Thank you, NBA, for reminding everyone why they fell in love with the game of basketball.
The first round of the playoffs started about two weeks ago, but it feels like it's been two months. That's what happens when there's an abundance of game-winners and overtimes every single night.
Oh yeah, and there were FIVE game sevens. FIVE OF THEM.
I guess we should've known what we were in for when this happened before the first game of the postseason:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBfMPAv1750
Legends were born in these past two weeks. And by legends I mean Damian Lillard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mejFtEY5faU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ucp0JRAosY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvsAie2RAS8
Jeff Teague announced his arrival to the league, and almost destroyed the top-seeded Pacers in the process.
Who the *@%)#*$@ is Troy Daniels?!?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYsK2Ost6Tg
We had FOUR STRAIGHT overtime games between the Thunder and Grizzlies because of some of the most insane regulation endings ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNaK0719KQo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFTebwyqnto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Bs5uVyRiA
And one that was justthatclose.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F7nzAxjjrI
We can't forget the entire Donald Sterling saga...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdDnrzNAtkw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HRrSiO-10Q
...before new commissioner Adam Silver laid down the law!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HJm6xYNL5A
Oh, and the Clips' series against Golden State wasn't that bad, either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFFCwosHQBA
The young Wizards grew up before our eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZdblWn81tw
And Brooklyn narrowly avoided the same fate as the Bulls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9j9KfDuigs
San Antonio survived Vinsanity to advance...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSVzjUP8dVs
...and Miami had absolutely no problems with the Bobcats in the first round's only sweep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJAsD9cnZMU
The end result was the best first round in NBA history, and that can't be argued.
A record number of game sevens. A record number of overtimes. A record number of buzzer-beaters.
In most years, the first round will have one or two, maybe even three great series, and everyone else ends up waiting for the conference semis. This year, we had six incredible series, including all four in the West.
And chances are, we may never see a first round like this again.
Sure, you can point to it as a sign of growing parity in the league, which may be true... but even if things are evening out, this year was still an outlier. It electrified fans and exposed a new generation to NBA basketball thanks to how crazy, bizarre, and downright exciting it was.
The first round may be history, along with the eight teams that failed to advance...but we'll always have the memories.
Let's hope the second round brings more of the same.
