I wrote last week about the joys of fans and all that is true. At this point we've seen all the home games in all the arenas and they've all been incredible. Even the smallest crowds, the 2,000 fans let into Bell Centre in Montreal for Game 6 were amazing, yelling like 20,000 when the Canadiens won in OT. The places long made fun of for lack of fans, like the Florida Panthers and Atlanta Hawks have all been incredible. The joy of hearing the roar of a crowd cheer for a goal, a big save, that dagger three. All of it has been absolutely special. Basketball ended sports last year with the shutdown on March 11th. It was the day America awoke to the Coronavirus. Sports and crowds of thousands indoors have shown us we're ready to move on.
I'll never forget the experience of just watching playoff basketball and playoff hockey like I used to. It's not novel, I mean this is how these sports have worked from roughly before I was born to 2019 - just packing in 2-4 games a night, day after day for about a month. It is sports nirvana. It was also a hellish joy last year in the sullen bubble. Getting it back, seeing these games, the number go to OT in hockey as high as ever. The pace of these games as good as ever. The number of just absolutely boss-man performances in basketball as many as ever. All of it exceptional, and exceptionally necessary.
About those performances in the NBA. The one redeeming factor of a fairly poor 1st round on its face (all the East series ending 4-0 or 4-1...) is the fact we've seen so many insane performances. From Dame Lillard putting on a pure Steph Curry impression but somehow even more audacious, to Trae Young's big balls and incredible bow. From Devin Booker's ridiculous two games to close out the defending champs in embarassing fashion, to Jokic and Doncic alternating nights just abusing everyone in their slow, methodical, magical way. The new stars have been stunning. Of course the old stars are still there, with Durant, Harden and Kyrie just doing stupid things, Giannis being incredible, CP3 bossing his way when healthy. The amount of talent in the NBA at this moment is insane, even if it still leads to more blowouts due to the variance of the three.
Jokic and Doncic have been it for me. Particularly Jokic - playing like some combination of a sluggish Dirk and fat, big Steve Nash. His high arcing shot is so pure. His ability to get to the rim is so insane given his slow speed. His passing is truly outrageous, the best being is perfectly arced, Peyton Manning-esque touch to feed the three late in their Game 5 win. He generally does 3-5 passes a game that are truly unique. He is truly unique. So are so many of the stars today.
Hockey has these guys too and while the brightest stars were knocked out (Connor McDavid prime among them, having the best individual season since Mario Lemiuex in 2001), there are a few still going strong, from Tampa's star-laden (and healthy) roster, to the yearly "best player in the playoffs" in Nathan MacKinnon, to Mark Stone, to so many others. The NHL has a quality of play better than it has had in years.
There's a very good chance next year's playoffs will have more competitive first roudns on the whole. Maybe a few more seven-gamers, a few more walk-off type shots and multi-OT games. This year wasn't too high on any of these. But next year won't be the first year back. It won't be novel to have fans. If anything we may see some empty seats and it being a sign of ambivalence and not persistence. This is the only year we'll cherish a crowd of 10,000, and cherish it more when it grows to 12,000 and 15,000. This is the last year - god hopes - that we have the early games in Canada still being in empty arenas to drill home how lacking the bubbles were in teh end. This is the year we learn to relove sports, and the fact we can do so with so many ridiculous stars is just an added bonus.
