So Long, Eastern Conference Playoffs: LeBron James Put You Out of Your Misery
Dear 2016 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs,
So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Goodbye. It's been real—real unnecessary.
With a 113-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 of your conference finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers are headed to the NBA Finals. Again. And LeBron James' streak of consecutive Finals appearances, which now sits at six, is alive. Still.
That means you, kind Eastern Conference Playoffs, are done.
Finally.
Forgive this candor; it's nothing personal. We've had some good times. Not great, not particularly momentous, but good.
Remember when for, like, an entire six seconds there was a feasible scenario in which the Charlotte Hornets would reach your conference finals? Or when you ruthlessly decided the Boston Celtics were too damn fun and rained down insurmountable injuries upon them during the first round?
How about all those times Dwyane Wade turned back the clock, injecting wayward hope into the Miami Heat's postseason push? Or how about when the Detroit Pistons' resident teenager, Stanley Johnson, thought he was in James' head?
You almost gave us Cleveland vs. Miami, LeBron vs. Wade, in the Eastern Conference Finals. That was pretty cool. You also gave us two of the most uninteresting Game 7s, both of which involved the Raptors. That was kind of cool, too.
Don't forget about the brief, overblown period during which some of us thought the Raptors, after winning Games 3 and 4, could actually unseat the Cavaliers.
See? Good times.
Still, all of us—including you, Eastern Conference Playoffs—knew how this would end: with LeBron's team preparing to square off against the Golden State Warriors or Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
This isn't a shot at Toronto, either. So don't go tattling.
The Raptors fought valiantly at times, mostly on their home floor, in front of a loyal and loud crowd that has helped put Canada on the basketball map. Kyle Lowry in particular wouldn't quit during Game 6. He collected 23 of his 35 points in the second half, keeping Toronto within superficial striking distance until the fourth quarter. That's something.
But the outcome of Game 6, just like this entire series, was never really in doubt.
James did his ultra-aggressive thing, finishing with 33 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocks. Kyrie Irving went for 30 points and nine assists on 12-of-24 shooting. Kevin Love pitched in 20 points, plus 12 rebounds and four dimes, thus sealing Toronto's fate long before the final buzzer, as ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst pointed out:
Oh! And J.R. Smith, in addition to shooting 5-of-8 from three-point range, played excellent defense. That's basically a game-long victory cigar.
You already know all of this, Eastern Conference Playoffs. But it bears rehashing, because it speaks to the irrelevance of your three rounds' worth of postseason basketball.
All that waiting, and we're still here, right back where we were last year.
And each of the four years before that.
Maybe you should consider simulating or altogether canceling your calculable spring dance for as long as James is in the NBA. Or perhaps you need to convince Kevin Durant to join the Celtics this summer.
Something, anything, must be done to add a layer of unpredictability to your conclusion. This isn't just some friendly neighborhood troll talking. Twitter agrees.
Consider some of the brain dumps from Game 6. There's this from NBA dude Myles Brown:
This from Fear The Sword's David Zavac:
This from Sportsnet's Eric Koreen:
And this from the Toronto Star's Bruce Arthur:
These folks are not alone. The people want better. They need, and deserve, postseason variety—something more than the formality of James predictably, albeit impressively, joining a bunch of old-time Celtics, per Bleacher Report's Alec Nathan:
To reiterate, James and the Cavaliers have earned this trip to the Finals. And they aren't coasting. They know the next round will be more difficult:
How could it not be? James and crew have yet to overtake a peer. They swept the Atlanta Hawks and Pistons, then beat a respectable subordinate in the Raptors. But even the latter lost each of their four games by an average of 28.5 points.
That's why fans of competitive basketball need the Cavaliers. They are the only Eastern Conference team with the ability to put up a viable Finals fight. But, as ESPN.com's Arash Markazi reminded us all, that says more about James' invincibility relative to the rest of your conference:
Six consecutive trips to the NBA Finals would be fine if James was receiving a tad more push-back. That's especially true of this year's run.
Cleveland outscored opponents by 13.4 points per 100 possessions through your three rounds—nearly triple that of the second-best net rating (Miami, plus-5.0). The top-heavy Western Conference Playoffs know no such disparity. Three teams have net ratings north of seven, and they're all within two points of each other.
There's nothing that can fix this now, Eastern Conference Playoffs. It's not like there's some clear-cut solution anyway.
All we can do is watch James lead his team into battle against the best of the West. Again. Just like we knew he would.
Unlike you, though, the NBA Finals won't play host to a foregone conclusion. It will have mystery. Closely contested games. Actual adversity.
It will be everything you were not, yet again.
Until next year, which will probably end just like this year, Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Sincerely,
Fans of Less Predictable Playoff Outcomes
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @danfavale.
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