How We Watch Sports Today
Is it still possible to immerse ourselves in anything for pure enjoyment? To become hyper-focused on what we’ve chosen to take in as entertainment? I’m not sure. Immersion demands attention. Imagine a teenager watching their first sexy movie. Imagine a lifelong sports fan who’s waited for decades, watching nightly, studying the standings, turning on the TV with anticipation and often turning it off with despair. During a big playoff game, this fan clutches their hands together in hope or prayer, dreams of their team finally winning the title game.
The NBA regular season is 82 games and six months long. Since October, the Boston Celtics have been the favorites to win the NBA title. They’ve set the NBA record for team offensive efficiency, but that record will be broken within the next few years. This is the way the NBA is going. The explosion of the three-point shot, the non-stop movement of NBA offenses, and the NBA headquarters official policy on defense—that physical defense is only allowed in the playoffs—have all contributed to this explosion of scoring.
The 73-win Warriors of 2015-16 had the top offense in the NBA. They’d rank 15th in offensive efficiency this season. The last completely dominant offense in NBA history, the title-winning Warriors that broke the NBA with Durant joining an already title-contending team, would be average if they played nine years later.
This year’s 64-win Boston Celtics have been as good, or better, than most analysts predicted. They’ve continued winning easily in the playoffs, going 8-2, with their eight wins coming by an average of 18.5 points. And yet they’ve lost two games in ugly fashion, to teams everyone expected them to blow out. The eighth-seeded Miami Heat is without their best player, Jimmy Butler, or their newer addition, Terry Rozier. The fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavs is without center Jarrett Allen, and later, without their offensive focal point, Donovan Mitchell.
A team that every Celtics fan could easily be enjoying, and instead, it doesn’t seem as though we are. It appears as if we’re simply waiting for The NBA Finals. This is the sixth time in the last eight seasons the Celtics have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Being one of the four teams remaining as we near the end of May—this was expected. Winning easily against such damaged opponents: even more expected.
Throughout the NBA Playoffs, qualifiers abound: Injuries have decimated the East. The Indiana Pacers beat a Milwaukee Bucks team that might’ve finished .500 during the regular season had Giannis and Damian Lillard been absent for the same amount of time as they were in the First Round series. In the second round, Indiana beat a New York Knicks team that was already without forward Julius Randle. The rise of Josh Hart and Donta DiVencenzo compensated for Randle’s offensive prowess and rebounding. O.G. Anunoby’s defense and slashing ability seemed to be the perfect complement at power forward, with Isaiah Hartenstein’s passing enabling more fluidity and freedom. The Brunson-Anunoby Knicks had been excellent through the second half of the season. Then, crucially, Anunoby went down with a hamstring injury in Game 2 and Indiana won four of the next five games.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are playing without their center Kristaps Porzingis, who strained his calf in the first round, and hasn’t played for three weeks. No definitive return date has been announced, but the Celtics hinted he’ll be back before the playoffs are over. Likely, he plays by Game 3 of the East Finals.
The rise of sports betting turns up the volume on these expectations to a ridiculous level. The point spread grows for teams that are heavy favorites. When the team doesn’t cover the spread, more fans are irritated. As if winning by nine or 13 points really mattered. The only people it matters to? The betting public. TNT has given itself over to the lords of FanDuel and DraftKings. Promotional opportunities during free-throws aren’t enough. Charles Barkley must announce his same game parlays right before tip-off. TNT even runs a live telecast of the game on another channel that’s devoted to betting. My DVR has recorded this insanity. Watching the game as a fan has now become like every other consumable piece of entertainment on the internet—sifting through the garbage, and endless commercials, in order to watch the event. I don’t care if I sound like an old grouch. The “mute” button has never been more important for our sanity.
Now in the East Finals, it’s Boston and Indiana. The odds are set, with the Celtics holding a 91 percent chance to win the series. If they drop one game against these underdog Pacers, NBA pundits will bemoan their lack of focus and fans will shake their heads. It doesn’t matter if the Celtics win by 15 in four other games and easily advance to the Finals. If they don’t sweep Indiana, some will be frustrated and disappointed. If they win in five games, they’ll have accomplished nothing, according to the law of one winner and 29 losers.
Getting to the NBA Finals isn’t enough. They did that two years ago and lost to the Golden State Warriors. They’ll have to win four more times to claim the title. If that happens, the only thing left to feel will be relief.