Don't Get Too Excitied About the NBA

I don’t care about basketball right now.

On Tuesday, I watched my Cleveland Cavaliers take on (arguably) their biggest rivals in the Eastern Conference — the Chicago Bulls. Whether its the Bulls or someone else that ultimately becomes the No. 2 contender to the Cavs, Cleveland/Chicago has become a chippy rivalry again mainly because LeBron James is back in Cleveland.

Realistically, it’s a James vs. Bulls rivalry. Regardless, it should have inspired more interest. I honestly didn’t care who won because the result will have absolutely no bearing on what happens in May.

And that’s really all that matters.

The Cavaliers lost to the Knicks in the first game of the 2014-15 season and ultimately started 19-20 — that’s 39 games. Pretty much half of the season. Cleveland finished 53-29 and snagged the No. 2 seed in the East and as all basketball fans know, made the NBA Finals despite battling a slew of injuries throughout the postseason.

I’m not saying the regular season is meaningless — most of the time a team that finishes first or second in their conference will reach the NBA Finals. Only two teams seeded lower than four have won the title and only seven teams seeded three have won it all. Granted four of those have occurred since 2002 — most notably the Miami Heat in 2012.

Seven out of eight champions were seeded No. 1 or No. 2 and No. 1 seeds have went on to win 50 out of 69 titles (a 72.5 percent win rate).

So yes, the regular season does have meaning. Just not in October, or November, or December or January. The Spurs are notorious for taking back-to-backs off, resting their superstars to the dismay of some road teams and networks with big prime time games.

But there’s a reason San Antonio has won five championships and been to six NBA Finals since 1999. It’s a long season, and it’s usually better to pace for the playoffs than go pedal to the metal for an elite record. The Spurs have won championships three times as the No. 1 seed, once as a two and once as a three. Home floor doesn’t matter much as long as they’re healthy.

The Cavs need to do the same thing for two main reasons — they showed that a slow start in the weak Eastern Conference isn’t the end of the world as long as the talent is there. More importantly, the Cavs broke down during the playoffs. Kevin Love’s injury was a fluke, but Kyrie Irving proved once again that he cannot stay healthy for a full season. Cleveland needs to play the long game and limit minutes to its core guys even at the expense of a strong first half record.

I don’t want the Cavs to win 70 games, I’ll be just fine with 50 and an NBA championship. More and more contenders are embracing this mindset, which means the first half of the season is usually a snoozer.

Wake me up when the Super Bowl ends.