Covering the NCAA tournament makes it difficult to follow your favorite NBA team. I was lamenting that very fact the other day when a friend turned to me and asked, "Do you really care at all about the NBA right now?"
I took a second, pondered, and decided that as he suspected, my interest NBA basketball had all but been eclipsed during for the second half of March. It's a phenomenon that's been occurring for my entire sports-viewing lifetime, but one I was unaware of until that day.
I always thought that between the Ides of March and the first Monday in April, NBA players went on vacation, leaving pre-taped games to entertain the few basketball fans who weren't glued to college's far more passionate brand.
I thought Shaq went fishing and Tony Parker, or should I say, Tony P, rapped in French with Fabolous. I thought it was all set up to happen that way, like when they pre-empt your favorite show for a major sporting event. It goes away for a week, you don't miss anything and when the dust settles they make with the new episodes.
How naive I was.
Apparently, the NBA's been business as usual the whole time, and while you were watching Ohio State pull horseshoes from every orifice, Kobe Bryant was scoring 50 or more points in four straight games.
When March Madness ends you rejoin the NBA just in time for the final weeks and playoffs, but some big things have been happening down the home stretch that don't involve Bryant's ego. Here are a few of the notables you may have missed while you were watching Joakim Noah practice his primal screaming.
Apparently, Andrea Bargnani couldn't handle the pressure of competing with college hoops, because the Raptors big man needed an emergency appendectomy last week and is out indefinitely, at once deflating his run at Rookie of the Year and Toronto's chance at a surprise run deep into the playoffs.
Instead of betting on his alma mater, the Arizona Wildcats, to do some damage in the NCAA tournament (which would've been a brutal call), Gilbert Arenas has been keeping himself busy making $10 bets with fans. Arenas bet a fan he would hit the winning shot during a loss to Portland Wednesday, and when he missed and word got out, the only thing the NBA did was "explain the issue to him."
Somewhere Pete Rose is going, "What the f@$?!?"
Ray Allen needed an excuse to watch a little Final Four, because his season's over after bone spurs crept up in his ankle. He's in a lot of pain, I swear. If you ask me, the real victim is still the Seattle basketball community.
Rasheed Wallace also wanted a little time off, and the Big Technical got his 18th of the year this week, a milestone that results in an immediate one-game suspension. Every second technical beyond that also means a one-game breather, so maybe Ra-Weed will be able to watch the national championship after all.
Ron Artest is talking about potentially retiring at the end of the season. Please, try to contain your grief.
Former Kentucky big man Randolph Morris sure did. Randolph was signed by the Knicks in the same week his Wildcats were eliminated from the Big Dance. Another brilliant decision by Morris, who entered the draft once before, but pulled out, making himself a free agent at the end of the collegiate season. Just what the Knicks need — another low-maintenance, character guy.
The Dallas Mavericks still have the best record in the NBA, have won six straight as of this writing, and will probably meet the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals for a series which would realistically determine the NBA championship if there were any justice.
See, not much can actually change over two weeks in the NBA.
Read more of Aaron Miller's work at GrandStandAdmissions.com.
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