Happy Holidays from the NBA

The NBA lockout has finally come to a close

By DAVID LEBLANC
Staff Writer

Early Saturday morning, the NBA lockout officially came to an end. After a fifteen hour session on Friday after Thanksgiving, the players and the representatives finally reached an agreement.

This past Saturday was the 159th day of the NBA lockout, and it was sure to be the last. Instead of asking aimless questions like what team LeBron will play for in Europe, we can now ask what NBA team will win this year’s season.

Will it be the Mavs for the second straight year? Or maybe the Celtics will prevail and show that age is not a factor. In the end, it is these questions that NBA fans like asking more than who will play overseas.

Although the deal is labeled as “tentative” it is almost a sure lock. The first games are suitably scheduled on Christmas. The games will feature the Chicago Bulls vs. the L.A. Lakers, Miami vs. Dallas Mavericks, and the Boston Celtics vs. the New York Knicks.

Finally, the players will get out of the suits and into their uniforms. They will get back to what they do best: playing ball!

However, this lockout will have drastic effects on this season. Obviously they will have no practice or preseason, as well as only having a 66 game season. The league is hoping to open camps on December 9th, but by the time the whole team arrives it will be tip-off. Will this shorter season help certain teams or make the falter.

Will teams like the Boston Celtics show early signs of fatigue or is the season too short for that? Will teams like the Miami heat who got off to a late start last year, fall short of the playoffs?

Only time will tell. However, one thing is sure: the shortened season will affect every team in its own way. Even with the NFL, whose lockout didn’t last nearly as long as the NBA’s, some teams are still learning to play cohesively.

Now that the lockout has finally ended, the fans are desperately left asking other questions. Free agency is scheduled to start December 9th. With that said, will any big named players like Dwight Howard be moving to a new city? What about the “Big Three,” will they finally reach their goal of winning their first ring?

Whether that happens or not, this season will go down in NBA history as only the second time in history that the NBA will have a shortened season. The first time was in 1998-1999. This season will be reduced by 16 games, so the players have no choice but to make every game count!