Top 10 Things We Love About The NBA

With the NBA season two weeks in, it is appropriate to go down the top 10 things that we love about the NBA.  Some of them might surprise you, some of them may be obvious.  Getting right to it, here they are:

10) The Referees Provide a Great Outlet for our Anger

In no other sport are the referees hated more than in the NBA.  In any given game involving your favorite team, there will be at least four or five calls or no-calls that will cost your team a victory. 

If the referees hadn't screwed your team, they obviously would have won.  There is obviously some scandal involving the refs against your team, and in the stressful world that we live in, the refs provide a great outlet for that anger. 

So go ahead, scream, yell, boo, and hate the refs—remember, they are against your team.

9) New Faces, New Places

In no other sport are there more superstars that trade places from year to year.  Considering there are only five starters for a team on the court at a time, one person can make a HUGE difference. 

Just some of the names to change uniforms in the past few years—Shaq (twice), Steve Nash, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson (twice), Chauncy Billups, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Jermaine O'Neal, Pau Gasol, and Jason Kidd.

8) NBA All-Star Weekend

It is the best All-Star game professional sports has to offer.  It occurs in the middle of the season, when all of the players are playing at their peak level, and all of the stars play. 

No matter what year you turn on the All-Star game, you will be guaranteed to see some type of spectacular play that will become water cooler talk the next morning.  Then, there are all the festivities leading up to the game—the Rookie Challenge, the Skills Competition, the Three-Point Shootout, and the always-highly-anticipated Slam Dunk Contest.

7) Player Introductions

This is mostly for the people actually attending the game, but there is nothing better.  This is especially true before a big rivalry or playoff game. 

The music, the fireworks, the lights going out, and the naming of the stars on your team that will shove it in the face of the team invading your city.  By the time they are over, you are more than ready for the game.

6) Playoff System That Leaves No Doubt About the Champion

Unlike the NFL, where a team can get hot at the right time and run the table like the New York Giants, the true champion is always crowned in the NBA (with the exception of the Miami Heat in 2005). 

There are four rounds of seven-game series.  An inferior team might be able to win one, two, or maybe three games, but they won't win four.  By the end of the playoffs, the best team is always left standing—again, with the exception of Miami.

5) The "NOOOOO...YESSSSS" Play

We've all experienced this phenomenon.  A player from your team is dribbling ever so confidently down the court.  He has the team's best player wide open in the corner, and another guy on the wing.  However, he keeps the ball and throws up a terrible-looking shot. 

You scream out "NOOOOOOOOOO!"  Then, somehow the ball falls through the net, and that feeling of anger turns into jubilation as you yell "YESSSSSSS!"  It happens to us all.

4) There Are 82 Games

Because there are 82 games in a season, your team will play at least two to three games a week.  So, there is no waiting for a full week after your team has just suffered a crushing loss, or even a huge win. 

You have a chance to watch them as you go through your week, they can even be your crutch.  This is golden for serious sports fans.

3) The Crowd

Again, in no other sport can the crowd change the outcome of a game.  The fans sit just a couple feet from the action, and you can hear all of them. 

In football, there are breaks after each play, in baseball there are breaks after each pitch, and there are interchanges between the offense and the defense.  In basketball, it's all continuous action. 

This allows the fans to will a team back from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter.  This allows a team to go on a 15-0 run in just two minutes.  The crowd is part of the game you are watching—players hear them, see them, and definitely feel them.

2) The Comebacks

Because the NBA is continuous action, and the momentum can swing on one play, no lead is safe.  This makes the possibility of comebacks more likely than in any other sport. 

There is simply nothing better than your team mounting a comeback after trailing by double digits the whole game, then capping it off with a thunderous dunk or a sweet three-pointer that causes the crowd to rattle the walls. 

You can literally go from the agony of almost-certain defeat to the sweet taste of victory in just a couple of minutes.

1) The Superstars

The NFL has 11 players on the field for each team, and they are covered up with helmets and pads.  The MLB has nine players on the field, all wearing hats or helmets.  The NBA only has five players on the court for each team.  This makes the impact of each individual player extremely important. 

On top of that, they are the most personable athletes because they have nothing covering up their faces.  They play indoors under bright lights.  They all have their own shoes, and are seen in countless commercials. 

Unlike other sports, a superstar literally can take over a game regardless of whether his team has the ball or not.  He can have an affect on every asset of the game. 

Then, there is the fact that they are all freakishly tall, yet are quicker, faster, and can jump higher than any other group of athletes in the world.  NBA superstars enter our homes countless times a week, and we are fascinated.

There you have it, the top 10 reasons we love the NBA.  You may agree completely, or you may have some issues with the ranking of a specific point, but you can't argue that they are all truly reasons why we love the NBA.  Let the debating begin...