![\"The](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/32f5be7bce2dd256072492cf9339e359500dcac4_2_690x468-e1597645902424.jpg\")
<\/a>The play-offs bracket.<\/p><\/div>\n
Every year for decades<\/em> now, I await the NBA play-offs with bated breath. Even in the midst of my pre-pandemic always-busy glamorous life, I\u2019ve always managed to watch every single game of the over-a-month-long play-offs.\u00a0Every game<\/em>, from the very first sixteen-team first round to the Final!<\/p>\n But like the Jazz\u2019s Mike Conley, (who temporarily left the stupid \u201cbubble\u201d to see his son be born,) I just may be sitting this one out. We\u2019ll see when it hits 10AM today which way my wind is blowing.<\/p>\n The conundrum for me is that in 2020, when I\u2019ve been in my house for over five months now, I have more time than ever to watch sports. But with all the sadness in the world that has been brought on by the reason for that isolation, my heart just does not seem to be in it this year. I have about a hundredth of the concentration and rooting abilities that I\u2019ve had my whole life up until now.<\/p>\n Karen Salkin and Doc Rivers. Obviously this was waaay back in the day! On both our parts! Photo by Leland Stein\/Gary Montgomery.<\/p><\/div>\n So, assuming I do<\/em> get into the basketball play-offs, for just whom will I be rooting, you may ask? I know the answer, as an LA girl through and through, should<\/em> be the Lakers or the Clippers. Or both. Ever since I met him back in the say, I\u2019ve always been a fan of the Clippers coach, Doc Rivers. And I totally appreciate the star of each team, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. And you know<\/em> that I love the Lakers\u2019 Dwight Howard, especially after he was so nice to me a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n All that being said, though, I\u2019m still rooting for Giannis and the Bucks. I have for the past couple of years. Before that, I was basically always for the San Antonio Spurs. I feel a teensy bit sad for them right now; after an epic playoffs run of twenty-two years, (twenty-two<\/em>!!! OMG!,) they finally have to sit-out this post-season. (I guess they can maybe use the rest after all those years. At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019m telling<\/em> myself to cheer myself up.)<\/p>\n They\u2019re not my team, anymore, anyway. Unlike baseball and football, where my teams are always<\/em> the New York ones, I re-choose which NBA team(s) to root for each year, based on their personnel. And Giannis Antetokounmpo has been my guy for about three or four years now. And, as interesting as I find the current Lakers\u2019 and Clippers\u2019 rosters, and expect one of those teams to become this year\u2019s NBA Champion, there\u2019s just something about manufactured teams that I find off-putting. It sort-of reminds me of picking your friends in elementary school sports, instead of giving everyone a fair chance. (And no\u2014I was not<\/em> chosen last! I was surprisingly good at basketball!)<\/p>\n<\/a>