A Sports Filled Weekend Ahead

This will not come as a surprise to you but…playoffs are better.

In every sport. All the time. Especially in the sports that play as many games in the regular season as the NBA and NHL.

We are done with players resting and teams taking a night (or a week) off. A lost series ends the season and this is the time of the year when a championship can be won (well, that’s actually June, but you get the point).

So with the exception of Sunday’s NASCAR race at Bristol, we’re sticking to playoff recommendations in your Weekend TV Six-Pack. And we’d probably ditch NASCAR but the lads didn’t race last week and we know you are eager to see them trading paint again.

When can we begin our extended pairing of the heiner and the recliner? Why, how about Friday night?

The NBA playoffs haven’t been too unpredictable, except for the series in which the Chicago Bulls lead the Boston Celtics 2-0. The Celtics were the top seed in the Eastern Conference but they turn into green marshmallows under the boards. The series moves to Chicago for Game 3 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

In the interest of balance, we’ll pitch Friday night’s NHL matchup of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals. The series is tied at two games apiece and overtime has been the rule. Can the young Leafs exploit the Capitals and their history of playoff flops? We’ll get a hint at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.

We’ll do a similar pairing on Saturday. In the NHL, the St. Louis Blues continued their late-season drive right into the playoffs and lead the Minnesota Wild 3-1 in their best-of-seven. This one is as close as we get to afternoon delight – 3 p.m. on NBC.

Your NBA matchup? The Washington Wizards meet the Atlanta Hawks at 5:30 p.m. on TNT. The Wizards, powered by John Wall and Bradley Beal, lead the Hawks 2-0. The Wizards clearly look like a rising team; the Hawks sometimes look like a team.

Sunday brings the aforementioned NASCAR race at 2 p.m. on Fox. But you will already be watching the Cleveland Cavaliers try to eliminate the Indiana Pacers at 1 p.m. on ABC. The Cavs came back from a 26-point deficit to beat the Pacers on Thursday night and are up 3-0. We’re talking foregone conclusion in this series.

Enjoy. It’s the season of back-and-forth sports (plus one that goes ‘round and ‘round).
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman