You now must choose: NBA or NHL Playoffs in Detroit

Last night the Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars to win the Eastern Conference Finals and advance to the NHL Finals. Also, last night, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the New Orleans Hornets to advance to the NBA’s Western Conference Finals.

I was considering the double dip for this weekend. The drive from Chicago to Detroit is about 4.5 hours (290 miles) and the flights are under $200 round trip.

The Pistons were scheduled to host the Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals this Sunday, May 25. Knowing that last year’s NHL Finals Game 1 in Anaheim was scheduled for Memorial Day, I figured the NHL would schedule something similar.

Since both NHL Conference Finals ended earlier than expected, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is now scheduled for Saturday, May 24 and Game 2 is scheduled for Memorial Day which does not make a difference for my plans. It would have still worked out to attend the Pistons game Sunday night and the Red Wings game Monday night.

However, with the Spurs advancing to the Western Conference Finals to play the Lakers, the NBA chose to have the Spurs host the Lakers in Game 3 on Sunday night and moved the Celtics / Pistons Game 3 to Saturday night – competing directly with Game 1 of the NHL Finals. The current conflicting playoff schedule is now:

NHL Finals:
Game 1: Penguins at Red Wings: Sat, May 24 at 8:00 pm ET
Game 2: Penguins at Red Wings: Mon, May 26 at 8:00 pm ET

NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Game 3: Celtics at Pistons: Sat, May 24 at 8:30 pm ET
Game 4: Celtics at Pistons: Mon, May 26 at 8:30 pm ET

Notice something wrong with this schedule – especially if you are a Detroit fan? I understand why the NBA and NHL scheduled the games, but couldn't someone (TV, leagues, anybody) have planned it better. In fact, tickets are still available for all four games. So much for Detroit fans planning a great day of double header playoff sporting events.

Based on my importance of sporting events, I would attend the NHL Finals over the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. However, instead of making the drive for one game, I will probably stick with my distant 3rd place option of attending Sunday night baseball at US Cellular Field and the Cubs game on Memorial Day – so much for a holiday weekend road trip.

NBA Playoffs – First Round

The NBA Playoffs have arrived. There is not a better time to plan spontaneous sports trips only a few days to a week ahead of time. With the amount of teams involved in the playoffs there are many travel options.

The last couple of years I was commuting between Los Angeles and Chicago, so there were multiple playoff games to attend with the Lakers, Clippers and Bulls making the playoffs during that time. But this year, I am living and working in Chicago. Thus, the Lakers resurgence as a #1 seed does not affect me.

With the Bulls out of the playoffs, the next cities on my priority list in which I would attend first round playoff games are:

1) Milwaukee – 1.5 hour drive
2) Indianapolis – 3 hour drive (probably would combine with another event)

However, both of those teams are out of the playoffs as well. My next option is to look at the cities in which we have family – San Francisco and Orlando. The Warriors are out. The Magic's home playoff schedule does not work well for our schedule. Thus, I may not attend an NBA Playoff game for the first time since the 2003 NBA Playoffs. We'll see what happens in the later rounds as the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers try to advance and my radius for travel expands.

On a side note, the only Chicago team in the playoffs right now is the Chicago Wolves (AHL – Minor League Hockey). Based on the fact I pass the Allstate Arena on the way home from work this could be a viable option.