Guess what? Every game in the NBA Regular Season DOES MATTER

When I was the Director of Communications/Media Relations for the NBA, a certain Commissioner friend of mine would often challenge our friends in the Fourth Estate when they would mutter a common preamble before stating a question or pre-conceived notion.

The preamble that would set the Commish off - and was always a major "pet-peeve" of mine is the phrase, "Some people say" or "Some people believe" or "Some people are writing."

That phrase would then erroneously 'qualify' the preconceived notion as though it were fact. Usually, the truth was so far away from the statement that you could place the continent of Asia in the gap.

So, as I often write in this blog, "Stay with me."

I have heard the following sentence muttered by media and NBA fans the world over.

"The NBA regular season doesn't matter." or the games in the middle of January, Feb and March don;t matter in the NBA, because the season is too long."

Well, guess what?

The games do matter. It is a challenge to play 82 games. A challenge like running a damn marathon. Getting up for 82. Travel. The road. Winning a big game on the road. Defending your home court. I can go on.

For those who doubt me, I offer this as exhibit 1-A:

Home court in the conference finals goes to Cleveland and LA. That might be the difference in moving on to the NBA Finals. If the NBA Finals are contested between Cleveland and LA, one regular season game decided the team that will have HOME COURT ADVANTAGE and that means, Games 1, 2 6 and 7. A HUGE A/Advantage in the Finals.

Clev 66-16
LAL 65-17
Orl 59-23
Den 54-28

If Orlando plays Denver, think the five regular season game differential might matter a bit, considering the altitude of DV?

I have spoken!

PS-- Read On for some fun...

The Fourth Estate? Ever wonder why that phrase is used to describe the scribes?

The Fourth Estate - or the media — got its nickname by policing the governments of France and Great Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The French Estates General consisted of The First Estate of three hundred clergy, the Second Estate of three hundred nobles and the Third Estate of six hundred commoners. The media fulfilled a new role, providing their readership with more factual information about political events.


As a result, politicos were forced into a new level of accountability. Media became the fact provider, the great source of information beyond hype. When the politicians stepped out of line, the masses were informed, and protests, and in some cases, revolution ensued.