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Why is there very little significance in winning the East or West pennant? (alien.top)

submitted 2 years ago by DonT012@alien.top to c/nba@nba.space

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It seems like a lot of fans like to use the 4-6 argument for Lebron or Finals losses affect a player's legacy negatively more than early round losses. Why don't we celebrate winning the East/West pennant more often? It's almost as if making the Finals is as useful as making the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first round.

Yet in the MLB making the World Series is a BIG deal even if you get swept and blown out each game. It's considered so prestigious that we always say AL or NL pennant. Why don't NBA ever get to the same prestige level on winning the pennant as MLB?

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[–] wjbc@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

We definitely give teams credit for getting to the Finals. It's a major accomplishment. Years from now, people will still remember how the Heat made it after barely getting into the playoffs.

The problem comes when a team has higher expectations than just making it to the Finals. If they are the one seed or even the two seed in the conference, they may have a legitimate expectation of winning it all. And at that point losing in the Finals is a disappointment.

In baseball, for example, I don't think the Yankees have ever been proud of losing in the World Series, because they've won it all so often that just making it there isn't a big deal. Of course, its better than missing the playoffs entirely, but it's still not part of Yankees lore.

[–] Ladnil@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I'm probably online too much but I've seen "Jimmy Butler hasn't won anything" as a take without a hint of irony numerous times. "Anything" only includes the finals in the discourse.

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