Watching Paint Dry....

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan once saved the NBA. Then the NBA died. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony then resurrected the NBA. And now the NBA is dying a slow and painful death.

I can honestly say that I'd rather watch the History Channel than a Magic-Hawks game right now. How can there be so little parity in the NBA? I get it. The economy is killing any chance some teams have of competing this year. But we've only got 8 teams left people. This should be the point when competition is at an all-time high. Instead, as an audience, we've witnessed a 43-point blow out and a round who's games have been decided by an average of 17 points! Nothing like a TNT triple-header that offers games that don't go back and forth, are decided in the second quarter and feature fourth quarter's with the likes of Tony Allen, Shelden Williams and Randolph Morris. Right now you're all asking yourself: Who the f is Randolph Morris? Why would I want to see Lebron go shot for shot with Paul Pierce when I could see Randolph Morris back down Marcin Gortat and battle for boards with Ryan Anderson? Morris' +/- was -8 in two minutes last game. It's hard to be that bad on defense. I feel like the Hawks had to put work into that.

Fellow blogger jeskeets tweeted this earlier today:

Breaking news: #NBA Commissioner David Stern cancels Game 4 of the Hawks-Magic series. His statement: "Honestly, there's no point."

I honestly wish this was actually true. The only thing the Hawks have done for me this series, is guarantee Joe Johnson's arrival in New York next fall. No wait, let me rephrase that. The only thing the Hawks have done for me this series is guarantee the Knicks will somehow f up getting a departing Joe Johnson from Atlanta, and he'll help another organization win basketball games. Thanks a lot Atlanta. I would rather have seen an exciting young Hawks team stick together than have to hate the Knicks even more for failing to get any relevant free agents this summer. At least if he stuck with the Hawks I could say, "Well, that one wasn't the Knicks fault".

As it stands right now, three of the four Conference Semifinals are 3 games to none. In basketball terms, that means that three of the four Conference Semifinals have already been decided and are thus, over. The Lakers and Jazz offered us the lone riveting game of the round tonight. But a jumper by Deron Williams that clanked off the iron, followed by a failed Wesley Matthews tip-in ruined any hope of an exciting series between the two foes.

For now, we can only hope both Cleveland and Boston's best efforts show up on the same night. Only problem is, that might have to involve Rasheed Wallace showing any indication he cares about the outcome of the series. Which is highly, highly unlikely.

When did we ever have to hope teams would bring their best efforts to a playoff game? What kind of world do we live in right now?

Thanks a lot Bin Laden.

Image taken from espn.com