1. The Boston Celtics won their 18th NBA title Monday before the home folks at TD Garden, dispatching the Dallas Mavericks in five games. The Celtics were the best team all season, and there was little dispute over their worthiness to be a champion. Dallas? The way the Western Conference playoffs went, with new teams playing that could never have competed with Boston, let's thank the Mavs for coming out like they did.
2. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who had not been a serious playoff contender for two decades, finally became one this season. Led by Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, the Wolves came within one game of the NBA Finals before losing to Dallas. Any chance of future success with a team like this (given their history) depends on two factors: (A) Staying together and staying healthy, which is where they have had problems in the past, and (B) Clearing up their ownership squabbles, starting with an arbitration dispute between current owner Glen Taylor and the two men he sold a chunk of the Wolves to: former baseball star and current entrepreneur Alex Rodriguez and businessman Marc Lore. We should know by Fall, if ever.
3. The NBA is almost ready to announce a new television deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime Video, once all the details are worked out. What's missing is TNT, which might lose the games starting in 2025 after a few decades. But what basketball fans are worried about is what's going to happen with "Inside the NBA", the wraparound show that includes Shaquille O'Neal, host Ernie Johnson and lightning rod Charles Barkley that's been considered a better reason to watch TNT than the games themselves. Well, Barkley's just announced that he's hanging up his mic after next season. But few people believe him. So however it comes out, the NBA will have a lot more platforms to play their games on.
No comments:
Post a Comment