated that and decided they would open postseason play with by featuring the league's three premier organizations this year (in my opinion, at least), the Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.

These three squads have to be the favorites heading into the playoffs, both in terms of winning an NBA championship and in terms of fan popularity.

Sure, the San Antonio Spurs had a great season, but they're old and pretty boring to watch. Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers are popular around the country, but Pau Gasol's whining face gets on everyone's nerves.

Nope, the NBA is banking on people tuning in on Saturday to catch Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the NBA's new guard. They're the most talented and most exciting players in the game today.

Well, sans the combination of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. But the NBA had to save at least some electrifying superstars for Sunday.

Maybe I'm biased here, but other than when I'm watching Philadelphia Sixers' games (they're my team), I'm only guaranteed to tune in when the Thunder, Heat, Bulls or Clippers are playing. They're just so much more fun and exciting to watch then most of the other teams in the league.

You may not agree, but I don't think it's an accident that the Heat, Thunder and Bulls open up the postseason on Saturday. There are plenty of other sports fans could be distracted by—the NBA decided to use its three marquee franchises this season to get everyone's attention.

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