If Hornets Beat Spurs in Game 7, They Have the WNBA to Thank

After 28 straight days of NBA postseason action, with series schedules oddly staggered for maximum television exposure, the playoffs are taking a day off on Saturday. Now, your first inclination might be to ask, Why today? Why take a day off when the Spurs and Hornets played Game 6 on Thursday yet won't play Game 7 until the following Monday?

Well, the answer is simple. The NBA is taking a breather to let its sister league, the WNBA, take center stage on the day of its season tip-off.

Which is a decision that is identical to the play of Hornets hustle player Ryan Bowen: noble but flawed.

On the one hand, one might want to give David Stern a quick pat on the rump (yes, rump) for having his boys take a gentlemanly breather so the lovely ladies of the WNBA can have a chance to strut their stuff this afternoon on ABC.

But if Stern and the league really wanted to maximize the WNBA's exposure to a national viewing audience, wouldn't it make more sense to have the season's first WNBA game take place directly after a Game 7 of the NBA playoffs?

Or how about Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie and the Sparks making their season debut in between two playoff games? While L.A.'s season-opener might be seen as less of an "event," it would certainly have more viewers than they'll have today, playing in the afternoon on national TV with no lead-in.

Taking a day off is also a decision that draws more attention to the NBA's flawed scheduling system, as many feel that the league's playoff schedule is already stretched out too long as it is. The last thing the players - and more importantly, the fans - need right now is more time between games.

In fact, the sole benefactor from this scheduling quirk would seem to be the New Orleans Hornets. Because of the huge three-day gap between Games 6 and 7, injured stars like David West and Tyson Chandler get extra time to rest, which will significantly help New Orleans' chances on Monday.

So, in a weird way, were it not for Candace Parker, we might be seeing a whole lot more Ryan Bowen right now.

Maybe this scheduling quirk isn't such a bad thing after all ...