Emergency Alert: Potential 8 days with no NBA basketball

As it stands now, June 4 will be the night we are all tuning in to watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals. As it also stands now, and no disrespect meant to the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets, all signs are pointing to sweeps in both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will be meeting in the NBA Finals regardless, but with potential sweeps pending in each series (something that has only happened once in Conference Finals history, in 1957) it leaves the NBA in a little bit of a conundrum.

Should the sweeps occur there will be 8 days off between games for the Cavaliers and 9 for the Warriors. What is this the Super Bowl? What day is media day? Is it too late to sign up for beach-flag-football? While the NBA certainly didn't plan this on purpose, having the Finals start on a hard set date before the Conference Finals even play out leaves no flexibility at all to maneuver a start time that makes more sense.

According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, the league is at least looking into the possibility of moving Game 1 up two days to June 2nd. The big issues the league would need to overcome are TV scheduling, domestic and international travel, and hotel bookings.

LeBron with a heroic effort in convincing us his actual effort was heroic

While the layoff may make for a rusty Game 1, there are some upsides to it as well. Each team will get some well needed rest, most importantly in the case of Cavalier's Kyrie Irving. While LeBron James did everything short of shout "I'M TIRED" into a bullhorn post game last night just to make sure we were all aware of his struggle, he'll be fine. Hell, with 8 days off he might even invent another soda.

Another underrated benefit of the 8 days off is Matthew Dellavedova's scraggly playoff beard will get 192 hours of unmonitored growth before we see it back in action. It may or may not have birds living in it at that point.

The reality is that even though the NBA is looking into moving Game 1 up two days, it may be too little too late. I say cherish the weeknights that you don't have to stay up until midnight or so to see the end of a basketball game. Get some sleep and be at your best for Game 1.


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Top Photo Credit: David Liam Kyle/NBAE/Getty Images
Middle Photo Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images