Silver says NBA likes ‘parity of opportunity’ for its teams

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Over the last three seasons, six franchises have reached the NBA Finals. The league has seen five Eastern Conference champions in the last five seasons. This will be the fourth consecutive year that the team which hoists the trophy won’t be the same as the one who did the year before. Adam Silver likes all these numbers. The NBA Commissioner, in his annual pre-NBA Finals address Thursday night held just before Game 1 of the series between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics, repeated his familiar refrain that he doesn’t care who wins. But he also sees the value in some unpredictability from one year to the next as far as which teams make it to the title round.