Lakers play Rockets again, soon
Isn't that fun? Competitive game between two teams on Monday, banked, now we sharpen our chops in anticipation of a rematch on Wednesday.
Nobody flies anywhere, flying drains wheels. No wasted steps moving from hotel to hotel. Better yet, the rancor can't help but build between Houston and the team it hosts, Houston doesn't even want to even say the names of its guests, the Rockets simply want Wednesday to hurry up so Houston can see how well DeAndre Ayton's "touch" does down on the floor (while looking up at the ceiling). Season tiebreaker is secondary.
Admittedly this turned a little violent, but NBA games often end up that way when teams work against each other twice in a row. That's why the entire NBA season should be made of teams working against each other twice in a row. Players bump fewer fists and slap fewer hands before the second game, the how's the kids-stuff is for the first night, silent stares are for the second. Especially of the home team already dropped one.
Also, flights. One-nighters enervate NBA legs. Maybe not immediately, the next game or next week, but a general dulling applies and eventually consumes. The NBA would be a better basketball league if travel were reduced, especially redundant travel. We don't need to space out our super-important-NBA visits from Milwaukee to Atlanta by four months, we just don't.
A single visit from each team, one time per season. NBA hosts are no guarantee to see the other team's scheduled superstar suit up as it currently stands, even if the games are separated by months. It isn't as if the modern one-nighter system guarantees the most famous player performs.
What it does guarantee is an endless buildup of wear and tear, punctuated by eye-rolling bursts of oh-here-we-go-again-with-these-guys load management. Yet we keep going here, and again!
These guys.
The league is about to add two more teams, still an even number, and kick Minneapolis to the East. The NBA has 82 games of capital in place, now the NBA needs to, as they say, "grow it further." As if growth is something to string along tangibly, like we're dragging and rolling out handfuls of pasta.
