NBA: Where Amazing Happens

The regular seasons has drawn to an end and the wheat has been separated from the chaff. This weekend the cream will rise to the surface as the first games of the NBA playoff first round match-ups take place. As the season enters its enthralling climax it serves as a reminder of just how poor the coverage of the NBA is here in Britain. Considering the attention the NFL receives now it is a travesty that the most entertaining of all the American sports is so widely neglected. With all this considered I just figured I would write a quick and brief piece on what makes the NBA such a great spectacle and why the playoffs promises to deliver such drama.

Fortunately, despite how difficult it is to watch any basketball over here due to the time difference and non-existent coverage, the sport's website NBA.com is a superb means of following all the action. It not only allows you to keep up fixtures and results but it also has highlights from every game in the NBA and so much more. The tag-line of the website is 'NBA, where amazing happens' and this sums up the sport just about perfectly.

The NBA undoubtedly has the most athletic sportsmen on the planet. People complain that the NFL has too many rules and too many stoppages, that the MLB is too long and too dull. The NBA is immune to such criticism. The sport is faced-paced, end-to-end and action packed and rarely delivers a boring period of play. Watching some of physical feats of the NBA stars can be quite simply breathtaking. The strength, speed, agility and skill of the players means that unthinkable aerial acrobatics are commonplace - click here for a taster!

Another great strength of the sport is its competitiveness. Complete blow-outs are rare and despite each of the two teams scoring up to and over 100 points in a game over 48 minutes it is amazing how many of the games will be decided with the final possession. Those emphatic slam dunks, monstrous blocks and last second game winning buzzer beaters means that the NBA, more often than not, delivers a great spectacle.

The playoffs sees the biggest players face-off on the biggest stage. The likes of Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Carmello Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Lebron 'The King' James will all be hoping to lead their teams through four different best-of-seven-game series. The best of seven game format in the playoffs may seem drawn out but as games are played every other night each round only takes two weeks to complete. It speaks volumes about the demand for basketball when the Championship winning side will have played over 100 games in the season and usually each of these games takes place in front of sell-out crowds. Compare this to the 19 games the Superbowl winners will play.

Looking forward to some of the more interesting match-ups of the first round of this year's playoffs there are some contests that promise to go down to the wire. The series' between the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat are particularly appealing. Such is the quality of the players and teams left as we enter the post-season that all the series will be fixating.

I urge anyone who does not watch the sport to try and get a taste of it. The NBA is so unique in it's explosiveness and constant action and drama that it warrants the effort that it takes to keep up with it. When the teams are tied in the seventh and final game of the series with only a minute left on the clock it becomes glaringly clear why the NBA can deliver moments that are unlike any other sport.

Thoughts, comments and opinions please...