You tell yourself ‘No, don’t be one of those guys!’ ‘Don’t do it, don’t rip the NBA for their bad product currently.’ But alas, I can’t help myself. NBA continues to see their second round games finish in blowout fashion. The last down-to-wire game featured Washington-Boston in Game 2 when they went to overtime. Two of the four series are going to go six games, which should be exciting, but these games are turning into blowouts by the end of the final whistle so what exactly is happening to turn away fans in the fourth quarter?

For some teams, they are overmatched with their opponent. Take for example, Utah and Toronto. Both teams cannot compete with their opponent for different reasons, but it’s part of the dilution of the second round. Raptors dealt with Kyle Lowry getting hurt, and they were a totally different ball team. If that Lowry injury happens versus Milwaukee, Bucks are in the second round, and I like to think they would get a game at least. But they could end up like Utah who is a young team playing against a juggernaut who is starting to figure it out. Kevin Durant’s Game 3 outing showed why Warriors are so fucking scary. They can beat in several different ways.

The other two series have some excitement, but they still cannot get that final five minutes where everyone is going wild on Twitter. Boston-Washington is a bloodbath with both teams hating each other. Kelly Oubre didn’t play Game 4 where Wizards took care of business but once again, they blew out C’s. James Harden is giving San Antonio everything, but if he’s not on, Spurs are dismantling Rockets other players. These two series have a thrill for the dramatics, but it’s not giving us that last extra oomph.

I’m not saying NBA needs to fix this problem, but it’s a turn off to the causal fans. If a game is out of reach early, people are watching something else. It’s not I have hate in my heart towards the league, rather, I want to see a competitive second round with some actual challenges. I get LeBron and Steph are that good, but everyone wants to fast forward to the finals. Even in the years of Jordan and Shaq/Kobe, we never really heard phrases like that uttered.

If this works as a jinx to get a crazy finish tonight in Salt Lake City, my work here is done.

Charlie.