Both of the NBA Conference Finals sit at three-nil in series that are surprisingly whitewashes thus far. In the east, the Cavaliers took the first two games in Atlanta by an average of 10 points per game before winning Game 3 in overtime at home thanks to an epic triple double from LeBron James. In the west, it’s played out in the opposite fashion – the Warriors won two close games at home before blowing out the Rockets in Houston in Game 3.
So here we are staring at two potential sweeps in the conference finals if Golden State and Cleveland can take care of business in their respective Game 4s. That means the conference finals could wrap up by Tuesday. With the NBA Finals set to start next Thursday June 4th, that would mean a gap of over a week with no basketball.
With such a lengthy downtime, Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports that the NBA is looking into the possibility of moving up the start of the Finals to June 2nd to help alleviate the extra-long break:
The NBA is exploring the possibility of moving up the start of the NBA Finals to June 2 if both conference finals series end in sweeps, league sources told CBSSports.com Sunday.
With the Warriors up 3-0 on the Rockets and the Cavaliers leading 2-0 heading into Game 3 against the Hawks Sunday night, the league faces the possibility of an eight-day gap between the end of the Eastern Conference Finals and the start of the NBA Finals, scheduled for June 4.
Were both series to go seven games, the West would’ve concluded May 31 and the East on June 1, resulting in a two-day turnaround into the Finals.
But with the Warriors and Cavs surprisingly dominating their respective series — the Warriors can close out the Rockets Monday night, while the Cavs won the first two games of their series in Atlanta — the league is exploring a contingency plan. It’s complicated and unlikely, sources say, based on television commitments, hotel capacities, international media travel and other considerations. One person familiar with the discussions described them as being in the “very early exploration” stage.
The NBA could have never counted on dual sweeps in the conference finals, no matter the teams who were playing, but is it really worth all the work to change travel arrangements, hotel bookings, and everything else that goes along with putting on the Finals for just a two day difference? If the Finals were being moved up to this Thursday or even Sunday night that’d be one thing, but we’re only talking about a couple days here. The tradeoff doesn’t seem to be worth it. Plus, I’d be willing to bet that the teams in question would love to have the extra rest, especially the banged up Cavaliers.
If the NBA is really looking to do something to fill the basketball vacuum, they could always implement a Bill Simmons-like idea and re-do the NBA Draft Lottery as a single elimination tournament to decide who gets the #1 pick. Whatever happened to that guy anyways…