Now real basketball begins

Joseph Lovercheck, Staff Writer

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” If you just sang that in a deep Andy Williams voice and thought of the winter, you are probably more normal than I am.

 
For me, the next two months is the most wonderful time of the year. Why? Because baseball just started, sort of. In my opinion, the best two months of the year occur between mid-April and mid-June.

 
For most people, basketball is over. The conclusion of March Madness means basketball season is over for college fans. For fans of the NBA, like I am, basketball season started last Saturday.

 
In the NBA, the regular season is great. Records are meant to be broken. But during the regular season, the stakes are fairly low. When the NBA Playoffs start, it becomes less of a show and more of a competition to see who is the best of the best.

 
This year’s regular season has had its fair share of storylines and records. But what does that matter if you don’t bring home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy? The Warriors beat the 1996 Bulls’ record of 72 wins in a single season. Unless the Warriors win their second title in as many years, most will consider this season a bust.

 
Another regular season story that almost happened: the San Antonio Spurs were almost perfect at home. They started the season with 39 home wins in a row. In their second-to-last home game, the Spurs fell to the Warriors, ending their chance to complete a perfect home season for the first time in NBA history. They did, however, match the single season record for most wins at home, racking up an amazing 40-1 record at the AT&T Center this year.

 
This season did have one heartwarming story. Lakers legend Kobe Bryant announced earlier in the year that this season—his 20th in the league, all with the Los Angeles Lakers—would be his final season in the NBA. Kobe Bryant became a villain in many arenas in his first 19 years in the league, but this year he was met with the respect and admiration he deserved at all of the away games. Kobe Bryant will go down as one of the greatest to play the game.

 
Proving that records are meant to be broken, and that he had one last great performance in him, Kobe did what nobody expected. He scored 60 points in the final game of his illustrious career, the most scored by a player in an NBA finale. This was Kobe’s sixth career game with 60 or more points, which is also the highest point total this regular season.

 
Who would have thought that on the night the Warriors set the NBA record for most wins in a season, I wouldn’t pay one bit of attention to that game? The Warriors had an average audience of 3.6 million people. This peaked to 4.2 million between 11 and 11:30 p.m. EST, roughly the time of the third quarter.

 
Although the Lakers’ game had a lower average audience at 3.4 million, it peaked at 5.1 million between 1 and 1:15 a.m. I guess more people tuned in to watch Kobe hit one last game-winning shot on his way to 60 points in his final NBA game.

 
The 2016 NBA Playoffs are sure to bring even more stories. The obvious one is “Can the Warriors win back-to-back championships and enter the conversation of the greatest team to ever play the game?”

 
The headline I want to see on Monday, June 20, is “LeBron’s Cavs Top Aged Spurs in Game 7 and Bring a Championship Back to Cleveland.”

 
Will we get the long-awaited San Antonio Spurs against the Golden State Warriors Western Conference Final?

 
Darn, I hope so? If we get this series, it is sure to become an instant classic. If anyone is going to stop the Warriors short of the Finals, it is probably going to be the Spurs.

 
On the other side of the league, people are wondering if the Cavaliers can get back to the finals for the second time in a row. Can the Cavs stay healthy enough to top the Spurs, Warriors or any other team that might pop out of the West?

 
The NBA regular season has had its fair share of unforgettable moments, headlined by the seemingly unstoppable Warriors 73-win record, but let’s all be honest: the regular season ended a week ago today, and now, real basketball begins.