NBA playoff basketball is the best. Except when it's the worst, like this season.
NBA lovers have been subjected to blowout after blowout, garbage-time quarter after garbage-time quarter. And this area man at Wednesday night's NBA playoff game in Cleveland is fed up.
He has every right to be. The Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the Toronto Raptors 116-78. Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 was competitive for about 25 minutes total. The Raptors' offense continued its anemic road play, scoring only 34 points in the first half and finding itself down a franchise-record 30-plus points.
The futility continued all game, leaving area man to simmer and stew. Until the 5:38 mark in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers' Big Three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love had outscored the entire Raptors' team. It took 32 minutes for that trio to hit 71 points. The Raptors needed all 42 minutes and 22 seconds of game time to chin-up to 71.
The contest was so poor, the highest-trending topic on Twitter for this game was "Richard Jefferson." Yes, the former New Jersey Nets forward Richard Jefferson. At age 35, he's still in the league, still picking up paychecks. But he did this Wednesday night against the Raptors and nostalgia took over a boring, boring game:
He slapped the backboard! That's all you missed out of Game 5, folks.
So, area man, I understand your frustration. It's the third quarter, you're sitting on your hands through a 34-point blowout, and all the star players are about to hit the bench for the rest of the game. Not ideal.
But it's been like this for a record number of playoff games. According to ESPN, the 2016 NBA playoffs has the record for the number of games decided by 25 points or more (17). Wednesday night, because of LeBron and Co., these playoffs set the record for games decided by 30 or more (8). Yuck.
As seen in the video above, area man yells angrily at Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who's apparently encroaching upon the area man's courtside space.
"Sit down. You're in Cleveland now," he yells at Casey, dropping expletives in-between. He wants to rouse the NBA head coach -- likely the only bit of excitement he'll get from the night.
Casey ignores him and keeps on coaching, doing his job until the bitter end.
Area man sits down after he's had his full. But before reaching his cushion, out of nowhere, he flashes a peace sign — a gesture of goodwill. As the final buzzer blasts to end another awful game, area man is content to let the NBA roll on and wait until its players show us something amazing, again.
Same.
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