Read the Game Differently.

The NBA Playoffs so far have been tolerable — which, given the league’s recent reputation, is a major step in the right direction. The series themselves have been competitive and entertaining, with the exception of the Oklahoma City Thunder bludgeoning everything in their path. Otherwise, we’ve seen Game 7s, physical basketball, and surprising teams like the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers stepping up and winning big games.

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The games within some of these series, however, have largely disappointed. Blowouts and double-digit wins have dominated too many nights. Still, overall, the product has been good for a league that desperately needed it.

You could argue the playoffs have only shined a brighter spotlight on what was a pathetic final stretch of the regular season. “Tanking” doesn’t even begin to describe what we witnessed down the stretch. Maybe the only thing worse was Adam Silver and the league office pretending to police it. Teams didn’t care. They took the bad headline, paid the tiny fine, and kept moving toward the goldmine waiting in this summer’s draft. For franchises chasing a transformational player, it was simply the cost of doing business.

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Now we’ll see if this playoff run can outweigh an otherwise horrendous spring news cycle. The stars are beginning to align: SGA and Wemby look destined for a Western Conference collision course, while the prized New York Knicks are suddenly flirting with an NBA Finals run.

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Maybe it’s time to climb back on the NBA bandwagon a little bit. The talent is there. The physicality is there. The urgency to win is finally getting there. Cut the league some slack, sit back, and watch some of the greatest athletes in the world put on a show — preferably without spending the entire game talking about how much better it was during the Larry Bird era.