Calling the final scores from the opening games of the playoffs an “unpleasant truth that exists in America today,” Senator Bernie Sanders has added redistributing the Western Conference’s wealth of talent to his platform.
“You all know that while all our teams are working so hard, almost all of the new talent and income generated in the NBA is going to the top tier of teams,” Sanders told the crowd at his rally Monday. “Well, together, what we are going to do is create a league that works for all of us, not just the teams on top.”
The crowd responded with uproarious applause.
Game theorists who theorize about games and statisticians agreed that the 2016 NBA playoffs are off to an unusually uneven start. As FivethirtyEight explained, “Six of the eight Game 1s finished with double-digit scoring margins, with five decided by 20 or more points and three of those decided by 30 or more. The average point differential of this season’s opening playoff games was 20.5, the highest of any season since the NBA expanded to its current playoff format in 1984.”
But for Sanders and his supporters the uneven distribution of wins is older and bigger than Sunday.
“This campaign — as I think all of you know, this campaign is not just about electing the president. It is about transforming America,” Sanders said to the usual applause, only for the speech to take, what Sanders supporters called, a surprising turn. “Only five teams–the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs and Warriors–have won more than 3 championships, totaling between them 70 percent of the titles.”
At this the New York crowd booed, though some attributed that to the mention of the Boston Celtics.
“We will not accept a rigged economy in which ordinary Americans work longer hours for lower wages, while almost all new income and wealth goes to the top 1 percent,” Sanders said. “Nor will we accept potentially four-sweeps in the first round, and the NBA playoffs devolve into watching Toronto slog it out with Indiana every other day.”
Sanders singled out the Dallas Mavericks, praising them for continuing to fighting, even if victory seems impossible.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Hillary Clinton campaign said it was time for the rest of the playoff field to step aside for the Warriors, and root for them against the presumptive Eastern Conference champs.
