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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>With March Madness approaching its end, the NBA is steadily setting its playoff teams.&nbsp;</p>

With March Madness approaching its end, the NBA is steadily setting its playoff teams. 

Through the month of March, the excitement of high-level basketball consumes everyone.

Little boys and girls across the nation wake up with one thing on their minds — ball.

Husbands and wives forget about their deteriorating marriages and bunch up on their couches to focus on something more important than work and in-laws — ball.

Drunken uncles do pretty much the same thing they always do, which is get wasted, but they do it while watching one thing — ball.

But there is an issue here. While college basketball is a lot of fun because every team is playing for its NCAA Tournament life, another league is playing its most important games of the season as well. I’m talking about the NBA.

People love chirping blasphemous statements about the league, saying ignorant things like ‘the season doesn’t even start until the playoffs’ and ‘the NBA is all offense and no defense until April.’

The first statement is far from the truth. The second statement… is kind of true, but still, chill.

Ten teams from both the Eastern and Western conferences are still fighting hard to make it to the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

And if you’ve been watching the league as closely as I have (sitting in your underwear at 1 a.m. checking the box scores for the late-night Brooklyn Nets-Sacramento Kings matchup) then you’ve noticed the uptick in close games.

From the beginning of the month until Wednesday, there have already been 62 games decided by seven points or fewer.

Competition has been high in quality as well. Look no further than Monday night’s game between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets. Both teams are in the thick of the playoff race but haven’t solidified their spots in the 16-team tournament yet.

What do two teams fighting to stay relevant in the postseason picture in mid-March create? Why, only one of the highest scoring games in NBA history.

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In the 149-141 double-overtime victory for Miami, eight players scored over 20 points, and the teams combined for a ridiculous 38 three-pointers.

I’m not saying March Madness isn’t exhilarating or any less important than the way people are treating it.

But the No. 3 through No. 8 seeds in the Eastern Conference are separated by only five games in the standings, while the No. 3 through No. 10 seeds in the Western Conference are apart by six games.

Basketball is love. Let that love extend past March Madness.

Follow Skyler Lebron on Twitter @SkylerLebron and contact him at slebron@alligator.org.

With March Madness approaching its end, the NBA is steadily setting its playoff teams. 

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