The NBA and NHL playoffs are heading fast towards their final four and two top markets are still in play.

Prior to the second round beginning, we were having plenty of “what if” conversations about what the best series would be in the final of each respective league.

Like many out there, I also like to do the conspiracy theorist thing and try to identify which teams the leagues would like to see in the final.

That being stated, I want to give props to one first-round series in each league that really struck me as better than the rest.

It’s going to be really hard for any of the playoff series to top the Knicks-Pistons for sheer old-school basketball goodness – complete with no calls on nothing fouls and hard hits at the rim.

I was so hoping that Detroit could force a Game 7 at MSG, but even though that didn’t happen, the 1990s style ball in each game was fantastic.

On the ice, the Jets-Blues going down to the wire including a Game 7 wild two-goal comeback by Winnipeg, who won it in double overtime, is the stuff post-season legends are made of. Seriously, just saying Game 7 OT is exciting.

With all the Italian Canadians on the Jets, I’m quietly supporting them and hope they can avoid elimination by the Dallas Stars tonight (May 17), which means another of my final four NHL picks will be gone (I also took Washington).

The Leafs on the other hand are heading to Game 7 versus Florida and the are the team the league would (should?) most want to see in the Stanley Cup final this year. Whether that means anything or not is to be determined.

From a purely hockey perspective, seeing the Leafs and Washington Capitals in the conference final would have been preferred to Carolina against anyone. With a Leafs-Edmonton Oilers or Leafs-Jets Stanley Cup final providing the best overall hockey.

If I’m the league though, from a marketing perspective, it would have to be Leafs-Oilers with who is left. Leafs-Dallas is kind of blah, and Leafs-Jets wouldn’t resonate as well south of the border.

Toronto-Edmonton can be marketed as the best American (Auston Matthews) versus the best Canadian (Connor MacDavid), which could get a decent viewership. And with the markets remaining that’s the best around.

The best part about the Maple Leafs making the final this year is that the viewers will be huge – either to cheer for or against them – as they are the ultimate love ’em or hate ’em hockey franchise.

On the hardcourt, the series every pure basketball fan wanted to see was the Canadian sensation Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) and his Oklahoma City Thunder representing the Western Conference against the defending champion Boston Celtics from the East.

Thanks to the feisty, exciting New York Knicks, that’s not going to happen. Instead the Eastern Conference finals see the Knicks take on the Indiana Pacers – two huge basketball towns and teams – and if you take a drink for every time Spike Lee and Reggie Miller’s rivalry is mentioned, you’ll probably get alcohol poisoning.

Whichever team wins, they’ll make an interesting team to watch for basketball fans.

Most Canadians should be OKC fans as they also feature Lugentz (Lu) Dort. Sportsnet’s Michael Grange wrote about this a short while ago, but those of us in the know have been following the Thunder ever since SGA and Dort donned the Thunder jersey.

The Thunder host the Nuggets in Game 7 of their series on May 18 with the winner taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.

Now, if I’m a league executive and I need to boost TV ratings and market share in sporting world that will see an awful lot of soccer finals taking place in Europe, along with the Stanley Cup final going head-to-head with me, I’ve got a different take on who should be in my league’s showcase series.

From a purely marketing and television ratings perspective, the Knicks would be the biggest draw for the league out of everyone left.

FUN FACT (from Wikipedia): The New York Knicks faced the Toronto Huskies at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens on November 1, 1946, in what would be the franchise’s first game—as well as the first in league history.

There is an argument to be made that the Denver Nuggets, who also won a title in the last few years and feature one of the two best players in the world in Serbian Nikola Jovic (the other is the aforementioned SGA), would make a solid anti-hero to the Knicks in the finals.

Also, Canadian star Jamal Murray is on the Nuggets, so Canada would still be represented.

Those are my random thoughts on what I would like to see versus what I think the leagues would like to see in their respective finals.

We’ll see how it all plays out.

Ciao for Now!