Christmas has become the showpiece of the NBA regular season schedule, when 10 squads are carefully selected to satiate an audience starved for anything that resembles meaningful basketball.
But what happens when you can't find 10 contending teams, and five compelling matchups? When consolidation has taken so many organizations out of championship consideration.
Well, you do what the league did Thursday, giving us one great game -- between the only clearly great teams -- and four others that speak to the issues that commissioner Adam Silver briefly addressed at Summer League in Las Vegas.
"This notion of two super teams that it's a huge television attraction -- I don't think it's good for the league," Silver said then. "Just to be really clear. There's no question, when you aggregate a group of great players, they have a better chance of winning than many other teams.... I think we can make the system better," Silver said. "I think that it is critically important that teams in every market have that belief, that if their team is well managed, that they can compete. Certainly it's important to me that markets in this league, those that are perceived as small, and those that are larger all feel that they have an equal chance."
Now, some may scoff at the notion that Super Teams are inherently evil -- after all, interest in the NBA has spiked since the formation of the Big Three in Miami in 2010. And the league did reasonably well, you may recall, when Michael Jordan was dominating the NBA Finals every June, thwarting worthy rivals such as Charles Barkley's Suns, Karl Malone's Jazz and Gary Payton's Sonics. Fans tend to embrace the idea of everyone else shooting for one target.
Or, in this case, two targets -- the Kevin Durant-enhanced Warriors and the champion Cavaliers.
Still, there's a downside to such a top-heavy league, and it's evident in the Christmas slate, otherwise consisting of morbid curiosities and callow contestants.
Start with the Celtics and the Knicks.
Boston should be better, for sure, better now that Al Horford is aboard, and the NBA is also better when that franchise is relevant. Still, few deem the Celtics a legitimate title threat, even as they may prove to be the second-best team in their conference -- with only Toronto or Indiana eligible to argue otherwise. And what does it say about the league when a potential second seed still seems several players short of being taken seriously.
The Celtics' opponent? The Knicks. Better known as the broken-down Bulls. (More on the real Bulls in a minute). It doesn't take much for New Yorkers to announce their own ascent, but the most adventurous bettor wouldn't parlay the presence of both Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in that starting lineup roughly seven weeks into the season.
The old standby Spurs are in the third game, now with Pau Gasol, but without Tim Duncan, some of their bench as well as some more of Manu Ginobili and maybe even Tony Parker's hair. They're the third-most likely team to win a championship next season, but they've lost ground to Golden State, and already they seemed a longshot; the defense looks to be leakier even if Kawhi Leonard guards three guys. They'll face the Bulls, another of the offseason's odd creations; the backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade won't fit as snugly as Wade's capris.
The NBA was wise to ignore small market status, and mix in Minnesota for the fourth game, since the Timberwolves' premium precocious talent needs more national exposure. Still, Tom Thibodeau's team, short on reliable veterans, doesn't appear quite ready to make the 27-win leap Oklahoma City did in 2009-10, or even the 21-win jump that would get the Wolves to what the Thunder won that season (50).
On Christmas, the Wolves will face the current Thunder, who without Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka -- even with Russell Westbrook on an inevitable MVP rampage -- are now removed from the championship chase.
The Thunder's fall, without another West team rising an equal distance from below, is what most diminishes the upcoming NBA season. Ideally, seven or eight teams would enter the season with something more than laughable championship aspirations. Last season, there were five, at most, and that was before the Spurs again showed some age, and the Clippers cratered due to injury.
Now? Well, it's four at most, counting the Spurs and begrudgingly the Clippers, which may have gone as far as they can with the current core. They face the Lakers in the Christmas finale because apparently the NBA forgot that Mamba's out and Mozgov's in.
So it's not a spectacular slate. But here's the thing: It's not clear what would have been better.
Cleveland had to host Golden State. That was a given. Those are the Super Teams, the only two Super Teams. LeBron James always plays in the primetime matchup and this time he won't do so with a scowl, since he's not on the road.
Then what? Sure, the league could have, and probably should have, matched Wade against a rebuilding Miami team, or maybe given Toronto a slot somewhere, as much as it prefers to ignore the Raptors. But otherwise, this is about what was expected, with clear rivalries increasingly rare, and must-see teams even more so.
Coal in your stocking?
If so, it's because the NBA is stocking its gifted players on too few teams.
