What To Do While Waiting For The NBA Finals To Begin
Because this six day wait is going to be a long one.
The NBA Finals are set. For the first time in NBA history, the same teams are meeting in the championship for the third year in a row. It’s truly historic, and all signs point to an entertaining and dramatic series. Will LeBron and Co. defend their championship they captured in historical fashion last season? Can Kevin Durant complete his ultimate villain transformation and win a championship with the mega-team Warriors? There is enough headline material in this series to fill an entire stack of newspapers. Everyone has been waiting for this rematch all season long. The only problem? It’s six days away.
With the Warriors finishing the Spurs in four games, and the Cavaliers beating up the Celtics in five, neither team needed a full slate of series games to advance to the finals. This leaves six full days without basketball. Will the Finals ever actually get here? Six days doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but for NBA fans that have grown cozily accustomed to nightly playoff games, it’s basically the equivalent of going six days without food and water (okay, that’s a bit dramatic). But thankfully, there remains plenty of things to do during that time to fill your schedule. Both things pertaining to the NBA, and others not so much. Here’s what you can do in the next six days to survive until the NBA Finals begin.
Study Up on the NBA Draft
The 2017 NBA Draft class is as stacked as they come. You could easily spend six days alone watching highlights of prospects like Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Jackson. Draftexpress.com is an incredibly useful tool for an NBA draft junkie, complete with mock drafts, player breakdowns, highlights, analysis and more.
Whether your team has the first, fifteenth, or twenty-eighth pick in the draft, study up on these prospects and formulate your own takes and opinions of them. There is a certain level of gratification that comes from watching players before the draft and seeing what they develop into as an NBA player. Six days is plenty of time to familiarize yourself with most of the prospects.
Prep for Free-Agency
July 1st is arguably the most exciting single day in the NBA off-season. This day marks the opening of NBA Free Agency, and is the first day that teams can verbally agree to contract deals with free agent players. Perhaps the most crucial preparation is the development of mental toughness needed to not fall victim of fake Woj or Mark Stein tweets.
You can use this dead time before the Finals to acquaint yourself with the biggest free agents of this summer. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward, and Kyle Lowry headline a group of free-agents that could possibly be on the move to new franchise destinations. If you are a salary cap/CBA enthusiast, there is plenty of other free-agent contact research to be done. Catching up on all the latest rumors, trade-talks, etc. is a great way to spend time waiting for the LeBron-Steph Curry rematch.
Relive the 2016 NBA Finals
(Warriors fans may want to skip this one)
In what was the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, and one of the best in sports history, the 2016 Finals were incredibly epic. From Ayesha Curry tweets to Kyrie Irving’s timeless game-winner, last years Finals provided some of the best entertainment a fan could ask for. If you want to relive last year’s dramatic series in prep for round III, here is a 33-minute mini movie that should do the trick.
Hit the hardwood
If you can’t watch basketball, you should play it yourself! Hit up the local gym, rec center, YMCA, etc. and work out the pre-finals jitters. Make sure to remember your Steph Curry pregame dribbling routine. Practice your Kyrie step-back and LeBron power iso. Maybe even sink a few deep threes in the name of the Splash Bros. Talk some trash, if that’s your thing. Probably avoid any high kicks to the groin area, though.
Everyone loves a good game of pickup basketball, so what better way than this to pass the time? Get some wiggles out, burn some calories, and get some adrenaline pumping in preparation for Warriors vs. Cavs. You’re going to need it.
Watch the classics
Part of what makes the NBA and the Finals so great, is the history and tradition it holds. The NBA Finals are one the richest sporting experiences, and date back nearly 70 years. Through these years the world was graced with several incredible and historic matchups that will never get old. You can find just about anything on YouTube depending on which series you want to watch. A few recommendations:
Diversify your sporting interests
As with many things in life, diversification can help spread interests and develop new areas of attention. In the next six days you could step outside your sports comfort zone and watch somethings maybe you don’t normally follow. MLB, WNBA, and MLS seasons are all under way, and present other methods of sporting entertainment, although none compare to the stature and allure of the NBA Finals.
Don’t do anything- Just wait
This may not be the best option on paper, but will probably be the most-likely to happen. Stewing over the NBA Finals is what most basketball fans will do during the six days of rest. “Does Cleveland stand a chance?” “How will Kevin Durant perform against LeBron?” “Who will Draymond fight first?” All questions of the soul that NBA fans are asking themselves prior to game one. This waiting period may be boring, but it could also add to the drama and anticipation of round three of the Warriors-Cavaliers battle.
No matter what you choose to do during this time, the days will eventually pass and Oracle Arena will eventually fill its sea of yellow for game one. The lights will eventually dim for player intros, complete with flamethrowers and pump-up tunes. LeBron, Curry, KD, and Kyrie and more will all eventually take position around mid-court for the opening tip. What happens after that? Who knows. No matter what you do over the next six days, just make sure you’re watching when that ball first hits the floor.
