Why do the Heat get a bunch of days rest?

[j804]

Yup I'm blaming this on Stern, somewhat joking but seriously they last played Wednesday and don't play again till Sunday?

I know it went 5 and not 6 games but shouldn't they have played today or tomorrow 

[Fafnir]

TV money.

The Heat get the big ratings, I'm betting ABC demanded to get them in their Sunday lineup if it all possible.

And yes it does suck, big time. But look at what happened to the Bulls. The second that Rose went out their were shunted to ESPN2 and NBATV for the rest of the series. That doesn't happen if Rose is healthy.

[fairweatherfan]

The Heat were always locked into the Friday/Sunday schedule I think.  They could've played Friday since the Pacers had clinched by then, but the weekend games always wind up being Game 1s or Game 7s whenever possible (every other weekend - the in-between weekends are usually Game 4s).

The shorter answer, though, is it's because they clinched in 5 and we didn't.  We win in 5 and we would've gotten just as many days rest as they're getting.

[nickagneta]

Besides this way Stern gets to give Lebron his MVP on national Sunday television

[Senninsage]

The league heavily favors the Heat. It's blatantly obvious. They get more days rest than seemingly anybody else, and they always seem to get such a favorable situation with regards to scheduling. Let's not even start on the calls they get. You ever wonder why Lebron acts like such a baby when ANY foul goes against him during a game? He has become so accustomed to nothing being called at all.

[LooseCannon]

Look at it this way....if the Celtics can beat the 76ers in fewer games than it takes the Heat to beat the Pacers (or vice versa), then the Celtics get more rest going into the conference finals, unless both series go to seven games.

[KGs Knee]

Yeah, pretty much no way we were getting the Sunday opener.  Too much TV money for ABC to lose if they didn't get the Heat.

I'm not sure I understand why the NBA didn't work it out with the Heat playing Sun/Mon/Wed/Fri & C's playing Sat/Mon/Thu/Sat.  Especially considering the OKC series isn't going to start until Mon (meaning a Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun sked) & SAS will be starting on Tue (meaning Tue/Thu/Sat/Mon sked).  This would have kept the Heat on the Sunday rotation (and possibly the Lakers as well).

I guess the NBA really just doesn't want the playoffs going until July.  Why, I can't fathom.  I mean what else is there to compete against, baseball?  It's not as if the networks show new prime-time programming in the summer anyways.

Oh well, if the C's can beat the Sixers in 5 or less, they'll get plenty of rest before the conf finals. The West is going to be 2 days behind just to start, and likely won't catch up until late in this upcoming next round.  Even if Miami sweeps there is now way the NBA will let the East start their finals a week before the West does.

[LooseCannon]

I guess the NBA really just doesn't want the playoffs going until July.

It would be kind of stupid to have the playoffs extend beyond the draft and into the July moratorium.  Also, the Olympics start at the end of July.  I think you would want to give players reasonable time to prepare if they are headed to London.  In fact, it is the Celtics' patriotic duty to give James, Wade, and Bosh some extra time off so they can be rested before bringing home the gold.

[OsirusCeltics]

I guess the NBA really just doesn't want the playoffs going until July.

It would be kind of stupid to have the playoffs extend beyond the draft and into the July moratorium.  Also, the Olympics start at the end of July.  I think you would want to give players reasonable time to prepare if they are headed to London.  In fact, it is the Celtics' patriotic duty to give James, Wade, and Bosh some extra time off so they can be rested before bringing home the gold.

I think its Stern scheme/plan to make Lebron try to win the MVP, NBA title, and Gold Medal all in the same here
He tried to do that with Kobe in 2008, but luckily it failed