Stupid NBA

The Atlanta Hawks bound into the playoffs with a 37-45 record, the worst regular season record for an NBA team headed to the playoffs since the '85-'86 Bulls (30-52). If you look at the NBA standings, Golden State, Portland, and Sacramento finished with better records in the Western Conference yet missed out on the playoffs.

Why not do away with all of the divisions and conferences, play a balanced schedule, and have a sixteen-team playoff? Here are the match-ups if you went with the sixteen best teams now:

1 Boston v 16 Portland I'm not sure who would be seeded ahead, but let's go with point differential for the sake of argument to give the Trailblazers the lower see. Should be a Boston win.

8 Utah v 9 Orlando I know so little about the NBA, I have nothing much to say here (go Dwight Howard?)

5 San Antonio v 12 Golden State I'm a huge Tim Duncan fan, so let's hope they get through this squad. btw, this is the Warrior squad out of the playoffs.

4 New Orleans v 13 Cleveland Upset special? Can King James carry his team to upset the upstarts from the Crescent City?

In the bottom bracket:

2 Detroit v 15 Toronto I like Chris Bosh, but the Pistons roll here.

7 Phoenix v 10 Dallas Very nice match-up. I like the Suns in spite of Shaq.

6 Houston v 11 Denver The Rockets are bizarre and will win if they keep the mini-bar unlocked in the Nugget locker room.

3 LA Lakers v 14 Washington Easy first round for Kobe et al.

If the seeds were to hold up, that would put the second round like this:

1 Boston v 8 Utah
4 New Orleans v 5 San Antonio
3 LA Lakers v 6 Houston
2 Detroit v 7 Phoenix

Since we're on a roll, why don't we relegate the bottom three teams to a Triple-A league (Miami, Seattle, and Memphis)?

And does anyone really care about the NBA or the NHL out there?