Finals ratings in the toilet.

[midnightpulp]

:wow


The NBA game averaged a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and just over 4 million total viewers for ABC

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sunday-night-football-nba-finals-ratings-dip-1234793078/

And that's with the league's marquee team and player in the Finals. Covid to blame? Some people turned off by BLM? Combination of both?

I think it goes deeper than that. Using this forum as barometer, we've seen many of the usual NBA fans no longer post much about the sport. Mav Crew, HarlemHeat, among many others, despite them being active in the NFL forum, political forum and such. Lefty might've jokingly predicted it with :lol today's NBA, but I think he was on to something. The modern game centered around 3 pointers and fouls is uninteresting, with the league doing everything and anything to accelerate pace even more, with retarded rules like a 14 second shot clock after an offensive rebound. It's obvious the league's strategy is to appeal to teenagers on twitter, since the modern product is producing more "highlights" than ever before, which are easily shared on social media. Not to mention their courting of "twitter drama," which also appeals to teenagers and man-children. The NBA is the only league I know of to have articles about "what storylines to watch out for this season."

Those factors have personally turned me off the NBA, but what's also accelerated my disinterest is how star-centric the sport is (or always was). Maybe I never fully realized it or admitted it, but the amount of in-game impact a single player has in the sport is ridiculous. Lebron in the Finals 10 times with 3 different teams. NBA team building philosophy is basically, "sign a couple of stars, make playoffs. Sign Lebron, make Finals." This makes team building and player development also uninteresting, and as fans, you're either hoping to make a splash by signing a top 5 player or pray the ping-pong balls bounce in your favor. If that doesn't happen, your team has no chance to do much of anything, and usually for decades. In other sports, you're not tied to stars this way. Patrick Mahomes still needs a line and a defense. Mike Trout will get about the same number of at bats as the 9 hitter. Hockey stars only play about 30 minutes out of 60.

The Covid and Black Lives Matter situations are partly to blame I'm sure, but I think the declining ratings might point to a larger issue with the sport/league that has turned off many core fans.

[DAF86]

The Heat made the finals with strict team building, tbh. The Nuggets and Celtics made their conference finals the same way.

The ratings thing is a combination of everything, tbh. The Orlando bubble being meh (it doesn't even feel like the playoffs), the matchup not being particularly interesting and, yeah, the BLM thing probably alienated half the spectators.

I think I watched 3 minutes total of these finals. I will still tune in to watch the Spurs next season, tbh.

[Ozballer]

Personally, it has become 100% star player basketball as opposed to franchise baskeball. It does not matter anymore if it is the Lakers or Milwaukee or what have you. It is Lebron and AD versus Kawhi and PG wearing a random inter changeable shirt...as a fan, I enjoy seeing club basketball with loyal stars supporting a team first approach and not the other way around. It is becoming totally meaningless as a competition in a true sporting sense.

[Chris]

Chinese influence has also been proven to be detrimental. You will never hear Lebron say anything bad about China, but has no problem taking a shit on the United States. Smart fans have tuned out and moved on.

[ElNono]

Chinese influence has also been proven to be detrimental. You will never hear Lebron say anything bad about China, but has no problem taking a shit on the United States. Smart fans have tuned out and moved on.

:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao

[ElNono]

Just been a weird year, tbh... normally you have a bunch of fans invested throughout the year, and the playoffs/finals are basically the culmination of that long road. None of that this year.

We also have a lot of people unemployed and having to worry about more important things, tbh...

[JamStone]

Sports across the board I believe have seen a decline in ratings, even college football and the NFL. Now they haven’t seen as much of a decline as the NBA and MLB, but as far as being reported, there is a decline. I’m not a huge football to begin with. But I haven’t watched one minute of either college or NFL football yet this season. I usually watch some.

I watched some early bubble, early playoffs NBA, but I’ve fallen asleep for a couple of the Finals games, mostly because of my current schedule, but if it was more compelling it might be different. I haven’t really watched any MLB playoffs. And that’s the sport I’ve probably watched the most in recent years.

I think in general it’s a sports thing across the board. Some believed sports would be a good escape during the pandemic, that it was necessary for morale or a sense of normalcy. I think for some, maybe many, getting sick, some dealing with losing family, job and financial struggles, getting stir crazy being cooped up at home, dealing with kids who’ve gotten stir crazy themselves, sports haven’t been that escape. Some people just realize sports don’t matter that much. There’s more important shit in life. Then you add the race element, protests, election stuff, and yeah, another group of people are turned off. Probably a big combination of things, but mostly related to covid stuff and how it’s put life in perspective.

[Spurtacular]

No need to waste time on something that is clearly already decided.

[KobesAchilles]

Ratings fell by 70%. There were literally 3 times the amount of people watching the Finals last year as compared to this year. And that’s with the biggest brand in the NBA, the biggest star in the NBA, and the games going against literally no other major sporting events.

You can say well ratings fell for all sports (which isn’t true) but that doesn’t explain why 70% of a fan base just left the NBA. Baseball playoff ratings are up. Football is about even to slightly down. Golf is up exponentially. But none of them are even CLOSE to losing 70% of their market.

The NBA got political and it backfired in a major way. Lebron James decided to be a SJW and it backfired. Jordan got a lot of shit for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” line but he was ALWAYS must see tv. Ratings went down when he left not when he was actually playing :lmao

[LkrFan]

:wow



https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sunday-night-football-nba-finals-ratings-dip-1234793078/

And that's with the league's marquee team and player in the Finals. Covid to blame? Some people turned off by BLM? Combination of both?

I think it goes deeper than that. Using this forum as barometer, we've seen many of the usual NBA fans no longer post much about the sport. Mav Crew, HarlemHeat, among many others, despite them being active in the NFL forum, political forum and such. Lefty might've jokingly predicted it with :lol today's NBA, but I think he was on to something. The modern game centered around 3 pointers and fouls is uninteresting, with the league doing everything and anything to accelerate pace even more, with retarded rules like a 14 second shot clock after an offensive rebound. It's obvious the league's strategy is to appeal to teenagers on twitter, since the modern product is producing more "highlights" than ever before, which are easily shared on social media. Not to mention their courting of "twitter drama," which also appeals to teenagers and man-children. The NBA is the only league I know of to have articles about "what storylines to watch out for this season."

Those factors have personally turned me off the NBA, but what's also accelerated my disinterest is how star-centric the sport is (or always was). Maybe I never fully realized it or admitted it, but the amount of in-game impact a single player has in the sport is ridiculous. Lebron in the Finals 10 times with 3 different teams. NBA team building philosophy is basically, "sign a couple of stars, make playoffs. Sign Lebron, make Finals." This makes team building and player development also uninteresting, and as fans, you're either hoping to make a splash by signing a top 5 player or pray the ping-pong balls bounce in your favor. If that doesn't happen, your team has no chance to do much of anything, and usually for decades. In other sports, you're not tied to stars this way. Patrick Mahomes still needs a line and a defense. Mike Trout will get about the same number of at bats as the 9 hitter. Hockey stars only play about 30 minutes out of 60.

The Covid and Black Lives Matter situations are partly to blame I'm sure, but I think the declining ratings might point to a larger issue with the sport/league that has turned off many core fans.

mid!! Where you been my nigg? Que pasa??

[midnightpulp]

The Heat made the finals with strict team building, tbh. The Nuggets and Celtics made their conference finals the same way.

The ratings thing is a combination of everything, tbh. The Orlando bubble being meh (it doesn't even feel like the playoffs), the matchup not being particularly interesting and, yeah, the BLM thing probably alienated half the spectators.

I think I watched 3 minutes total of these finals. I will still tune in to watch the Spurs next season, tbh.

The rare Cinderella story doesn't negate the fact that the last decade of titles and Finals appearances were dominated by Lebron, Curry, and Leonard, who are the top 3 players of the 10s. The matchup might not be interesting for you or me, but it's been a decade since the Lakers were in the Finals. That alone should be enough to push ratings past 4 fuckin million. BLM and Covid might have an affect, but there's more factors chipping away at NBA ratings than just that. The game has become dull. No sport can have a perfect rule set for eternity. Rule sets and even dimensions should be constantly tweaked. We've talked about this on the forum ever since three-point attempts started regularly reaching into the 30s per game. The shot is too easy relative to how many points it's worth. It's worth 50 percent more but isn't 50 percent more difficult to make. It needs to be moved back.

[midnightpulp]

Ratings fell by 70%. There were literally 3 times the amount of people watching the Finals last year as compared to this year. And that’s with the biggest brand in the NBA, the biggest star in the NBA, and the games going against literally no other major sporting events.

You can say well ratings fell for all sports (which isn’t true) but that doesn’t explain why 70% of a fan base just left the NBA. Baseball playoff ratings are up. Football is about even to slightly down. Golf is up exponentially. But none of them are even CLOSE to losing 70% of their market.

The NBA got political and it backfired in a major way. Lebron James decided to be a SJW and it backfired. Jordan got a lot of shit for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” line but he was ALWAYS must see tv. Ratings went down when he left not when he was actually playing :lmao

The NBA audience skews heavily liberal, so I wonder how much the league getting political is really hurting them. I do think Covid might be the bigger factor for the massive drop off, but I think core fans have become less interested in the NBA over the past 5 or so years.

[midnightpulp]

mid!! Where you been my nigg? Que pasa??

Sup bro. Hope all is well.

[lefty]

Ratings fell by 70%. There were literally 3 times the amount of people watching the Finals last year as compared to this year. And that’s with the biggest brand in the NBA, the biggest star in the NBA, and the games going against literally no other major sporting events.

You can say well ratings fell for all sports (which isn’t true) but that doesn’t explain why 70% of a fan base just left the NBA. Baseball playoff ratings are up. Football is about even to slightly down. Golf is up exponentially. But none of them are even CLOSE to losing 70% of their market.

The NBA got political and it backfired in a major way. Lebron James decided to be a SJW and it backfired. Jordan got a lot of shit for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” line but he was ALWAYS must see tv. Ratings went down when he left not when he was actually playing :lmao

Jordan is by far the most marketed player in the history of the game
Still is, to sell the shoes

There is also a generation difference. People were not “woke” in the 90s, and there was no social media
If DK said that shit today you bet the ratings would drop significantly

[KobesAchilles]

The NBA audience skews heavily liberal, so I wonder how much the league getting political is really hurting them. I do think Covid might be the bigger factor for the massive drop off, but I think core fans have become less interested in the NBA over the past 5 or so years.

I think those are two separate issues though. Even if the NBA was losing fans over the past 5 years (which isn’t true it’s really been over the last 2 years) there is nothing that explains them losing 70% of their fans in a one year time frame other than them being woke. Their fan base is perceived liberal but it isn’t really. The people on twitter might be mostly SJW but your average fan isn’t mostly liberal at all.

Btw, you can’t blame Covid bc no other major sports league has lost this amount of viewers. None. People are still watching baseball, they’re still watching football, they watch golf, but all of a sudden it’s Covids fault for the NBA not having viewers? Doesn’t add up.

The NBA literally quit on the fans. The Bucks quit a game. That lost a lot of fans. The holier than thou arguments of Lebron James while he stays silent on the Chinese regime that sponsors him lost fans. The BLM movement and the players telling everyone that we are racist and cops are evil, that lost a lot of fans. But I think that the Jacob Blake incident really was the last straw that broke the camels back. Quitting your job and lecturing us on how evil the police are before facts came out was beyond stupid by Silver and the players. Btw I’m not arguing that every cop is great so don’t take it there, but Silver allowing the entire league to honor a rapist is/was stupid. The NBA has self imploded way worse than any other league and it isn’t Covid/ or the games aren’t aesthetically pleasing enough related

[KobesAchilles]

Jordan is by far the most marketed player in the history of the game
Still is, to sell the shoes

There is also a generation difference. People were not “woke” in the 90s, and there was no social media
If DK said that shit today you bet the ratings would drop significantly
Hmm maybe, but I disagree with the premise. I actually think that Jordan would help the ratings today more than anything. Jordan got blasted for NOT giving his endorsement for a politician. Jordan got blasted for NOT going after Republicans. Even in recent days Jordan has been blasted for not being political. When he gave a million dollars to each the police and neighborhood reforms he was blasted for that too and for not choosing sides. That helps ratings. Not alienating a huge part of your fanbase helps ratings. Not lecturing them on their politics helps ratings. Jordan understood what Lebron and Silver and any other vocal player doesn't understand. Adults are way more passionate about politics than they are Basketball.

SJW's would be blasting Jordan left and right, why doesn't he support Hilary? Why is he visiting the White House (you bet your ass Jordan would) after winning the championship? Why doesn't he denounce Trump left and right? Why is he pro-Republican? But SJW's don't pay the bills and the sooner the NBA figures this out the better off they will be. From a business standpoint (my personal politics are both sides suck and I'm so disenfranchised with the whole federal gov't) it isn't smart to attack a good chunk of your fan base. It isn't how the league stays popular and it sure as hell doesn't help it grow. Lebron went a suicidal route and it's showing. DK was all about staying in the middle and making sure them shoes get shined and sold.

"Hell Chinese people buy shoes too" :lol

[LkrFan]

Sup bro. Hope all is well.

Not much. Tryna stay COVID-19 free. SMH

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Good seeing you posting again man!

[Chucho]

No one wants to watch the end of the season at the time when they're used to getting amped up about the begining of the new season.

No one cares about the Lakers/Heat because it's a David/Goliath matchup where David doesn't stand a chance in hell. Most Heat fans are fucking shocked they even made it past the second round.

No one cares about the NBA because it's been just a rotten mess. Should have just done a stipped down PO format adn finished this shit before August ended so they could have drafted and had a plan to get this seasons started somewhat on time.

Went out of their way to award LeBron the most worthless, meaningless, always-to-be-laughed-at championship in sports history.

LOLakers with the GOAT of the era are the LEAST WATCHED CHAMPS EVER. LMAO.

[Chucho]

More people watching professional wrestling than the NBA Finals :lol

[IronMexican]

NBA just isn't as exciting as it was a decade ago. The flopping for calls and unguarable offense sucks.

[daslicer]

Ratings fell by 70%. There were literally 3 times the amount of people watching the Finals last year as compared to this year. And that’s with the biggest brand in the NBA, the biggest star in the NBA, and the games going against literally no other major sporting events.

You can say well ratings fell for all sports (which isn’t true) but that doesn’t explain why 70% of a fan base just left the NBA. Baseball playoff ratings are up. Football is about even to slightly down. Golf is up exponentially. But none of them are even CLOSE to losing 70% of their market.

The NBA got political and it backfired in a major way. Lebron James decided to be a SJW and it backfired. Jordan got a lot of shit for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” line but he was ALWAYS must see tv. Ratings went down when he left not when he was actually playing :lmao

The last time ratings were really bad was the '07 Finals. The ratings from '08-'19 were pretty good and were in the range from 14-20 million. Last year's finals averaged 15.14 million viewers. I'm not buying the reason for the ratings dropping this low as political. Sure there are some people who will stop watching because they hate the NBA's virtue signaling but if that's the case why were the ratings super high from '16-'19. During that time period is when players started speaking out and supporting BLM. By your logic the ratings during this period should be down because of the virtue signaling but they were actually high.

The common denominator from '16-'19 was the Warriors. With them being out and the Lakers-Heat not having an interesting story line is what has killed the ratings. Everybody knows the Lakers are going to win this series easily and that's why the tune out. Lebron is also a polarizing figure that is not liked. I know you will bring up politics but outside of that a lot of opposing fans have never really liked him. So what's the point of watching if you know a guy you hate is going to win.

Here are the ratings from previous years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Finals_television_ratings

[lefty]

NBA just isn't as exciting as it was a decade ago. The flopping for calls and unguarable offense sucks.
lol flopping as already a thing in the 80s-90s - : Jordan (defensive flops), Mahorn, Rodman, Vlade, Reggie, Magic etc
And then you have Kobe with his verbal flopping and D Fish

[IronMexican]

It just feels like it's hitting unparalleled levels rn. I can't stand seeing Harden, LeBron and the rest constantly crying for calls and getting them.


Shit is played out. If the Lakers weren't in it, I wouldn't be watching. The only finals I didn't watch was 2018 cause it was such a mismatch

[lefty]

It just feels like it's hitting unparalleled levels rn. I can't stand seeing Harden, LeBron and the rest constantly crying for calls and getting them.


Shit is played out. If the Lakers weren't in it, I wouldn't be watching. The only finals I didn't watch was 2018 cause it was such a mismatch
I agree about Harden tbh
It's ok to try to sell a foul once in a while, but Harden does it on almost every possession (which pisses me off because he is very skilled and he doesn't need to do that shit)

[Play Boban]

Three letters imo: blm

[Robz4000]

No need to waste time on something that is clearly already decided.

This. The NBA is nothing more than some WWE shit this year. I'll tune in next year when it isn't the ':cry Do it for Kobe!!! :cry tour.

[KobesAchilles]

The last time ratings were really bad was the '07 Finals. The ratings from '08-'19 were pretty good and were in the range from 14-20 million. Last year's finals averaged 15.14 million viewers. I'm not buying the reason for the ratings dropping this low as political. Sure there are some people who will stop watching because they hate the NBA's virtue signaling but if that's the case why were the ratings super high from '16-'19. During that time period is when players started speaking out and supporting BLM. By your logic the ratings during this period should be down because of the virtue signaling but they were actually high.

The common denominator from '16-'19 was the Warriors. With them being out and the Lakers-Heat not having an interesting story line is what has killed the ratings. Everybody knows the Lakers are going to win this series easily and that's why the tune out. Lebron is also a polarizing figure that is not liked. I know you will bring up politics but outside of that a lot of opposing fans have never really liked him. So what's the point of watching if you know a guy you hate is going to win.

Here are the ratings from previous years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Finals_television_ratings
The last time the ratings were this bad was never. Silver wishes he had 2007 Spurs v Cavs ratings. That was a series that was noncompetitive and super boring and yet it still outperformed this years finals. Bad story line? A Lakers franchise that was left for dead and huge nonfactor for nearly a decade. A team brought back to life from the ashes by Lebron James. That's a huge story line. It's the second biggest market in all of the NBA. Also Lebron gets the most votes for all star team out of every single player so clearly some people like him. You ain't passing the nose test with this bull.

Also the whole reason why Lebron is disliked to begin with (for the majority of his haters) is bc of his politics. The Bucks quit a playoff game in outrage of a shooting of a rapist and sex offender. Then the whole NBA sent out a referendum discussing how police need to do better and how racist we are. Then Silver allowed his league to honor a rapist, sex offender, and had a restraining order against him. This turned off a lot of people. And by my logic, yes the ratings were down last year for the NBA as a whole when they did get political. They were down by 23% if i remember correctly. The NBA finals were high bc of the Warriors for sure, you are right about that, people wanted the Raptors to beat them, but overall as a whole the league viewership was down 23% last year

This year they lost 40% viewership as a whole and 70% as a Finals. But politics have nothing to do with it :smokin

[rude1_79]

More people watching professional wrestling than the NBA Finals :lol

Guilty!

[Chucho]

LOLakers not even as popular as pro wrestling. :rollin


LOLaker fans don't even get to enjoy the most obsolete, worthless and unwatched shitty championship in all of sports.

The faggots that stuck around still get no shine.

Imagine hanging around a site for 10+ years because of penis envy and you're waiting those ten years just to spray a fan board with emojis and this shit happens.

:LMAO 10 years for this??!?!?! Fucking sad you clowns. Biggest media market in the world with the biggest, most indentifable sports icon in the wold= LOWEST NBA FINALS RATINGS EVER.

LMAO.LMAO. I need you faggots to win now so I can laugh even harder.

[LkrFan]

I know we got some bettors on ST. Anybody want in on this action?
https://twitter.com/MrRickySpanish/status/1313551683587321857?s=19

This will increa$e rating$$ :lol

[daslicer]

The last time the ratings were this bad was never. Silver wishes he had 2007 Spurs v Cavs ratings. That was a series that was noncompetitive and super boring and yet it still outperformed this years finals. Bad story line? A Lakers franchise that was left for dead and huge nonfactor for nearly a decade. A team brought back to life from the ashes by Lebron James. That's a huge story line. It's the second biggest market in all of the NBA. Also Lebron gets the most votes for all star team out of every single player so clearly some people like him. You ain't passing the nose test with this bull.

Also the whole reason why Lebron is disliked to begin with (for the majority of his haters) is bc of his politics. The Bucks quit a playoff game in outrage of a shooting of a rapist and sex offender. Then the whole NBA sent out a referendum discussing how police need to do better and how racist we are. Then Silver allowed his league to honor a rapist, sex offender, and had a restraining order against him. This turned off a lot of people. And by my logic, yes the ratings were down last year for the NBA as a whole when they did get political. They were down by 23% if i remember correctly. The NBA finals were high bc of the Warriors for sure, you are right about that, people wanted the Raptors to beat them, but overall as a whole the league viewership was down 23% last year

This year they lost 40% viewership as a whole and 70% as a Finals. But politics have nothing to do with it :smokin

1.Hillary Clinton got more popular votes than Donald Trump but that doesn't make her well liked or loved. I apply the same rational to Lebron. Lebron to me is polarizing in the sense he can have a million hard core fans but he will also have a million hardcore haters. Ratings are reliant on both fanboys and haters tuning in. Haters are not going to watch if they know he's going to win which I think is contributing to the real low ratings.

2. I"m talking about Finals ratings. To me there are a better reflection of how popular the NBA is versus regular season. Regular season ratings have been going down for years so that's not a phenomenon. Final ratings were pretty good from the last 12 years up until this year. Sorry I just can't believe suddenly because politics the league became this unpopular considering the super majority of NBA fans are liberals. I remember reading a Wall Street Journal article 10 years ago about how the NBA had given up on conservative america and it wasn't their base for making money anymore. So conservatives not watching really should not harm them since they were not making the league money anyways.

3. Ratings are down because this a shit match up. Only one team has star power while the under doesn't have any. Nobody wants to watch this. It's a wake up call to the league in the sense they can't just rely on big market teams to carry them for ratings. There has to be great match ups. If they are not then people are not going to watch.

[140]

Well its the most meaningless finals in NBA history so it only makes sense its the least watched as well

[daslicer]

Well its the most meaningless finals in NBA history so it only makes sense its the least watched as well

I think there were series earlier in the playoffs that got good ratings like Nuggets-Clippers, Mavs-Clippers. People are more aware today due to social media if these match up are worth watching. It's much harder for the league to sell garbage which they are finding out right now.

[gambit1990]

people keep mentioning ratings but don't mention views via internet...

i have seen a lot of playoffs games via stream. haven't tuned to abc, espn, tnt once.

they can't measure streams that aren't legal. and they're more readily available than ever before.

[KobesAchilles]

1.Hillary Clinton got more popular votes than Donald Trump but that doesn't make her well liked or loved. I apply the same rational to Lebron. Lebron to me is polarizing in the sense he can have a million hard core fans but he will also have a million hardcore haters. Ratings are reliant on both fanboys and haters tuning in. Haters are not going to watch if they know he's going to win which I think is contributing to the real low ratings.

2. I"m talking about Finals ratings. To me there are a better reflection of how popular the NBA is versus regular season. Regular season ratings have been going down for years so that's not a phenomenon. Final ratings were pretty good from the last 12 years up until this year. Sorry I just can't believe suddenly because politics the league became this unpopular considering the super majority of NBA fans are liberals. I remember reading a Wall Street Journal article 10 years ago about how the NBA had given up on conservative america and it wasn't their base for making money anymore. So conservatives not watching really should not harm them since they were not making the league money anyways.

3. Ratings are down because this a shit match up. Only one team has star power while the under doesn't have any. Nobody wants to watch this. It's a wake up call to the league in the sense they can't just rely on big market teams to carry them for ratings. There has to be great match ups. If they are not then people are not going to watch.
I think that this year was an exception. The league never cancelled a game before in the middle of the playoffs for such a stupid reason. The league never had BLM on their court. The league never had names on the back of the jersey that wasn't the last names of the players. The league never had coverage before the games talking about social justice and racism in America. The league never had players vote to cancel the playoffs. The league never wore wore the name's of rapists on the back of their jersey or honored them. It's not just republicans they have lost it's also middle America. The league didn't remind us every day about white privilege.

[TD 21]

:lmao Still pretending human rights and science are politics because the disgrace you people elected as president has tried to politicize virtually everything and his ignorant base laps it up because they've been brainwashed and kept in the dark their entire lives and are incapable of thinking for themselves. Dumbest country on earth.



This. The NBA is nothing more than some WWE shit this year. I'll tune in next year when it isn't the ':cry Do it for Kobe!!! :cry tour.

As predictable and annoying as that is, what did you want them to do about the Clippers and Bucks unexpectedly being eliminated early?

You can quibble about the officiating here and there, but there's been no '02 Kings massacre here and none of the Lakers' series have been close enough to claim they were decided in large part due to it.

[Robz4000]

:lmao Still pretending human rights and science are politics because the disgrace you people elected as president has tried to politicize virtually everything and his blind base laps it up because they've been brainwashed and kept in the dark their entire lives and are incapable of thinking for themselves. Dumbest country on earth.



As predictable and annoying as that is, what did you want them to do about the Clippers and Bucks unexpectedly being eliminated early?

You can quibble about the officiating here and there, but there's been no '02 Kings massacre here and none of the Lakers' series have been close enough to claim they were decided in large part due to it.


They let the Lakers do whatever they wanted on defense in the Nuggets series on top of shooting 25 foodstamps in one quarter of game 1, albeit I couldn't see Denver winning after that shot by AD. The dirty foul on Adebayo to knock him out of the Finals was ridiculous too.

[Play Boban]

I think that this year was an exception. The league never cancelled a game before in the middle of the playoffs for such a stupid reason. The league never had BLM on their court. The league never had names on the back of the jersey that wasn't the last names of the players. The league never had coverage before the games talking about social justice and racism in America. The league never had players vote to cancel the playoffs. The league never wore wore the name's of rapists on the back of their jersey or honored them. It's not just republicans they have lost it's also middle America. The league didn't remind us every day about white privilege.
Yes I just tune in for the games themselves and ignore all pre and post game stuff now, it is bad. I just watch the games still because I’m a huge basketball fan, but most people aren’t so I imagine they just aren’t watching at all now tbh. And who can blame them tbh? The entire broadcast basically revolves over calling them racist. Who wants to watch that per par?

[TD 21]

They let the Lakers do whatever they wanted on defense in the Nuggets series on top of shooting 25 foodstamps in one quarter of game 1, albeit I couldn't see Denver winning after that shot by AD. The dirty foul on Adebayo to knock him out of the Finals was ridiculous too.

I'm not even going to bother debating that. Setting that aside, do you really think anyone but a healthy Clippers or Bucks was beating the Lakers in a series? If the answer is no, again I ask, what did you want the league to do? And if you think the league is "WWE shit", then why bother following it in the first place?

[lefty]

Well its the most meaningless finals in NBA history so it only makes sense its the least watched as well
I didnt even watch 2017 and 2018 Finals tbh

[Robz4000]

I'm not even going to bother debating that. Setting that aside, do you really think anyone but a healthy Clippers or Bucks was beating the Lakers in a series? If the answer is no, again I ask, what did you want the league to do? And if you think the league is "WWE shit", then why bother following it in the first place?


The Lakers are an extremely flawed team that lacks the volume three point shooting you've been vaunting as a must-have in order to win. All it would've taken is a team with said shooting getting hot (which both Denver and Miami were coming into their respective series'). Instead the Lakers were able to play physical defense that the league hasn't allowed since the mid-00s.

[lefty]

The Lakers are an extremely flawed team that lacks the volume three point shooting you've been vaunting as a must-have in order to win. All it would've taken is a team with said shooting getting hot (which both Denver and Miami were coming into their respective series'). Instead the Lakers were able to play physical defense that the league hasn't allowed since the mid-00s.
The can get by because they have the best player in the league and one of the best big men

[Robz4000]

The can get by because they have the best player in the league and one of the best big men


True, but the league allowing them to play 90s-style defense sure hell made it easier. Like I said, it's the Kirby tour this year since the season was fucked by the Rona.

[lefty]

True, but the league allowing them to play 90s-style defense sure hell made it easier. Like I said, it's the Kirby tour this year since the season was fucked by the Rona.

that too

[Dirks_Finale]

lol flopping as already a thing in the 80s-90s - : Jordan (defensive flops), Mahorn, Rodman, Vlade, Reggie, Magic etc
And then you have Kobe with his verbal flopping and D Fish

I've yet to see anyone flop better :lol

[Spurtacular]

This. The NBA is nothing more than some WWE shit this year. I'll tune in next year when it isn't the ':cry Do it for Kobe!!! :cry tour.

I might not even tune in next year. NBA will still be picking winners and losers next year.
I was tuning in to stay loyal to the Spurs dynastic run. But that's over.
Now, they're even robbing me of watching Lebron eat sh**.
I think that was probably the other thing.

[TD 21]

The Lakers are an extremely flawed team that lacks the volume three point shooting you've been vaunting as a must-have in order to win. All it would've taken is a team with said shooting getting hot (which both Denver and Miami were coming into their respective series'). Instead the Lakers were able to play physical defense that the league hasn't allowed since the mid-00s.

They also have one of the greatest duos of all time and avoided the two teams who seemed equipped to beat them (I thought the Rockets had a miniscule chance), but I'll admit I'm surprised a team of their build is in this position and it's not like they eked their way to it.

"Getting hot" oversimplifies it and makes it sound like the game comes down to chance or luck. There's no league where that's less of a case. The Nuggets didn't have the defense or experience and the Heat don't have a certified superstar, but do have too many one way players.

[Robz4000]

I might not even tune in next year. NBA will still be picking winners and losers next year.
I was tuning in to stay loyal to the Spurs dynastic run. But that's over.
Now, they're even robbing me of watching Lebron eat sh**.
I think that was probably the other thing.

Next year should be better since there'll be more top-tier teams (Dubs will be back, Mavs and Celtics prolly take a step forward with Doncic and Tatum getting better, Denver getting another year of experience), but we'll have to see.

[Dirks_Finale]

Yup - not buying that politics are not affecting the ratings. They clearly are. Just start posting political sh1t on FB and watch real life friends and sometimes even family unfriend you :lol People don't want to be told how to vote or even what's the most important issues to vote on, they want to figure it out themselves. And any long time fan knows that Lebron's finger prints are all over this which makes even more repulsive...and I think the fact that both LA teams were trying to make even more political statements by quitting the bubble season after the Kenosha incident may have done irreparable damage. They should have tried to keep that information in house.

Pretty much guarantee the networks will demand no more politics next year or we pull the chair out from you, NBA.

To think that when Jordan was LBJ's age he was drawing 35 million views in the Finals vs small market and very boring UTAH...in comparison to this year's finals which get's the same ratings as a Lifetime re-run :lol


The last time the ratings were this bad was never. Silver wishes he had 2007 Spurs v Cavs ratings. That was a series that was noncompetitive and super boring and yet it still outperformed this years finals. Bad story line? A Lakers franchise that was left for dead and huge nonfactor for nearly a decade. A team brought back to life from the ashes by Lebron James. That's a huge story line. It's the second biggest market in all of the NBA. Also Lebron gets the most votes for all star team out of every single player so clearly some people like him. You ain't passing the nose test with this bull.

Also the whole reason why Lebron is disliked to begin with (for the majority of his haters) is bc of his politics. The Bucks quit a playoff game in outrage of a shooting of a rapist and sex offender. Then the whole NBA sent out a referendum discussing how police need to do better and how racist we are. Then Silver allowed his league to honor a rapist, sex offender, and had a restraining order against him. This turned off a lot of people. And by my logic, yes the ratings were down last year for the NBA as a whole when they did get political. They were down by 23% if i remember correctly. The NBA finals were high bc of the Warriors for sure, you are right about that, people wanted the Raptors to beat them, but overall as a whole the league viewership was down 23% last year

This year they lost 40% viewership as a whole and 70% as a Finals. But politics have nothing to do with it :smokin

[Robz4000]

They also have one of the greatest duos of all time and avoided the two teams who seemed equipped to beat them (I thought the Rockets had a miniscule chance), but I'll admit I'm surprised a team of their build is in this position and it's not like they eked their way to it.

"Getting hot" oversimplifies it and makes it sound like the game comes down to chance or luck. There's no league where that's less of a case. The Nuggets didn't have the defense or experience and the Heat don't have a certified superstar, but do have too many one way players.

The Nuggets had the guard play to give the Lakers problems on top of better three point shooting. I figured their lack of experience would do them in, but in this case it was the league letting the Lakers punch them in the head unimpeded. Didn't give the Heat much of a chance to begin with due to the lack of a superstar like you said, but that bullshit hit to Adebayo's neck was ridiculous.

[Rummpd]

I only watch this as totally despise LAL and hope by some miracle they will lose again but if game not close off to bed - games start too late for us on EC

[TD 21]

The Nuggets had the guard play to give the Lakers problems on top of better three point shooting. I figured their lack of experience would do them in, but in this case it was the league letting the Lakers punch them in the head unimpeded. Didn't give the Heat much of a chance to begin with due to the lack of a superstar like you said, but that bullshit hit to Adebayo's neck was ridiculous.

They only had Murray, who was due to regress to the mean, on fumes and by the end banged up too (could have really used Barton to give them a third creator).

They're a low volume, average 3-point shooting team that seemed better in the playoffs because of unsustainable shooting from Murray and Jokic.

[Spurtacular]

Yup - not buying that politics are not affecting the ratings. They clearly are. Just start posting political sh1t on FB and watch real life friends and sometimes even family unfriend you :lol People don't want to be told how to vote or even what's the most important issues to vote on, they want to figure it out themselves. And any long time fan knows that Lebron's finger prints are all over this which makes even more repulsive...and I think the fact that both LA teams were trying to make even more political statements by quitting the bubble season after the Kenosha incident may have done irreparable damage. They should have tried to keep that information in house.

Pretty much guarantee the networks will demand no more politics next year or we pull the chair out from you, NBA.

To think that when Jordan was LBJ's age he was drawing 35 million views in the Finals vs small market and very boring UTAH...in comparison to this year's finals which get's the same ratings as a Lifetime re-run :lol

Disney Sports / Turner Disney initiate all that. They don't have to publicize it if they don't want to.
And I think they're trying to play a long game frankly. But they may not have the stomach for it if people are turning away in droves.

[Rummpd]

I refuse personally as a former deployed doctor and Veteran to watch first part of game and anthem and just join in later. I do think some of decrease is reactionary to league and Disney actions and I admire personally Pop for standing and will leave it at that. I can see the other side as well.

[phxspurfan]

Personally, it has become 100% star player basketball as opposed to franchise baskeball. It does not matter anymore if it is the Lakers or Milwaukee or what have you. It is Lebron and AD versus Kawhi and PG wearing a random inter changeable shirt...as a fan, I enjoy seeing club basketball with loyal stars supporting a team first approach and not the other way around. It is becoming totally meaningless as a competition in a true sporting sense.

Totally agree. This is what the NBA wanted, to prop up stars so casuals would have something to be opinionated about. This is also why USA does poorly in international play now. No fake ass star calls and bullshit fouls to help LeRoids, etc. Just basic team basketball. Shooting, defense, cutting, strategy. Something today's players lack experience with. This is why teams that stay together have a lot of success in international play, like Spain. The only way the US can beat teams like that is with overwhelming amounts of talent, like 08 and 2012/2016. Otherwise (like last year) they get clapped by everybody who plays like a team.

[weeks]

i'm honestly kinda shocked, it's lebron and the lakers in the finals. something is up.
i'm conservative as fuck but i've never really cared about the nba being pozzed, it's been pozzed a long time - just the nature of helmetless star driven sport. i dont even notice or care about the hypocrisy im just interested in the hoops. i enjoy watching basketball for its own sake - i love the sport even if i dont really follow it as analytically as many fans.
the game has definitely changed in many ways for the worse - it's like when my son would turn the game to the easiest setting and just breeze through stuff and rack up tons of easy kills; is this really fun? an empty stat that means nothing because it's without real challenge or accomplishment (russ and his trip dubs). it's the difficulty and overcoming it; that's what made suffocating defense and low scoring games tense. each bucket was was a huge deal. a 30 point highlight was unbelievable.
blah blah, kids today. if the finals suck after covid then you might be onto something but im not convinced its political; at any rate im one of the people that should turn it off bc of the sjw stuff but it's not that, it's just boring to watch most of the time.
ill catch the game tonight probably

[Joseph Kony]

it's 2020. using cable TV ratings to determine popularity isnt really a great measure when most of the NBAs demo doesnt pay for cable. all sports are taking a huge hit right now. and i know people like to blame :cry BLM terrorists :cry for the downturn but the stanley cup finals numbers were fucking putrid and they are the most white, least political league there is.

the injuries to Miami and some lebron fatigue is probably factoring into it as well, but let's be real here. NBA isnt going anywhere any time soon

[daslicer]

I think that this year was an exception. The league never cancelled a game before in the middle of the playoffs for such a stupid reason. The league never had BLM on their court. The league never had names on the back of the jersey that wasn't the last names of the players. The league never had coverage before the games talking about social justice and racism in America. The league never had players vote to cancel the playoffs. The league never wore wore the name's of rapists on the back of their jersey or honored them. It's not just republicans they have lost it's also middle America. The league didn't remind us every day about white privilege.

Middle America is basically people who are republicans that vote republican 90 percent of the time and democrats about 10 percent of time. In other words they are just republicans but scared to admit it. At best if you combine middle america and conservative viewership I would say it would range 30-40 percent of NBA viewers and I'm being very generous with that number. Lets say that whole entire demographic decides to not watch the playoff games it still doesn't explain the 70 percent drop off in final ratings considering those 60-70 percent of NBA fans would be liberal. You have to ask yourself why those fans are not watching? I would say it has to do with a crappy match up, NFL, Covid causing some of them to lose interest in sports.

Also you are bringing up people getting offended by Jacob Blake and the players boycotting. If that was the case then why did Nuggets-Clippers game 7 get high ratings considering it happened right after the boycott?

I'm sure politics can play a factor in ratings drop but it doesn't tell the whole entire story of other factors that could have also impacted the ratings.

[LkrFan]

The Nuggets had the guard play to give the Lakers problems on top of better three point shooting. I figured their lack of experience would do them in, but in this case it was the league letting the Lakers punch them in the head unimpeded. Didn't give the Heat much of a chance to begin with due to the lack of a superstar like you said, but that bullshit hit to Adebayo's neck was ridiculous.

You farmers have no room
gfECLskHPLc

And then this happened in 2009
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/15/65/17/3625941/11/360x0.jpg

:lmao

[daslicer]

it's 2020. using cable TV ratings to determine popularity isnt really a great measure when most of the NBAs demo doesnt pay for cable. all sports are taking a huge hit right now. and i know people like to blame :cry BLM terrorists :cry for the downturn but the stanley cup finals numbers were fucking putrid and they are the most white, least political league there is.

the injuries to Miami and some lebron fatigue is probably factoring into it as well, but let's be real here. NBA isnt going anywhere any time soon

Agreed that's what I think it is. Ratings were high for the last 5 years the Warriors were in the finals. They didn't drop despite Warriors speaking out against Trump and being down for BLM. The only thing the ratings really reveal to me is the NBA can now longer rely solely on a big market to carry it's ratings. They need a great match up to generate good ratings.

[Spurtacular]

They also have one of the greatest duos of all time and avoided the two teams who seemed equipped to beat them (I thought the Rockets had a miniscule chance), but I'll admit I'm surprised a team of their build is in this position and it's not like they eked their way to it.

The Rockets with Capella, CP3, and Ariza would've killed it this year.
This year's iteration was a shadow of that team.

[Spurtacular]

You farmers have no room
gfECLskHPLc

:lol I think it's more likely than not that that that was an accident.

But I don't blame anyone for thinking otherwise with Bowen's history / reputation.

[Spurtacular]

Agreed that's what I think it is. Ratings were high for the last 5 years the Warriors were in the finals. They didn't drop despite Warriors speaking out against Trump and being down for BLM. The only thing the ratings really reveal to me is the NBA can now longer rely solely on a big market to carry it's ratings. They need a great match up to generate good ratings.

There weren't riots in the street and mass people losing their jobs because of a scamdemic.
Sh** got real; people had enough of these retards.

[lefty]

I've yet to see anyone flop better :lol

:lol he was good tbh

[KimmyGib]

Lots of viewers are also streaming free these days which might skew ratings a little bit. But yeah, it's all becoming boring and predictable somehow. That said, I'm actually enjoying watching this Heat team.

[lefty]

1313486166860140544

[140]

I didnt even watch 2017 and 2018 Finals tbh

:lol todays nba

[Chucho]

People really trying to tow the "people don't have or pay for cable" line on this massive shitpile of bad news???

The Finals are on basic, FREE TV. :lol

AND everyone is generally at home by and by.

Some of it is politics. Most of it is because no one cares about either team and the sport finishing its season when it usually is ramping up for the opening of the season.

[Rummpd]

James fatigue and oversell as pseudo GOAT and his quitting side kick Davis not likeable

[Spurtacular]

Not committing the time to reading this. But here is the NBA's PR release through their Yahoo Sports division.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mark-cuban-vs-ted-cruz-nba-ratings-debate-again-rears-its-ugly-head-175832808.html

[daslicer]

i'm honestly kinda shocked, it's lebron and the lakers in the finals. something is up.
i'm conservative as fuck but i've never really cared about the nba being pozzed, it's been pozzed a long time - just the nature of helmetless star driven sport. i dont even notice or care about the hypocrisy im just interested in the hoops. i enjoy watching basketball for its own sake - i love the sport even if i dont really follow it as analytically as many fans.
the game has definitely changed in many ways for the worse - it's like when my son would turn the game to the easiest setting and just breeze through stuff and rack up tons of easy kills; is this really fun? an empty stat that means nothing because it's without real challenge or accomplishment (russ and his trip dubs). it's the difficulty and overcoming it; that's what made suffocating defense and low scoring games tense. each bucket was was a huge deal. a 30 point highlight was unbelievable.
blah blah, kids today. if the finals suck after covid then you might be onto something but im not convinced its political; at any rate im one of the people that should turn it off bc of the sjw stuff but it's not that, it's just boring to watch most of the time.
ill catch the game tonight probably

This is the best take I have heard. I'm progressive but I didn't stop watching the Spurs after David Robinson supported George W Bush on the Iraq War. I disagreed with Dave and thought it was wrong for him to call people not patriotic for not supporting the war. I still watched the Spurs '03 run and didn't blink an eye about Dave's comments. So I can relate to what you are saying about loving the game regardless of political views of the players. I also agree with you take about how the game has just become boring with the rules making it easy for offensive players to score. I felt defensive slug fest really showed you what certain guys were made of and it tested them mentally/physically.

[Dirks_Finale]

The Rockets with Capella, CP3, and Ariza would've killed it this year.
This year's iteration was a shadow of that team.

Yeah I agree. That team would have been nice this year...

[Spurtacular]

Not committing the time to reading this. But here is the NBA's PR release through their Yahoo Sports division.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mark-cuban-vs-ted-cruz-nba-ratings-debate-again-rears-its-ugly-head-175832808.html

Glance at it. Pretty much framing the argument as don't blame us for being woke as they try to hinge the debate on Ted Cruz who doesn't have anything to do with the outlook of 99.999999 percent of people. Radio silence on the rigging too. Of course, there is no real story presented because woke Yahoo turned their comments off.

[Spurtacular]

This is the best take I have heard. I'm progressive but I didn't stop watching the Spurs after David Robinson supported George W Bush on the Iraq War. I disagreed with Dave and thought it was wrong for him to call people not patriotic for not supporting the war. I still watched the Spurs '03 run and didn't blink an eye about Dave's comments. So I can relate to what you are saying about loving the game regardless of political views of the players. I also agree with you take about how the game has just become boring with the rules making it easy for offensive players to score. I felt defensive slug fest really showed you what certain guys were made of and it tested them mentally/physically.

David was fooled. A lot of of conservatives were for a period of 3-10 years or so. Some snapped out of it sooner than others. I wouldn't be surprised if he feels much differently about it now. The irony was seeing liberals support all the sh** they railed about during the Bush years for Obama/Hillary. One side woke up. The other side does whatever they're told. I know this is a polarizing take; but it's pretty much the truth of the matter.

[KobesAchilles]

Middle America is basically people who are republicans that vote republican 90 percent of the time and democrats about 10 percent of time. In other words they are just republicans but scared to admit it. At best if you combine middle america and conservative viewership I would say it would range 30-40 percent of NBA viewers and I'm being very generous with that number. Lets say that whole entire demographic decides to not watch the playoff games it still doesn't explain the 70 percent drop off in final ratings considering those 60-70 percent of NBA fans would be liberal. You have to ask yourself why those fans are not watching? I would say it has to do with a crappy match up, NFL, Covid causing some of them to lose interest in sports.

Also you are bringing up people getting offended by Jacob Blake and the players boycotting. If that was the case then why did Nuggets-Clippers game 7 get high ratings considering it happened right after the boycott?

I'm sure politics can play a factor in ratings drop but it doesn't tell the whole entire story of other factors that could have also impacted the ratings.
Only 5.6 million people watched game 7 of the Clippers Nuggets series. High ratings. Today’s NBA :lmao
Also only 1.6 million people watched game 6 so yes once again politics are playing a huge part. Did you just wake up to this or something? Bc there was a stat showing that NBA had the lowest rating conference finals, lowest rating second round match ups. I guess you say 5.6 million people for one game counts as a “win” for your argument but I say the 1.6 million people the game before, the lowest rated conference finals and the lowest rated NBA finals in history says that people aren’t liking the whole politics thing. It also blows out the notion that the majority of the NBAs fans are left. Maybe it was more even than you would like to admit.

[jehawk81]

Ratings fell by 70%. There were literally 3 times the amount of people watching the Finals last year as compared to this year. And that’s with the biggest brand in the NBA, the biggest star in the NBA, and the games going against literally no other major sporting events.

You can say well ratings fell for all sports (which isn’t true) but that doesn’t explain why 70% of a fan base just left the NBA. Baseball playoff ratings are up. Football is about even to slightly down. Golf is up exponentially. But none of them are even CLOSE to losing 70% of their market.

The NBA got political and it backfired in a major way. Lebron James decided to be a SJW and it backfired. Jordan got a lot of shit for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” line but he was ALWAYS must see tv. Ratings went down when he left not when he was actually playing :lmao

👍👍

[Rummpd]

https://www.si.com/wnba/2020/10/07/seattle-storm-breanna-stewart-sweep-aces

No one watched or cared for this title I am sure

[Play Boban]

At this rate WNBA ratings will surpass NBA ratings within a decade tbh

[Borosai]

Being a glorified summer league championship probably doesn't help. It's just not interesting.

[daslicer]

David was fooled. A lot of of conservatives were for a period of 3-10 years or so. Some snapped out of it sooner than others. I wouldn't be surprised if he feels much differently about it now. The irony was seeing liberals support all the sh** they railed about during the Bush years for Obama/Hillary. One side woke up. The other side does whatever they're told. I know this is a polarizing take; but it's pretty much the truth of the matter.

:lol Uhm no conservative are blind followers much like liberals. This is one of the few times where I say both sides are the same when comes to blindly following whatever their leader tells them. Tell me the stuff liberals supported during the Obama years that they didn't support under Bush?

[Spurtacular]

:lol Uhm no conservative are blind followers much like liberals. This is one of the few times where I say both sides are the same when comes to blindly following whatever their leader tells them. Tell me the stuff liberals supported during the Obama years that they didn't support under Bush?

Conservatives defied the Bushbama sh**. Democrats have now tripled down on it.

[daslicer]

Only 5.6 million people watched game 7 of the Clippers Nuggets series. High ratings. Today’s NBA :lmao
Also only 1.6 million people watched game 6 so yes once again politics are playing a huge part. Did you just wake up to this or something? Bc there was a stat showing that NBA had the lowest rating conference finals, lowest rating second round match ups. I guess you say 5.6 million people for one game counts as a “win” for your argument but I say the 1.6 million people the game before, the lowest rated conference finals and the lowest rated NBA finals in history says that people aren’t liking the whole politics thing. It also blows out the notion that the majority of the NBAs fans are left. Maybe it was more even than you would like to admit.

You are conveniently leaving out the 1.6 million came on the same night the NFL was on. I mentioned in my previous post the NBA is losing ratings also due to competing with the NFL. They are never going to win that match up so that's disingenuous. I would say the low ratings have to do with lack of competition and bad basketball and lack of star power. Every series the Lakers have played has ended 4-1. Usually people don't find dominant runs entertaining. Why is ratings in baseball,NHL,Nascar, US Open all down? All are dominant white sports that have large conservative fan bases? Politics is playing a small role why the ratings are bad. I think you wish the NBA actually had a large conservative base so you would feel better about watching a league that would reflect your beliefs. Conservatives haven't given a shit about the NBA since the 90's Jordan era.

[daslicer]

Conservatives defied the Bushbama sh**. Democrats have now tripled down on it.

You are not making any sense. What is Bushbama shit?

[Spurtacular]

You are not making any sense. What is Bushbama shit?

Clinton-Gore-Kerry-Bama-Hillary-Biden are all cut from the same cloth, dude.

[midnightpulp]

i'm honestly kinda shocked, it's lebron and the lakers in the finals. something is up.
i'm conservative as fuck but i've never really cared about the nba being pozzed, it's been pozzed a long time - just the nature of helmetless star driven sport. i dont even notice or care about the hypocrisy im just interested in the hoops. i enjoy watching basketball for its own sake - i love the sport even if i dont really follow it as analytically as many fans.
the game has definitely changed in many ways for the worse - it's like when my son would turn the game to the easiest setting and just breeze through stuff and rack up tons of easy kills; is this really fun? an empty stat that means nothing because it's without real challenge or accomplishment (russ and his trip dubs). it's the difficulty and overcoming it; that's what made suffocating defense and low scoring games tense. each bucket was was a huge deal. a 30 point highlight was unbelievable.
blah blah, kids today. if the finals suck after covid then you might be onto something but im not convinced its political; at any rate im one of the people that should turn it off bc of the sjw stuff but it's not that, it's just boring to watch most of the time.
ill catch the game tonight probably

This has been one of the main issues for me over the past decade. Everything comes too easy for high powered offenses and star players. Individual baskets don't feel attritional and points scored or big stops before the closing moments of the 4th quarter don't swing the odds in any one team's favor all that much. In baseball, a bases loaded situation with no outs in the 1st inning is a HUGE event. In football, a pick 6 in the 1st quarter to swing a game that was about to be 7-7 to 14-0 is a HUGE event. In other sports, game defining moments can come at any time, any inning, quarter, etc. In basketball, a 6 point swing in the 2nd quarter doesn't mean much. Now basketball has always had this issue with there not being much tension until the latter 4th quarter, but that problem has been magnified with how easy it is to score today. Last I checked, the Heat were up 6. I already knew they would likely lose and they did.

This speaks to your description of basketball being on "easy mode" for great teams and players. When a great team/player is losing/struggling, they can more easily flip the switch and impose their will on the game than in other sports. As you said, nothing seems like it's a "challenge" to overcome for the favored teams and players. "Oh, Lebron had yet another near triple-double on great shooting efficiency? You don't say!"

[daslicer]

This has been one of the main issues for me over the past decade. Everything comes too easy for high powered offenses and star players. Individual baskets don't feel attritional and points scored or big stops before the closing moments of the 4th quarter don't swing the odds in any one team's favor all that much. In baseball, a bases loaded situation with no outs in the 1st inning is a HUGE event. In football, a pick 6 in the 1st quarter to swing a game that was about to be 7-7 to 14-0 is a HUGE event. In other sports, game defining moments can come at any time, any inning, quarter, etc. In basketball, a 6 point swing in the 2nd quarter doesn't mean much. Now basketball has always had this issue with there not being much tension until the latter 4th quarter, but that problem has been magnified with how easy it is to score today. Last I checked, the Heat were up 6. I already knew they would likely lose and they did.

This speaks to your description of basketball being on "easy mode" for great teams and players. When a great team/player is losing/struggling, they can more easily flip the switch and impose their will on the game than in other sports. As you said, nothing seems like it's a "challenge" to overcome for the favored teams and players. "Oh, Lebron had yet another near triple-double on great shooting efficiency? You don't say!"

Growing up during the 90's and even I became an adult during the early '00s it was always a big deal when a player got 40 are more points. With rule changes this decade these guys are easily getting 40-50 plus games on the regular now which takes away the excitement. When I was younger I cared when I missed a guy scoring 50 but now I won't even youtube the player's 50 point game unless it's a spur.

[midnightpulp]

Growing up during the 90's and even I became an adult during the early '00s it was always a big deal when a player got 40 are more points. With rule changes this decade these guys are easily getting 40-50 plus games on the regular now which takes away the excitement. When I was younger I cared when I missed a guy scoring 50 but now I won't even youtube the player's 50 point game unless it's a spur.

Yeah, when Westbrook averaged a triple double for the season, which was one of the marquee accomplishments in sports, no one really cared. If Jason Kidd did it the early 00s, it would've been a huge deal. As a baseball fan, I also felt this way about the steroid era. In '01, Bonds had 73, Sosa 64, Luis Gonzalez 57 :lol. Absurd.

[Texas_Ranger]

Adam Silver said social justice messaging will be off next season... Looks like the racism is over boys. :lmao :lmao

[daslicer]

Yeah, when Westbrook averaged a triple double for the season, which was one of the marquee accomplishments in sports, no one really cared. If Jason Kidd did it the early 00s, it would've been a huge deal. As a baseball fan, I also felt this way about the steroid era. In '01, Bonds had 73, Sosa 64, Luis Gonzalez 57 :lol. Absurd.

The Westbrook triple double run was disgusting to watch. He was blatantly stat padding every game to get the triple double. I remember seeing games where he was telling Steven Adams not to get the rebound so he could get it. He really benefited from the bs media narrative that season about him being selfless by staying in OKC unlike Durant who left. Westbrook bastardized the triple double. After what he did the triple double has now become irrelevant in my eyes.

[Spurtacular]

This has been one of the main issues for me over the past decade. Everything comes too easy for high powered offenses and star players. Individual baskets don't feel attritional and points scored or big stops before the closing moments of the 4th quarter don't swing the odds in any one team's favor all that much. In baseball, a bases loaded situation with no outs in the 1st inning is a HUGE event. In football, a pick 6 in the 1st quarter to swing a game that was about to be 7-7 to 14-0 is a HUGE event. In other sports, game defining moments can come at any time, any inning, quarter, etc. In basketball, a 6 point swing in the 2nd quarter doesn't mean much. Now basketball has always had this issue with there not being much tension until the latter 4th quarter, but that problem has been magnified with how easy it is to score today. Last I checked, the Heat were up 6. I already knew they would likely lose and they did.



This is the result of all the rigging. Basketball is inorganic at this point.
The casual viewer has no reason to watch a basketball game before the 4th quarter.

[Chris]

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1313502752081838081?s=19

[Spurtacular]

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1313502752081838081?s=19

The commie left is a scourge on America/Earth.

[KobesAchilles]

You are conveniently leaving out the 1.6 million came on the same night the NFL was on. I mentioned in my previous post the NBA is losing ratings also due to competing with the NFL. They are never going to win that match up so that's disingenuous. I would say the low ratings have to do with lack of competition and bad basketball and lack of star power. Every series the Lakers have played has ended 4-1. Usually people don't find dominant runs entertaining. Why is ratings in baseball,NHL,Nascar, US Open all down? All are dominant white sports that have large conservative fan bases? Politics is playing a small role why the ratings are bad. I think you wish the NBA actually had a large conservative base so you would feel better about watching a league that would reflect your beliefs. Conservatives haven't given a shit about the NBA since the 90's Jordan era.
You are proving my point more and more buddy. No other league is facing this problem. None. Hell the Jets faced the Broncos drew better than the Finals and 200k less than game 7 that you were hyping. And that is as shitty as a match up as you can get. Your explanation is all over the place. “People hate Lebron. He’s polarizing. People don’t want to see a person they hate win the chip.” But you’re conveniently leaving out WHY they hate Lebron. As a person he is by all accounts a good role model. But it’s bc he’s so vocal about politics that the majority hate him. It’s not Lebron fatigue bc of his play, he’s been in 9 other finals and ALL of them got better ratings than this. It’s that people got fed up with the narrative that he and Silver are pushing.

I stopped watching bc of today’s nba. The product has become pussified and absolute shit. But I’m a die hard not a typical fan. Idgaf about Lebrons political view. But there are millions of people that do. NBA ratings fell by 40% in the last two years. It can’t just be a coincidence. Lebron in the biggest market can’t draw a rating. That can’t be a coincidence either. No other league is facing this problem. And it’s bc the nba committed senpoku

[lefty]

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1313502752081838081?s=19

Lol Cruz he probably owns lot of stuff that was made in China

[Play Boban]

ted cruz dropping truth bombs per par

[lefty]

ted cruz dropping truth bombs per par
By being a hypocrite?

[LaMarcus Bryant]

Beyond the obvious incoming ass pounding of 2004 finals, I never watch Lakers finals. Fuck them and their west coast whore of a franchise.

[lefty]

Beyond the obvious incoming ass pounding of 2004 finals, I never watch Lakers finals. Fuck them and their west coast whore of a franchise.
:lol at people who thought they were going to beat Detroit

[Chris]

https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1313846466591494147?s=19

[lefty]

Trump supporters being a bunch of snowflakes as usual :lol

[FrostKing]

Too black tbh. The product on the court, the messages/discussion on the telecast and the commercials.

Hockey has more diversity.

[lefty]

Too black tbh. The product on the court, the messages/discussion on the telecast and the commercials.

Hockey has more diversity.
:lmao

[Mitch]

Imagine if it was the Spurs in the finals. Might be only 4 people watching period.

[Darth_Pelican]

I turned it on for a few minutes last night, tbh. That's all I could take of Mark Jackson and Van Gundy though so I switched it back off.

[daslicer]

Too black tbh. The product on the court, the messages/discussion on the telecast and the commercials.

Hockey has more diversity.

Agreed they have a lot of white diversity.

[Rummpd]

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-says-social-justice-messages-largely-left-delivered-off-floor-next-season

Ratings?

[Dirks_Finale]

Imagine if it was the Spurs in the finals. Might be only 4 people watching period.

5 if you include Skip Bayless :lol

[KobesAchilles]

Well apparently Adam Silver agrees with me. Why else would he pass this referendum?

[koriwhat]

No need to waste time on something that is clearly already decided.

:tu

[Dirks_Finale]

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-says-social-justice-messages-largely-left-delivered-off-floor-next-season

Ratings?

This one was easy to predict. They risked going bankrupt continuing on this Lebron, left wing suicide mission.

[Thebesteva]

The communist messaging needs to end. I have friends or colleagues who are not even into politics that say they just cant take it any more and prefer to do anything else than to watch the NFL or NBA. They overplayed their hand by caving into these faggots requests. Today its BLM then LGBT then trannies etc it never ends with the mentally ill

[Spurtacular]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZxqjZWgk8

[daslicer]

The communist messaging needs to end. I have friends or colleagues who are not even into politics that say they just cant take it any more and prefer to do anything else than to watch the NFL or NBA. They overplayed their hand by caving into these faggots requests. Today its BLM then LGBT then trannies etc it never ends with the mentally ill

I don't see any communist messaging? Just because you disagree with the NBA's stance on BLM does not make it communism messaging. Believe it or not I do find the SJW propaganda annoying but it's not communism. Communism is when the government controls every industry,business, and your freedoms. I don't see the NBA promoting a message for the government to do any of that stuff.

[Ginobilly]

Is the USA the only country that glorifies thug culture as a good thing? In any other country thugs are hated and demonized with a passion. They don't work or contribute to society in any positive way, yet they're worshipped as if they're the second coming of Jesus by the sjw left. Wgaf is some unemployed thug got killed by police. You don't want to get killed by police, then don't get combative with them and get a real job and they will leave you alone. Sane rational American people are tired of this made up racist bullshit. Thugs aren't hated due to ethnicity or skin color. They are hated because they have a shitty work ethic and bad attitudes. Just ask any employer in America.

[GAustex]

Bravo^

[midnightpulp]

Imagine if it was the Spurs in the finals. Might be only 4 people watching period.

Even if the Spurs were in the Finals, I probably still wouldn't watch. I feel like I'm being a traitor to something I traditionally loved, but the constant tinkering of the product over the years by NBA brass for the purpose of turning the sport into a glorified All Star game came to fruition over the past few years. NBA basketball doesn't seem like a real sport. It more seems like a factory assembly line designed to pump out constant highlights and "storylines" that people can share and chew over on twitter. "NBA memes" is a thing. It's not a "thing" in other sports.

I don't care about the political shit. I can ignore it.

[midnightpulp]

The Westbrook triple double run was disgusting to watch. He was blatantly stat padding every game to get the triple double. I remember seeing games where he was telling Steven Adams not to get the rebound so he could get it. He really benefited from the bs media narrative that season about him being selfless by staying in OKC unlike Durant who left. Westbrook bastardized the triple double. After what he did the triple double has now become irrelevant in my eyes.

Yep. In NO other sport can you control your stats in this way. You can't "stat pad" yourself to a Triple Crown because just hitting a baseball is so damn hard. QBs can stat pad a bit, but their success largely relies on the coordination of 10 other players to be in sync. Non-QB players can't stat pad at all. Just look at Kobe's final game. It was decided he was going to out with a 60 point game and he did through excessive chucking and deferment by teammates. Sure Utah relaxed their defense a bit, but it still proves the point of how modern NBA basketball is basically a video game on easy mode. There's no attrition anymore.

Some sports could benefit from a bump in scoring and offense, like soccer, baseball, etc but basketball was already a super high scoring sport vs. others. Yet the league felt they needed more scoring? Makes no sense. After thinking about this for a few years, I've come to the belief that 75-80 points per game/per 48 min would be the sweet spot team scoring average.

[daslicer]

Yep. In NO other sport can you control your stats in this way. You can't "stat pad" yourself to a Triple Crown because just hitting a baseball is so damn hard. QBs can stat pad a bit, but their success largely relies on the coordination of 10 other players to be in sync. Non-QB players can't stat pad at all. Just look at Kobe's final game. It was decided he was going to out with a 60 point game and he did through excessive chucking and deferment by teammates. Sure Utah relaxed their defense a bit, but it still proves the point of how modern NBA basketball is basically a video game on easy mode. There's no attrition anymore.

Some sports could benefit from a bump in scoring and offense, like soccer, baseball, etc but basketball was already a super high scoring sport vs. others. Yet the league felt they needed more scoring? Makes no sense. After thinking about this for a few years, I've come to the belief that 75-80 points per game/per 48 min would be the sweet spot team scoring average.

We were at that moment during the height of the defensive era during the mid '00s. I remember the Spurs and Pistons had a lot of games where they were holding teams below 70. The league panicked after the Spurs-Pistons won from '03-'05. That's when they started tinkering with the defensive rules to increasing scoring. They felt because Spurs-Pistons generated bad ratings that defense was bad and they had to increase offense for ratings.

[midnightpulp]

We were at that moment during the height of the defensive era during the mid '00s. I remember the Spurs and Pistons had a lot of games where they were holding teams below 70. The league panicked after the Spurs-Pistons won from '03-'05. That's when they started tinkering with the defensive rules to increasing scoring. They felt because Spurs-Pistons generated bad ratings that defense was bad and they had to increase offense for ratings.

Yep. The league was salivating for the next Jordan, and didn't like the fact that the mid-00s were dominated by bigs like Shaq and Timmy. Shaq was marketable, but bigs still don't market like flashy guards. Stern definitely wanted the Lakers to be Kobe's team. When it looked like Kobe wouldn't do much with the post-Shaq Lakers, we started seeing a shitload of "superstar treatment" given to great guards and perimeter players like Wade, Arenas, Carter, and such, while crafting rule changes along the way to facilitate more perimeter scoring at the expense of post-play.

Some might say, "But the mid-00s were too post-play centric. You're just mad your preferred style is gone in this era." No. The mid-00s weren't post-centric at all. The Kings, Suns, and Mavs all played high paced, perimeter oriented games, and they should probably all have won titles in that era. Kings choked while getting hosed in '02. Mavs hosed in '06. Suns choked in '07 with Amare and Diaw not being able to keep their cool. I'm glad we have the '07 title, but the Spurs probably weren't the best team that year.

Back then, the rule sets along with the 3 pointer not being the weapon it is today allowed for more diversity of play styles than we see today.

[daslicer]

Yep. The league was salivating for the next Jordan, and didn't like the fact that the mid-00s were dominated by bigs like Shaq and Timmy. Shaq was marketable, but bigs still don't market like flashy guards. Stern definitely wanted the Lakers to be Kobe's team. When it looked like Kobe wouldn't do much with the post-Shaq Lakers, we started seeing a shitload of "superstar treatment" given to great guards and perimeter players like Wade, Arenas, Carter, and such, while crafting rule changes along the way to facilitate more perimeter scoring at the expense of post-play.

Some might say, "But the mid-00s were too post-play centric. You're just mad your preferred style is gone in this era." No. The mid-00s weren't post-centric at all. The Kings, Suns, and Mavs all played high paced, perimeter oriented games, and they should probably all have won titles in that era. Kings choked while getting hosed in '02. Mavs hosed in '06. Suns choked in '07 with Amare and Diaw not being able to keep their cool. I'm glad we have the '07 title, but the Spurs probably weren't the best team that year.

Back then, the rule sets along with the 3 pointer not being the weapon it is today allowed for more diversity of play styles than we see today.

I thought the league did a terrible job of marketing the Spurs-Lakers rivalry during the early '00s when it came to Duncan vs Shaq. When I talked to young people about how Duncan and Shaq matched up a lot during those series there are always in awe. My favorite era of the league was from '02-'08. Defense was top notch during that time period and you had a lot of parity.

[FrostKing]

Is the USA the only country that glorifies thug culture as a good thing? In any other country thugs are hated and demonized with a passion. They don't work or contribute to society in any positive way, yet they're worshipped as if they're the second coming of Jesus by the sjw left. Wgaf is some unemployed thug got killed by police. You don't want to get killed by police, then don't get combative with them and get a real job and they will leave you alone. Sane rational American people are tired of this made up racist bullshit. Thugs aren't hated due to ethnicity or skin color. They are hated because they have a shitty work ethic and bad attitudes. Just ask any employer in America.
It goes deeper than that. Left gives the thuggery a pass because they believe whites/system has left the black community mentally handicapped. They believe whites put them in this position and only whites are capable of rescuing them. Compare to how the left looks down on rednecks.

[Dirks_Finale]

We were at that moment during the height of the defensive era during the mid '00s. I remember the Spurs and Pistons had a lot of games where they were holding teams below 70. The league panicked after the Spurs-Pistons won from '03-'05. That's when they started tinkering with the defensive rules to increasing scoring. They felt because Spurs-Pistons generated bad ratings that defense was bad and they had to increase offense for ratings.

Exactly.

Spurs/Pistons was one of the best Final's series in recent memory, imo. If you are a basketball purist you loved the tough, grind it out battle of Duncan vs the Wallace boys. Unfortunately they pandered to the low attention span kids and turned it into a ASG to improve ratings. No turning back from here, it is what it is now.

[Spurtacular]

Exactly.

Spurs/Pistons was one of the best Final's series in recent memory, imo. If you are a basketball purist you loved the tough, grind it out battle of Duncan vs the Wallace boys. Unfortunately they pandered to the low attention span kids and turned it into a ASG to improve ratings. No turning back from here, it is what it is now.

NBA Finals is sh**. It's like watching pickup ball. Except it's not even that good; because one team isn't allowed to play defense.

[lefty]

Is the USA the only country that glorifies thug culture as a good thing? In any other country thugs are hated and demonized with a passion. They don't work or contribute to society in any positive way, yet they're worshipped as if they're the second coming of Jesus by the sjw left. Wgaf is some unemployed thug got killed by police. You don't want to get killed by police, then don't get combative with them and get a real job and they will leave you alone. Sane rational American people are tired of this made up racist bullshit. Thugs aren't hated due to ethnicity or skin color. They are hated because they have a shitty work ethic and bad attitudes. Just ask any employer in America.
Yeah white redneck racist thugs are a huge problem, I agree

[lefty]

Exactly.

Spurs/Pistons was one of the best Final's series in recent memory, imo. If you are a basketball purist you loved the tough, grind it out battle of Duncan vs the Wallace boys. Unfortunately they pandered to the low attention span kids and turned it into a ASG to improve ratings. No turning back from here, it is what it is now.
Not sure why a lot of people hated on Rockets-Knicks in 1994
The defensive intensity was off the charts and there was some drama too

Ewing struggling offensively but great defensively and somehow hitting a big 3 pointer in game 4 or 5, you had a rookie hitting a clutch shot in game 3 (Cassell), Stark was clutch in games 4 and 5 and deadly in game 6 before returnig to grocery bagger status and shitting the bed in game 7.

Smith and Maxwell were struggling the whole series, until they hit big shots late in games 6 & 7 (Kenny in G6 and Maxwell in G7)

And you also had the live OJ chase feed in the middle of a game :lol

[Rummpd]

ESPN planning more layoffs

https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/sports/report-espn-employees-disney-cost-cutting

[Dirks_Finale]

Not sure why a lot of people hated on Rockets-Knicks in 1994
The defensive intensity was off the charts and there was some drama too

Ewing struggling offensively but great defensively and somehow hitting a big 3 pointer in game 4 or 5, you had a rookie hitting a clutch shot in game 3 (Cassell), Stark was clutch in games 4 and 5 and deadly in game 6 before returnig to grocery bagger status and shitting the bed in game 7.

Smith and Maxwell were struggling the whole series, until they hit big shots late in games 6 & 7 (Kenny in G6 and Maxwell in G7)

And you also had the live OJ chase feed in the middle of a game :lol

It's sad that that game pretty much has defined his career. He isn't looked at as an overachiever, he's looked at as the guy who failed in GM 7 when it mattered most. Not sure that is fair, all things considered.

[lefty]

It's sad that that game pretty much has defined his career. He isn't looked at as an overachiever, he's looked at as the guy who failed in GM 7 when it mattered most. Not sure that is fair, all things considered.

It’s pretty tragic tbh....

Starks was really amazing in game 6, and it took the greatest shot blocker of all time to stop him that night.
I’m 200% convinced that shot was going in if not for that block.

Hard to recover from that, and Starks tried too hard in game 7 to make up for that game 6 loss

[Kawhitstorm]

It’s pretty tragic tbh....

Starks was really amazing in game 6, and it took the greatest shot blocker of all time to stop him that night.
I’m 200% convinced that shot was going in if not for that block.

Hard to recover from that, and Starks tried too hard in game 7 to make up for that game 6 loss

Too bad his last name wasn’t Evita or Enrique :wakeup

[LkrFan]

Well mid, NFL, MLB playoffs and even NHL are all going on during the NBA playoffs.

Also, do these numbers account for streaming? For example, I bought OLOGY TV for basically $20/month. It is a streaming service that gives me all the PPVs, NBALP, NFL Ticket, UFC, (and XXX :D) and more. This is how I watched my Lakers the last 4 years.

If the ratings is not counted fans who stream games like me, the numbers are as real as Trump's hair :lol

[LkrFan]

Here comes the ratings
https://twitter.com/Jody_McFly/status/1314576663708135424?s=19

:lol

[daslicer]

Here comes the ratings
https://twitter.com/Jody_McFly/status/1314576663708135424?s=19

:lol

:lol China with the stimulus money for the NBA.

[Rummpd]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30077364/china-cctv-air-nba-finals-game-5-live-first-more-year

Ratings are ratings some good news but reason is nebulous

[LkrFan]

:lol China with the stimulus money for the NBA.

The OP won't admit the ratings tanked when China stopped watching.
https://media4.giphy.com/media/AVpE6BqnOvbzi/giphy.gif

[DMC]

Here comes the ratings
https://twitter.com/Jody_McFly/status/1314576663708135424?s=19

:lol

Rkrfan

[Rummpd]

Go Heat!

[Play Boban]

Here comes the ratings
https://twitter.com/Jody_McFly/status/1314576663708135424?s=19

:lol
LeRoid slurping that Chinese D

[Play Boban]

If you don’t believe black lives matter, then don’t let the door hit your booty on the way out. We don’t need racist fans!!!!!

[midnightpulp]

Well mid, NFL, MLB playoffs and even NHL are all going on during the NBA playoffs.

Also, do these numbers account for streaming? For example, I bought OLOGY TV for basically $20/month. It is a streaming service that gives me all the PPVs, NBALP, NFL Ticket, UFC, (and XXX :D) and more. This is how I watched my Lakers the last 4 years.

If the ratings is not counted fans who stream games like me, the numbers are as real as Trump's hair :lol

Ratings don't count streaming, but we can evaluate the NBA's relative popularity regardless because other leagues have also had their terrestrial ratings affected by cord-cutting. The fact the NBA has had the largest drop off, even though other leagues also got "woke," leads me to believe the league is losing more and more "core" NBA fans, those fans who watch basketball for basketball and don't care about twitter drama, following stars from team to team, and have been largely turned off by the modern playstyle. I remember saying to you when the Lakers were irrelevant, "I bet you haven't watched much NBA outside of the Lakers." And you said, "Guilty." I think as an older school fan, you know the on-court product is subpar and not all that interesting as a non-invested observer.

To your other point about China, their ratings won't factor into US tv ratings. I'm sure the ratings will be huge there, but I'm talking about the drop off in the US.

[Spurtacular]

I kind of wish the Heat lost tonight. Many holdouts will return for a Game 6/7 and give these faggots money.

[Spurtacular]

I kind of wish the Heat lost tonight. Many holdouts will return for a Game 6/7 and give these faggots money.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNgj8cC-UXc

[superbigtime]

one of the reasons the finals ratings are poor is because the finals usually aren't in october in a big gym in orlando

[Spurtacular]

one of the reasons the finals ratings are poor is because the finals usually aren't in october in a big gym in orlando

Okay. Other sports don't get to play in front of fans. Have their ratings fell as much?

[Monostradamus]

If the ratings decline is truly because half the country are racist assholes, then the NBA should view it as an acceptable loss and move forward with a new business plan that excludes those former fans, and in no way attempts to win them back.

But chances are the decline has to do with bubble fatigue, no live crowds, and James Harden breaking the game, which will require a rewrite of certain rules to prevent the gimmicky garbage offense we’re seeing every night. Changing those rules will severely hurt my own team, as Luka is the perfect weapon to play in this era, but doing things like extending the 3pt line/eliminating corner 3’s/more offensive fouls for manufacturing contact are necessary to make the game more watchable.

[Dirks_Finale]

Okay. Other sports don't get to play in front of fans. Have their ratings fell as much?

Exactly. People are still watching the NFL and MLB.

NBA is self destructing by handing the car keys over to Lebron.

[Monostradamus]

People are still watching the NFL and MLB.
lol nope, ratings down for them too. nice try.

[FrostKing]

lol nope, ratings down for them too. nice try.
MLB is success


"The wild-card round went head-to-head with the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, the NFL, college football, and the first presidential debate – and held its own."

[Monostradamus]

MLB is success


"The wild-card round went head-to-head with the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, the NFL, college football, and the first presidential debate – and held its own."
Nope. MLB ratings are better than expected but still down. Here’s my own unsourced quote on the matter.

“Major League Baseball ratings which are also down in the return from the pandemic.”

[Kawhitstorm]

Here comes the ratings
https://twitter.com/Jody_McFly/status/1314576663708135424?s=19

:lol

Chinese got to witness another end-of-game beta performance by Qing James :king

[KobesAchilles]

lol nope, ratings down for them too. nice try.
They down 70% though? I mean this is ALL TIME low for the NBA finals. Literally have to back to the 70s for these types of ratings. Yeah baseball and football and stuff are down, that is expected. But none of them are down 70 fucking percent. None of them are having all time lows. None of them are even close to NBA level of losing viewers.

[Monostradamus]

They down 70% though? I mean this is ALL TIME low for the NBA finals. Literally have to back to the 70s for these types of ratings. Yeah baseball and football and stuff are down, that is expected. But none of them are down 70 fucking percent. None of them are having all time lows. None of them are even close to NBA level of losing viewers.
When has the NBA Finals ever been played in a bubble in October with the NFL and NHL and MLB and an election cycle taking viewers away? Of course ratings are down. If they stay down when things get back to normal, that’s when people can talk shit.

[KobesAchilles]

When has the NBA Finals ever been played in a bubble in October with the NFL and NHL and MLB and an election cycle taking viewers away? Of course ratings are down. If they stay down when things get back to normal, that’s when people can talk shit.
NBA ratings as far as regular season dropped by 40% and that was before Covid during the regular schedule. So yeah the nba has a problem. Networks are talking about redoing the tv contracts bc they aren’t bringing in ratings for games. Before people were saying well the ratings were good in the playoffs so that’s all that matters, but now they aren’t even good in the playoffs. Also Adam Silver said they aren’t going into the regular schedule next season so your point makes zero sense. The finals went against ONE baseball game :lol and still drew only 5 million people. You might be in denial but Silver and the owners are freaking the fuck out

[dbreiden83080]

NBA ratings as far as regular season dropped by 40% and that was before Covid during the regular schedule. So yeah the nba has a problem. Networks are talking about redoing the tv contracts bc they aren’t bringing in ratings for games. Before people were saying well the ratings were good in the playoffs so that’s all that matters, but now they aren’t even good in the playoffs. Also Adam Silver said they aren’t going into the regular schedule next season so your point makes zero sense. The finals went against ONE baseball game :lol and still drew only 5 million people. You might be in denial but Silver and the owners are freaking the fuck out

I’m not sure why? Is it all the political bullshit? That’s all I can think of. The quality of the games in the playoffs has been there for the most part. And this NBA finals is starting to get dramatic. Game five was a great game.

[dbreiden83080]

When has the NBA Finals ever been played in a bubble in October with the NFL and NHL and MLB and an election cycle taking viewers away? Of course ratings are down. If they stay down when things get back to normal, that’s when people can talk shit.

Not just down historically bad. Do you realize these ratings are half of what they were way back in 2003 when the media was shitting all over the San Antonio Spurs for causing low ratings. I looked it up game five of the 2003 NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets was about 9.3 million viewers. Game five of this NBA final was about 5 million. That’s fucking pathetic. 2014 when the Spurs closed out LeBron and the Heat Did 18 million viewers. 2013 game 7 did 26..

This is quite alarming for the league.

[Dirks_Finale]

I’m not sure why? Is it all the political bullshit? That’s all I can think of. The quality of the games in the playoffs has been there for the most part. And this NBA finals is starting to get dramatic. Game five was a great game.

That's most of it. People are telling Lebron and his cult following to shove it.

But it was already showing some signs of trouble prior to the pandemic. Long time fans know that these stats are inflated - and the league now has 30 teams all playing the same way which makes it less interesting.

Think back to not that long ago...we had matchups that were pretty damn intriguing, imo. I pretty much never missed a Suns vs Spurs game as it was always highly entertaining to see Nash try and finally get over the hump vs the spurs, who played an entirely different style. There's really none of that now and we don't even have any real rivalries to speak of. These guys all want to be best friends now and team up instead of form rivalries.

[dbreiden83080]

That's most of it. People are telling Lebron and his cult following to shove it.

But it was already showing some signs of trouble prior to the pandemic. Long time fans know that these stats are inflated - and the league now has 30 teams all playing the same way which makes it less interesting.

Think back to not that long ago...we had matchups that were pretty damn intriguing, imo. I pretty much never missed a Suns vs Spurs game as it was always highly entertaining to see Nash try and finally get over the hump vs the spurs, who played an entirely different style. There's really none of that now and we don't even have any real rivalries to speak of. These guys all want to be best friends now and team up instead of form rivalries.

Those are some good thoughts.

I have long been a huge detractor of these guys teaming up to play. Wrecking the rivalries. I fucking hate it. On top of that maybe everybody constantly wanting to do nothing but shoot three point shots is turning off the fans. I could see it.

[daslicer]

That's most of it. People are telling Lebron and his cult following to shove it.

But it was already showing some signs of trouble prior to the pandemic. Long time fans know that these stats are inflated - and the league now has 30 teams all playing the same way which makes it less interesting.

Think back to not that long ago...we had matchups that were pretty damn intriguing, imo. I pretty much never missed a Suns vs Spurs game as it was always highly entertaining to see Nash try and finally get over the hump vs the spurs, who played an entirely different style. There's really none of that now and we don't even have any real rivalries to speak of. These guys all want to be best friends now and team up instead of form rivalries.

Spurs vs Suns, Spurs vs Lakers, Spurs vs Mavs were all great rivalries during the '00s. All of those games whether it was regular season or playoffs was must see TV. The biggest problem like you said is these stars hop around trying to form super teams or create teams that tilt the advantage in their favor ala Lebron going to the Lakers and getting Davis. You had guys like Duncan,Dirk,Kobe,Miller,Malone,Ewing,Hakeem, either stay with the team their whole entire career or for most of their career. You don't have that anymore and it greatly hurts competition and stops rivalries from forming. We don't have any great rivalries right now in the NBA. Maybe Nuggets-Clippers, Clippers-Mavs might turn into something the next few years but we'll see.

[dbreiden83080]

Spurs vs Suns, Spurs vs Lakers, Spurs vs Mavs were all great rivalries during the '00s. All of those games whether it was regular season or playoffs was must see TV. The biggest problem like you said is these stars hop around trying to form super teams or create teams that tilt the advantage in their favor ala Lebron going to the Lakers and getting Davis. You had guys like Duncan,Dirk,Kobe,Miller,Malone,Ewing,Hakeem, either stay with the team their whole entire career or for most of their career. You don't have that anymore and it greatly hurts competition and stops rivalries from forming. We don't have any great rivalries right now in the NBA. Maybe Nuggets-Clippers, Clippers-Mavs might turn into something the next few years but we'll see.

The league was far more interesting when it was basically one superstar player, and the team did their best to build around that superstar player. That’s just my opinion.

These guys were true rivals. I mean imagine Tim Duncan calling up Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal asking them about teaming up. Give me a fucking break.

[daslicer]

Those are some good thoughts.

I have long been a huge detractor of these guys teaming up to play. Wrecking the rivalries. I fucking hate it. On top of that maybe everybody constantly wanting to do nothing but shoot three point shots is turning off the fans. I could see it.

I have hated college basketball for so many years due to them constantly chucking up tons of 3 point shots and nothing else. I never envisioned one day the NBA would become like college basketball but we are now at that place.

[Dirks_Finale]

A few people here have pointed out that it's the media's fault. That they essentially created this mess because they harped so much on Jordan's 6 titles and perfect finals record, which forced these guys like Lebron to try and get there by whatever means necessary. So they create super teams and do what they need to do to avoid having Skip Bayless trash them for only having 1 or 2 titles, etc.



Spurs vs Suns, Spurs vs Lakers, Spurs vs Mavs were all great rivalries during the '00s. All of those games whether it was regular season or playoffs was must see TV. The biggest problem like you said is these stars hop around trying to form super teams or create teams that tilt the advantage in their favor ala Lebron going to the Lakers and getting Davis. You had guys like Duncan,Dirk,Kobe,Miller,Malone,Ewing,Hakeem, either stay with the team their whole entire career or for most of their career. You don't have that anymore and it greatly hurts competition and stops rivalries from forming. We don't have any great rivalries right now in the NBA. Maybe Nuggets-Clippers, Clippers-Mavs might turn into something the next few years but we'll see.

[dbreiden83080]

A few people here have pointed out that it's the media's fault. That they essentially created this mess because they harped so much on Jordan's 6 titles and perfect finals record, which forced these guys like Lebron to try and get there by whatever means necessary. So they create super teams and do what they need to do to avoid having Skip Bayless trash them for only having 1 or 2 titles, etc.

The media is part of it. But internally if somebody is your fierce rival that’s the way it should always be. There should be nothing inside that should make you want to play with that person. You had the occasional odd team up like Dennis Rodman joining the Chicago Bulls. But other than that back in the day, it just never happened.

[Dirks_Finale]

Those are some good thoughts.

I have long been a huge detractor of these guys teaming up to play. Wrecking the rivalries. I fucking hate it. On top of that maybe everybody constantly wanting to do nothing but shoot three point shots is turning off the fans. I could see it.


I think the only logical solution to fix this mess is to move the three point line back some. Force these guys not named Curry or Durant to find points in other ways. I'd like to see some intimidating centers again and guys getting knocked on their azzes for going into the paint too often.

[dbreiden83080]

I think the only logical solution to fix this mess is to move the three point line back some. Force these guys not named Curry or Durant to find points in other ways. I'd like to see some intimidating centers again and guys getting knocked on their azzes for going into the paint too often.

If the ratings next season continue to be down which seems likely, rule changes will be coming. That’s the way it works. All the hand checking rules went extinct because of television ratings. The fans were saying they were sick and tired of having NBA playoff games finished with the final score of 77-75. I think we are approaching new rule changes.

By the way I would be a huge fan of moving the three-point line back. Move it back like 3 feet as far as I’m concerned.

[daslicer]

The league was far more interesting when it was basically one superstar player, and the team did their best to build around that superstar player. That’s just my opinion.

These guys were true rivals. I mean imagine Tim Duncan calling up Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal asking them about teaming up. Give me a fucking break.

Agreed. The league was better when you had superstars sticking with their teams for 12-14 years because you had stability for that franchise and it created great competition because you knew every year going in at least 3-4 teams were going to be great contenders. For example during the '00s you knew before the season started the Mavs,Spurs,Laker,Kings,Suns are all going to be great. None of those teams superstars wanted to play with each other. Plus all of those teams styles of play were different which made the game more fun to watch.

[daslicer]

A few people here have pointed out that it's the media's fault. That they essentially created this mess because they harped so much on Jordan's 6 titles and perfect finals record, which forced these guys like Lebron to try and get there by whatever means necessary. So they create super teams and do what they need to do to avoid having Skip Bayless trash them for only having 1 or 2 titles, etc.

It's deeper than that. I think guys like Lebron,Durant grew up watching Barkley,Ewing,Malone,Nash all get clowned for not winning a ring from the media and their contemporaries. Lebron and Durant saw that and didn't want to end up like those guys so they took the safest route possible to avoid it.

[Dirks_Finale]

Definitely see some changes coming.

I do wonder if some serious and possibly irreparable damage has already been done this year, though. Not just with the political stuff on the floor but with the two LA teams, and I guess other players wanting to quit the bubble after the Kenosha incident. That MLB strike in the 90's caused many fans to desert the sport and it took a while to get them back.


If the ratings next season continue to be down which seems likely, rule changes will be coming. That’s the way it works. All the hand checking rules went extinct because of television ratings. The fans were saying they were sick and tired of having NBA playoff games finished with the final score of 77-75. I think we are approaching new rule changes.

By the way I would be a huge fan of moving the three-point line back. Move it back like 3 feet as far as I’m concerned.

[Rummpd]

Go HEAT even if no one watching

[FrostKing]

https://i.ibb.co/bsNdxy8/20201011-110314.jpg

NBA is one of countless corporations to make the same mistake. Supposedly our society is bias against blacks. Then why would you make them the face of your brand.

[FrostKing]

I'm streaming a soccer match from Italy

Not a single black person in their ads. America is extremist.

[lefty]

I'm streaming a soccer match from Italy

Not a single black person in their ads. America is extremist.
Well Italy is still a fascist country so they are extremists tbh

[FrostKing]

Well Italy is still a fascist country so they are extremists tbh
Compared to the rest of the World, America is extremist in this regard.

[Play Boban]

Not just down historically bad. Do you realize these ratings are half of what they were way back in 2003 when the media was shitting all over the San Antonio Spurs for causing low ratings. I looked it up game five of the 2003 NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets was about 9.3 million viewers. Game five of this NBA final was about 5 million. That’s fucking pathetic. 2014 when the Spurs closed out LeBron and the Heat Did 18 million viewers. 2013 game 7 did 26..

This is quite alarming for the league.
And there’s more people than 17 years ago in the USA too tbh.

I think people are tuning out because the nba hasn’t done enough to support social justice, though. It’s all meaningless slogans. I think the league would get more support if they started threatening lockouts if the injustices don’t stop tbh.

[Play Boban]

That's most of it. People are telling Lebron and his cult following to shove it.

But it was already showing some signs of trouble prior to the pandemic. Long time fans know that these stats are inflated - and the league now has 30 teams all playing the same way which makes it less interesting.

Think back to not that long ago...we had matchups that were pretty damn intriguing, imo. I pretty much never missed a Suns vs Spurs game as it was always highly entertaining to see Nash try and finally get over the hump vs the spurs, who played an entirely different style. There's really none of that now and we don't even have any real rivalries to speak of. These guys all want to be best friends now and team up instead of form rivalries.
I remember when scoring 20ppg was actually impressive tbh.

[midnightpulp]

If the ratings decline is truly because half the country are racist assholes, then the NBA should view it as an acceptable loss and move forward with a new business plan that excludes those former fans, and in no way attempts to win them back.

But chances are the decline has to do with bubble fatigue, no live crowds, and James Harden breaking the game, which will require a rewrite of certain rules to prevent the gimmicky garbage offense we’re seeing every night. Changing those rules will severely hurt my own team, as Luka is the perfect weapon to play in this era, but doing things like extending the 3pt line/eliminating corner 3’s/more offensive fouls for manufacturing contact are necessary to make the game more watchable.

In a perfect world, I'd also like to see rule changes to make the game less star-centric. Yeah, I know that's basketball's prime draw, in that it's really the only sport where stars are basically involved in every play when they're on the court (football is indeed QB centric in the same way, but QBs can't be involved on defense obviously), but the impact individual players have on the outcome is unbalanced. This results in fans either hoping they'll sign a top 5 player or get lucky in the lottery. Very rarely do we see teams that are "built" have any success. It's also difficult to build a team because basketball's talent pool is comparatively shallow vs. other mainstream sports (due to the sport's height requirement). It's too easy to ride a generational player to multiple deep playoff runs and titles in the sport.

A solution might be to the extend the game to 60 minutes, like hockey. And like hockey, this would result in stars not being able to play 90 percent to 100 percent of the game. A lot of lip service is given to how important the bench is in the NBA, but it really isn't that important. Increasing to 60 minutes would hopefully marginalize stars somewhat and place more importance on the bench and thus team building. "But a 60 minute clock would take 3-1/2 hours to play." I think you could offset that issue with not calling as many fouls.

Never happen, of course. I think the NBA found their formula for the style of gameplay that works best in the age of social media.

[davethedope]

Just bring back defense

[LkrFan]

Ratings :lol

[DAF86]

Ratings :lol

Remember when that was yalls go to card to troll Spurs fans? :lol

Felicitaciones, Rigoberto :toast

[LkrFan]

Remember when that was yalls go to card to troll Spurs fans? :lol

Felicitaciones, Rigoberto :toast

:lol

[Chris]

https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1315490426355437569?s=19

[Dirks_Finale]

https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1315490426355437569?s=19

I missed the post game show. Did they all gather together and piss on an American flag?

[FrostKing]

https://i.ibb.co/BNbPjxG/20201010-164618-1.jpg

[Chris]

I missed the post game show. Did they all gather together and piss on an American flag?

lol

[Spurtacular]

https://i.ibb.co/BNbPjxG/20201010-164618-1.jpg


Pretty sad when you consider that BYU v La. Tech was a blowout.

[Dirks_Finale]

https://i.ibb.co/BNbPjxG/20201010-164618-1.jpg

Woke NBA :lol

[Rummpd]

Bubble sham title no one cared about will be interesting on anyone watched last pm.

[TD 21]

:lmao Bitter Spurs fans resorting to hypocrisy to attempt to downplay this because they don't like that the big, dark, unapologetically powerful black man won.

These cuckolds were too busy slobbering right along with the Stockholm syndrome Raptors fans last season to realize that was as tainted as it gets.

Say what you want about the way Davis went about it, in the end the Pelicans received a commensurate return for a player of his magnitude, the Lakers were flawed and undertalented and the "bubble" was fair for everyone.

What wasn't, was the last MVP caliber player to be traded intentionally destroying his value to the point where an iteration of a team formed that otherwise never would have existed.

First legit champions in 4 years.

[Chris]

lol rioting during a pandemic

lol *

[dbreiden83080]

"The NBA Finals game itself, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET, averaged a 2.1/11 and 5.6 million viewers"

Yuck.. League needs rule changes. Player salaries will be going down with those shit numbers.. Lockout possibly after 2023.. Ratings better go up..

[Rummpd]

:lmao Bitter Spurs fans resorting to hypocrisy to attempt to downplay this because they don't like that the big, dark, unapologetically powerful black man won.

These cuckolds were too busy slobbering right along with the Stockholm syndrome Raptors fans last season to realize that was as tainted as it gets.

Say what you want about the way Davis went about it, in the end the Pelicans received a commensurate return for a player of his magnitude, the Lakers were flawed and undertalented and the "bubble" was fair for everyone.

What wasn't, was the last MVP caliber player to be traded intentionally destroying his value to the point where an iteration of a team formed that otherwise never would have existed.

First legit champions in 4 years.

Legit title what a joke! Undertalented with 2 superstars and still took 6 games to beat an injured JV lite team despite 8 on 5?

[LkrFan]

:wow



https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sunday-night-football-nba-finals-ratings-dip-1234793078/

And that's with the league's marquee team and player in the Finals. Covid to blame? Some people turned off by BLM? Combination of both?

I think it goes deeper than that. Using this forum as barometer, we've seen many of the usual NBA fans no longer post much about the sport. Mav Crew, HarlemHeat, among many others, despite them being active in the NFL forum, political forum and such. Lefty might've jokingly predicted it with :lol today's NBA, but I think he was on to something. The modern game centered around 3 pointers and fouls is uninteresting, with the league doing everything and anything to accelerate pace even more, with retarded rules like a 14 second shot clock after an offensive rebound. It's obvious the league's strategy is to appeal to teenagers on twitter, since the modern product is producing more "highlights" than ever before, which are easily shared on social media. Not to mention their courting of "twitter drama," which also appeals to teenagers and man-children. The NBA is the only league I know of to have articles about "what storylines to watch out for this season."

Those factors have personally turned me off the NBA, but what's also accelerated my disinterest is how star-centric the sport is (or always was). Maybe I never fully realized it or admitted it, but the amount of in-game impact a single player has in the sport is ridiculous. Lebron in the Finals 10 times with 3 different teams. NBA team building philosophy is basically, "sign a couple of stars, make playoffs. Sign Lebron, make Finals." This makes team building and player development also uninteresting, and as fans, you're either hoping to make a splash by signing a top 5 player or pray the ping-pong balls bounce in your favor. If that doesn't happen, your team has no chance to do much of anything, and usually for decades. In other sports, you're not tied to stars this way. Patrick Mahomes still needs a line and a defense. Mike Trout will get about the same number of at bats as the 9 hitter. Hockey stars only play about 30 minutes out of 60.

The Covid and Black Lives Matter situations are partly to blame I'm sure, but I think the declining ratings might point to a larger issue with the sport/league that has turned off many core fans.

Lakers are still very popular, mid
https://twitter.com/Fanatics/status/1315702577611206657?s=19

Ratings :lol

[Rummpd]

Lakers bandwagon fans buying sham *bubble title gear what does it have a Mickey Mouse Logo? Farce to celebrate this garbage.

[Dirks_Finale]

Lakers bandwagon fans buying sham *bubble title gear what does it have a Mickey Mouse Logo? Farce to celebrate this garbage.

They all played in the same conditions. A title is a title.

[TD 21]

Legit title what a joke! Undertalented with 2 superstars and still took 6 games to beat an injured JV lite team despite 8 on 5?

I guess the rest of the roster doesn't count.

[dbreiden83080]

Lakers bandwagon fans buying sham *bubble title gear what does it have a Mickey Mouse Logo? Farce to celebrate this garbage.

We won a title in a lockout short year that Phil A-Hole Jackson termed to be an asterisk season.. Mostly because he didn't win it.. Same conditions so it all counts the same..

[dbreiden83080]

They all played in the same conditions. A title is a title.

Exactly.. Clippers were supposed to be the team to beat.. Came to the Bubble and choked their asses off..

[Kawhitstorm]

:lmao Bitter Spurs fans resorting to hypocrisy to attempt to downplay this because they don't like that the big, dark, unapologetically powerful black man won.

These cuckolds were too busy slobbering right along with the Stockholm syndrome Raptors fans last season to realize that was as tainted as it gets.

Say what you want about the way Davis went about it, in the end the Pelicans received a commensurate return for a player of his magnitude, the Lakers were flawed and undertalented and the "bubble" was fair for everyone.

What wasn't, was the last MVP caliber player to be traded intentionally destroying his value to the point where an iteration of a team formed that otherwise never would have existed.

First legit champions in 4 years.

PLEASE TELL ‘EM HOW YOU’LL STILL BE FURIOUS ABOUT GETTING DUMPED BY KIWI 4 YEARS LATER WHILE HE’S CASHING HIS 10-YEAR MAX!:madrun

[Texas_Ranger]

"The NBA Finals game itself, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET, averaged a 2.1/11 and 5.6 million viewers"

Yuck.. League needs rule changes. Player salaries will be going down with those shit numbers.. Lockout possibly after 2023.. Ratings better go up..

ohh nooooo.... :cry

[dbreiden83080]

ohh nooooo.... :cry

I don’t give a shit. But you know they won’t accept it. They’ll end up in a one year battle over wanting to see all of the financial records. That’s how the game is played with these unions. These television ratings are incredibly alarming. 6 million viewers for the NBA finals. Years ago in 2003 the San Antonio Spurs got 9 million viewers and everyone said that was deplorable. In 2013

26 million people watch the game seven of the NBA finals.

This is bad.

[Texas_Ranger]

I don’t give a shit. But you know they won’t accept it. They’ll end up in a one year battle over wanting to see all of the financial records. That’s how the game is played with these unions. These television ratings are incredibly alarming. 6 million viewers for the NBA finals. Years ago in 2003 the San Antonio Spurs got 9 million viewers and everyone said that was deplorable. In 2013

26 million people watch the game seven of the NBA finals.

This is bad.

yea, i know. The ratings were just pathetic, for the whole playoffs really. I think bringing the politics in the NBA didn't help at all, also the bubble kinda is not that interesting to some. We will see next year how the ratings will be without any of the politics (if Silver was not just saying bs) and with games being played in arenas with at least some crowd. If they go up by just a little or stay the same, then yea, the lockdown is near.

[dbreiden83080]

yea, i know. The ratings were just pathetic, for the whole playoffs really. I think bringing the politics in the NBA didn't help at all, also the bubble kinda is not that interesting to some. We will see next year how the ratings will be without any of the politics (if Silver was not just saying bs) and with games being played in arenas with at least some crowd. If they go up by just a little or stay the same, then yea, the lockdown is near.

I think it’s the politics more than anything. When the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play I was pissed off, and a lot of people around here scolded me not being more sensitive or whatever to the cause. But I think for the majority they just want them to play basketball. They don’t care about the rest.

[LkrFan]

:cry Lakers bandwagon fans buying sham *bubble title gear what does it have a Mickey Mouse Logo? :cry Farce to celebrate this garbage.:cry

Cry some m:lolre :lol

[Play Boban]

https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1315490426355437569?s=19
I’d like to see the nba endorse Biden/Harris officially. Silence is violence, and failure to take a stand on this issue will not be looked upon positively in the future.

[Rummpd]

Have the riots stopped in LA land celebrating this *bubble title sham? Had almost no coverage except the predictable in love BSPN stories. Dak getting hurt filled the airways as no one cares anymore about LeBron and his likely roid use or his peripatetic unicorn sidekick.

[Play Boban]

Have the riots stopped in LA land celebrating thi *bubble title sham? Had almost no coverage except the predictable in love BSPN stories.
Hope the title was worth dying on a ventilator for those rioting sickos tbh!

[Texas_Ranger]

I think it’s the politics more than anything. When the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play I was pissed off, and a lot of people around here scolded me not being more sensitive or whatever to the cause. But I think for the majority they just want them to play basketball. They don’t care about the rest.

I also think its just cause of the politics, but people like to point out at other things, which I dont think really effected this, especially as a lot of people are at home cause of pandemic and could have watched the NBA.

[TD 21]

PLEASE TELL ‘EM HOW YOU’LL STILL BE FURIOUS ABOUT GETTING DUMPED BY KIWI 4 YEARS LATER WHILE HE’S CASHING HIS 10-YEAR MAX!:madrun

:lmao This past month couldn't have worked out worse for your damage control, raging ass.

Still pretending I ever cared about that. As I've told you numerous times, all I wanted was commensurate value for a player of his magnitude, which became impossible due to his antics.

[Kawhitstorm]

:lmao This past month couldn't have worked out worse for your damage control, raging ass.

As if I ever cared about summer league :sleep


Still pretending I ever cared about that. As I've told you numerous times, all I wanted was commensurate value for a player of his magnitude, which became impossible due to his antics.

Your wishes will NEVER be granted.:)#staySalty

[TD 21]

As if I ever cared about summer league :sleep



Your wishes will NEVER be granted.:)#staySalty

:lmao Had Mr. Pristine Circumstances won, I guarantee you'd have declared it the most impressive championship ever and made some asinine claim like "this makes him top 5 all time". "Summer league", unlike tainted '17-'19, was fair for all.

I realize that genius, I'm just saying don't misconstrue my stance.

[Kawhitstorm]

:lmao Had Mr. Pristine Circumstances won, I guarantee you'd have declared it the most impressive championship ever and made some asinine claim like "this makes him top 5 all time". "Summer league", unlike tainted '17-'19, was fair for all.

I realize that genius, I'm just saying don't misconstrue my stance.

Yeah, this would have topped last season b/c it wasn’t only Durant that was missing but the entire Duds ensemble & the defending champ had also been disbanded:wow #hardestroad

If anything, Kiwi taking down Brat at STAPLES after the L*kers bandwagons came out of the woodshed is going to make it sweeter. Cripples are going to run scorched earth on the entire league like the ‘96 Bulls after the haters prematurely celebrated their demise in the summer of ‘95.

Had the Cripples beaten the L*kers in the WCF then they wouldn’t have gotten credit since it would have just been a confirmation bias but LeBrat has claimed he’s “better then ever” along with Davis being crowned “top 5” (+ Playoff P /Siakam proven not to be Pippen) .......Kiwi will get his full credit when he hoist the LB yet again next summer.:)

[TD 21]

Yeah, this would have topped last season b/c it wasn’t only Durant that was missing but the entire Duds ensemble & the defending champ had also been disbanded:wow #hardestroad

If anything, Kiwi taking down Brat at STAPLES after the L*kers bandwagons came out of the woodshed is going to make it sweeter. Cripples are going to run scorched earth on the entire league like the ‘96 Bulls after the haters prematurely celebrated their demise in the summer of ‘95.

Had the Cripples beaten the L*kers in the WCF then they wouldn’t have gotten credit since it would have just been a confirmation bias but LeBrat has claimed he’s “better then ever” along with Davis being crowned “top 5” (+ Playoff P /Siakam proven not to be Pippen) .......Kiwi will get his full credit when he hoist the LB yet again next summer.:)

Finally you admit Scumbag had it easy.

He needs pristine circumstances to beat James, like he had in '14. He better hope his team brings in a play maker/leader, that the Lakers squander their MLE and that the latter declines because I suspect one of his motivations at this point is destroying the myth of that puke that was created two seasons ago.

[Kawhitstorm]

Finally you admit Scumbag had it easy.

He needs pristine circumstances to beat James, like he had in '14. He better hope his team brings in a play maker/leader, that the Lakers squander their MLE and that the latter declines because I suspect one of his motivations at this point is destroying the myth of that puke that was created two seasons ago.

What did LeBrat ever win without teaming up with postseason players better than Siakam? #pristine

[TD 21]

What did LeBrat ever win without teaming up with postseason players better than Siakam? #pristine

James took otherwise bad '07 and '18 Cavaliers teams (the latter of which drastically changed their roster at the deadline) to the Finals. Not a chance in hell Scumbag was getting those teams anywhere near that.

Sure, he's played with high end talent in the past decade, but the game isn't played 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 and as we've discussed he's never had a complete team like Scumbag has virtually his entire affluenza filled career.

[Killakobe81]

What did LeBrat ever win without teaming up with postseason players better than Siakam? #pristine

Kawhi is my hero!
He didn't choke in game 7 ...
It was Doc, PG13, Pat Beverly and Trez
That made me miss mi shots ...their suckage rubbed off on me!

[Kawhitstorm]

Kawhi is my hero!
He didn't choke in game 7 ...
It was Doc, PG13, Pat Beverly and Trez
That made me miss mi shots ...their suckage rubbed off on me!

:toast

[Isitjustme?]

The rare Cinderella story doesn't negate the fact that the last decade of titles and Finals appearances were dominated by Lebron, Curry, and Leonard, who are the top 3 players of the 10s. The matchup might not be interesting for you or me, but it's been a decade since the Lakers were in the Finals. That alone should be enough to push ratings past 4 fuckin million. BLM and Covid might have an affect, but there's more factors chipping away at NBA ratings than just that. The game has become dull. No sport can have a perfect rule set for eternity. Rule sets and even dimensions should be constantly tweaked. We've talked about this on the forum ever since three-point attempts started regularly reaching into the 30s per game. The shot is too easy relative to how many points it's worth. It's worth 50 percent more but isn't 50 percent more difficult to make. It needs to be moved back.

Its always been this way in terms of stars dominating. Magic made the finals almost every year in the 80s and Jordan made them almost every year in the nineties. I will agree there are too much three pointers and I miss low post offense. This year BLM hurt and them playing the same time as the NFL which is on three days a week and the MLB playoffs hurt as the finals and playoffs is usually before the NFL season and during the early portion of MLBs year not the playoffs

[i'm_still_beta]

:wow



https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sunday-night-football-nba-finals-ratings-dip-1234793078/

And that's with the league's marquee team and player in the Finals. Covid to blame? Some people turned off by BLM? Combination of both?

I think it goes deeper than that. Using this forum as barometer, we've seen many of the usual NBA fans no longer post much about the sport. Mav Crew, HarlemHeat, among many others, despite them being active in the NFL forum, political forum and such. Lefty might've jokingly predicted it with :lol today's NBA, but I think he was on to something. The modern game centered around 3 pointers and fouls is uninteresting, with the league doing everything and anything to accelerate pace even more, with retarded rules like a 14 second shot clock after an offensive rebound. It's obvious the league's strategy is to appeal to teenagers on twitter, since the modern product is producing more "highlights" than ever before, which are easily shared on social media. Not to mention their courting of "twitter drama," which also appeals to teenagers and man-children. The NBA is the only league I know of to have articles about "what storylines to watch out for this season."

Those factors have personally turned me off the NBA, but what's also accelerated my disinterest is how star-centric the sport is (or always was). Maybe I never fully realized it or admitted it, but the amount of in-game impact a single player has in the sport is ridiculous. Lebron in the Finals 10 times with 3 different teams. NBA team building philosophy is basically, "sign a couple of stars, make playoffs. Sign Lebron, make Finals." This makes team building and player development also uninteresting, and as fans, you're either hoping to make a splash by signing a top 5 player or pray the ping-pong balls bounce in your favor. If that doesn't happen, your team has no chance to do much of anything, and usually for decades. In other sports, you're not tied to stars this way. Patrick Mahomes still needs a line and a defense. Mike Trout will get about the same number of at bats as the 9 hitter. Hockey stars only play about 30 minutes out of 60.

The Covid and Black Lives Matter situations are partly to blame I'm sure, but I think the declining ratings might point to a larger issue with the sport/league that has turned off many core fans.

Do pitchers have more impact on outcome of one single game than basketball players? If baseball season was 40 games per team would pitchers be more dominant than star nba players? How much pitchers dependant on fielding? I don't know a lot about baseball, so your take is interesting.

[Spurtacular]

This was better than any Finals action, tbh.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJiT7Pa1Fk

[Fat Brandon Bass]

You can only forcefeed the BLM crap down the goyim’s throat for so long

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/373/403/6d5.jpg

[Neo.]

This was better than any Finals action, tbh.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJiT7Pa1Fk

then why did you watch so much of the finals?

[Spurtacular]

then why did you watch so much of the finals?

I didn't, dip shit.

[Neo.]

I didn't, dip shit.

then why did you post so much about it?

[Spurtacular]

then why did you post so much about it?

Eat a dick, slob.

[Spurtacular]

You can only forcefeed the BLM crap down the goyim’s throat for so long

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/373/403/6d5.jpg

Will Hunting

[Will Hunting]

Will Hunting (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=17032)
Don't tag me, you're supporting the candidate getting bankrolled by Sheldon Adelson, the biggest le happy merchant in the US.

[Spurtacular]

Don't tag me, you're supporting the candidate getting bankrolled by Sheldon Adelson, the biggest le happy merchant in the US.

The Jews aren't supporting Biden?

[Will Hunting]

The Jews aren't supporting Biden?
Adelson has pumped more than $175 million into Trump/GOP senate campaigns this election cycle. None of the amorphous “Jews” you’re talking about who support Biden are donating anywhere near that much money, not even overlord Soros.

[Spurtacular]

Adelson has pumped more than $175 million into Trump/GOP senate campaigns this election cycle. None of the amorphous “Jews” you’re talking about who support Biden are donating anywhere near that much money, not even overlord Soros.

Collectively, the Jews are donating more to Biden. You're basically mad that one of your Jews is getting out of line.

[Neo.]

Eat a dick, slob.

lol thinking im mono
lol cant answer the question because youre a lying faggot

[Will Hunting]

Collectively, the Jews are donating more to Biden. You're basically mad that one of your Jews is getting out of line.
I’m guessing you can’t prove that. Am I right?

[Spurtacular]

I’m guessing you can’t prove that. Am I right?

Jews go for Democrats at about a 75 percent clip in voting.
I shouldn't think the donation rates should much differ.
I should think you wouldn't bet otherwise.
But you need to clutch your pearls at goes to figure.

[midnightpulp]

Do pitchers have more impact on outcome of one single game than basketball players? If baseball season was 40 games per team would pitchers be more dominant than star nba players? How much pitchers dependant on fielding? I don't know a lot about baseball, so your take is interesting.

Pitchers can have a similar individual dominance on individual game basis as NBA stars (comparing WAR to VORP), but the difference is star pitchers only play about once every five games, so you can't ride a GOAT ace every game like you can a basketball GOAT.

Furthermore, there's also more parity in the amount of superstar pitchers in the league vs. the amount of "true" NBA superstars. For example, the difference in WAR between the best pitcher in the league and the tenth best in 2018-19 was 2.1. The difference in VORP between the best NBA player and tenth best was 4.2. And this 4 to 5 point gap is pretty consistent over the years, while a 2 to 3 point gap is consistent for the difference between MLB star pitchers. This translates into fans hoping their team has a ping pong ball bounce their way or they make a free agency splash. There's just not enough talent to go around for the NBA to have strong parity.

[Spurtacular]

This would've been better than NBA Finals, tbh.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNWaFU8NQXc

[Neo.]

This would've been better than NBA Finals, tbh.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNWaFU8NQXc

how would you know if you didnt watch the finals?

[Spurtacular]

how would you know if you didnt watch the finals?

You dumb AF.

You follow these NBA threads and should know how wrong you are right now.

[Bill_Brasky]

I’m guessing you can’t prove that. Am I right?

Guarantee that guy lives at home. 100%.

[Rummpd]

Did the final ratings come out for this sham bubble tourney?

[Rummpd]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-13/nba-ratings-decline-points-to-broader-trouble-in-tv-watching

They are and being spun as not NBA fault of course but down 51% WOW

[Neo.]

You dumb AF.

You follow these NBA threads and should know how wrong you are right now.

I just recall you posting constantly about how bad the refs were, how bad the Lakers looked, how rigged everything was, how bad the games were... and wondered how you could have such opinions if you didn't watch hardly any of the finals as you claimed?

[Spurtacular]

I just recall you posting constantly about how bad the refs were, how bad the Lakers looked, how rigged everything was, how bad the games were... and wondered how you could have such opinions if you didn't watch hardly any of the finals as you claimed?

Go review the transcript further. Not my problem you can't keep up.

[Spurtacular]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz4yDzblnpc

[LkrFan]

:wow



https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sunday-night-football-nba-finals-ratings-dip-1234793078/

And that's with the league's marquee team and player in the Finals. Covid to blame? Some people turned off by BLM? Combination of both?

I think it goes deeper than that. Using this forum as barometer, we've seen many of the usual NBA fans no longer post much about the sport. Mav Crew, HarlemHeat, among many others, despite them being active in the NFL forum, political forum and such. Lefty might've jokingly predicted it with :lol today's NBA, but I think he was on to something. The modern game centered around 3 pointers and fouls is uninteresting, with the league doing everything and anything to accelerate pace even more, with retarded rules like a 14 second shot clock after an offensive rebound. It's obvious the league's strategy is to appeal to teenagers on twitter, since the modern product is producing more "highlights" than ever before, which are easily shared on social media. Not to mention their courting of "twitter drama," which also appeals to teenagers and man-children. The NBA is the only league I know of to have articles about "what storylines to watch out for this season."

Those factors have personally turned me off the NBA, but what's also accelerated my disinterest is how star-centric the sport is (or always was). Maybe I never fully realized it or admitted it, but the amount of in-game impact a single player has in the sport is ridiculous. Lebron in the Finals 10 times with 3 different teams. NBA team building philosophy is basically, "sign a couple of stars, make playoffs. Sign Lebron, make Finals." This makes team building and player development also uninteresting, and as fans, you're either hoping to make a splash by signing a top 5 player or pray the ping-pong balls bounce in your favor. If that doesn't happen, your team has no chance to do much of anything, and usually for decades. In other sports, you're not tied to stars this way. Patrick Mahomes still needs a line and a defense. Mike Trout will get about the same number of at bats as the 9 hitter. Hockey stars only play about 30 minutes out of 60.

The Covid and Black Lives Matter situations are partly to blame I'm sure, but I think the declining ratings might point to a larger issue with the sport/league that has turned off many core fans.

https://twitter.com/FOSInsights/status/1316514824856260608?s=19

[Rummpd]

RIP Kobe and Gigi but here’s props to LBJ’s three legit chips.

[Neo.]

Go review the transcript further.

ok


Two ticky tack and one alley oops in a row.


Good play by Buckets.
:lol Who cares if LeCoward's lily white cuck is mad.


This feeling like watching a 24 Hr Fitness feed. Gonna tune out for a while.


Davis faking more injuries.


Why wasn't LeCoward T'd up?

Oh, cos he gets to try and intimidate the competish / cry his eyes out.


:lol "Lakers have not committed a foul here in the fourth"


Buckets can't be taking bricks early in the shot clock when his team needs a shot.


That's supposed to be a technical foul. But LeCoward is allowed to talk sh**.


I don't know how often that's been allowed. But Rondo was allowed to come up and push the defender in the back as he set the screen. Although Lebron didn't use the screen, that kind of tactic creates options.


Herro was just fouled by KCP with the Lakers up by 6 and then the Lakers come down and make the 3 to put the game out of reach.

Five-point swing. (No way the Heat would get away with a foul like that even if you want to say it was a weak foul).


I liked the Heat at +7.5; but I knew something like this might happen.


Davis was allowed to stick his arm out and block Butler on that drive.

Lebron's been getting that call virtually every time in these playoffs.


And that shot by Herro just fucked over all those Laker fans who took the -7.5 in Vegas. :lmao


Just tuning in. Big shot by Duncan Robinson.


SMH. That's not an and one.
Hard to win when you're not even allowed to play defense.


Lebron was allowed to push Crowder to the ground, throw the ball off the bottom of the rim, and then have an easy layup.

SMH.


How do you not box out Davids on the shot?


:lol So happy that that was D Green and M Morris f*cking that sh** up for the Lakers.


Davids is playing possum. Nothing wrong with him.

[Spurtacular]

ok

I never said I caught none of the finals, dip shit.

[Neo.]

I never said I caught none of the finals, dip shit.

seems like you saw an awful lot of it based on your posts. and apparently cared an awful lot to take the time to post consistently throughout the games on an internet forum.

[Spurtacular]

seems like you saw an awful lot of it based on your posts. and apparently cared an awful lot to take the time to post consistently throughout the games on an internet forum.

What's an "awful lot"?

[Neo.]

What's an "awful lot"?


I just recall you posting constantly about how bad the refs were, how bad the Lakers looked, how rigged everything was, how bad the games were... and wondered how you could have such opinions if you didn't watch hardly any of the finals as you claimed?


Go review the transcript further. Not my problem you can't keep up.

watched and posted more than you thought, apparently. enjoy continuing to split hairs to cover the fact that youre a lying faggot :rollin

[Spurtacular]

watched and posted more than you thought, apparently. enjoy continuing to split hairs to cover the fact that youre a lying faggot :rollin

What am I lying about?

You're unhinged because your bull shit failed.

[Neo.]

What am I lying about?

You're unhinged because your bull shit failed.

:lmao :lmao :lmao

[midnightpulp]

https://twitter.com/FOSInsights/status/1316514824856260608?s=19

Internet is worldwide, bro. And basketball is the 2nd/3rd most popular sport in the world. Again, I'm talking about declining interest in the states.