Well you actually only need to watch the last 5 or so minutes (game clock) of about 90% of the games. The NBA is getting to be like pro wrestling, with one of the "wrestlers" lying unconscious on the mat, just to wake up and start smashing the other one.
No matter how bad a team is losing almost invariably the other team comes back and either takes the lead or gets very close, so what happened early matters not at all...