OT: NBA Finals

[Goose85]

I'm a college hoops fan, but do follow the NBA during the season. While I pay attention, I really just watch Bucks games and then normally just the 2nd half of games.

When the playoffs hit, like many other basketball fans that are not hard core NBA fans, I watch NBA games. I've enjoyed watching the Cavs and Lebron. Curry and at times small ball out in Golden State, etc.

So now the finals are set with league MVP Curry and the best player in the world Lebron set to do battle for the title. Great, I look forward to watching, and what does the NBA do? They say you can wait more than a week for us to get this thing going. Really? Do we need 8 days before starting the series on June 4th?

I think the NBA and TV could lose the momentum here and allow fans to get used to not having basketball and move on. I'm probably wrong as the TV folks have more information and know what they are doing. I hope I remember to tune in a week from now (ha).

[TheSultan]

They tried to move it up. But they had too much to work out in too short a time frame.

One positive is that it can get players some time to heal. I love the NBA playoffs usually, but these have been a pretty poor example. The conference finals were brutal. Good thing the NHL has back to back game 7s coming up!

[mufan2003]

There are 2 weeks before the Super Bowl, 6 days from Elite 8 games to the Final 4. People will watch when it starts back up. I agree it is good for players to heal up and be as close to 100% as possible.

[The Reptile]

There are 2 weeks before the Super Bowl, 6 days from Elite 8 games to the Final 4. People will watch when it starts back up. I agree it is good for players to heal up and be as close to 100% as possible.

I agree that people will watch, but in both of your examples people already expect those delays and there is a history that goes along with them. The NBA delay is arbitrary and only this year. People will watch because ESPN won't let people forget it's there and Lebron is in the finals again - oh, and there is a small matter of the parent company's investment to protect.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I agree that people will watch, but in both of your examples people already expect those delays and there is a history that goes along with them. The NBA delay is arbitrary and only this year. People will watch because ESPN won't let people forget it's there and Lebron is in the finals again - oh, and there is a small matter of the parent company's investment to protect.

It's not ideal, but I doubt it will have much of an impact if any on the ratings.

[Goose85]

I'd guess it is not expected to have an impact on ratings or they would have found a way to avoid the delay.

I would have preferred this Sat or Sunday evening as the start to the finals.

I am predicting Cleveland in 7 (The Bay Area has celebrated enough titles of late).

[MUwarrior1090]

I'd guess it is not expected to have an impact on ratings or they would have found a way to avoid the delay.

I would have preferred this Sat or Sunday evening as the start to the finals.

I am predicting Cleveland in 7 (The Bay Area has celebrated enough titles of late).

The Giants and.......?

Am I missing other winners? The Raiders, Athletics, Sharks, Warriors, 49ers haven't won anything in awhile.

[Goose85]

The Giants and.......?

Am I missing other winners? The Raiders, Athletics, Sharks, Warriors, 49ers haven't won anything in awhile.

I think 3 World Series titles in 5 years is celebrating a good number of titles. I would think Boston might be the only other city with that number of titles in the past 5 years (Bruins, Pats, Red Sox). I'd bet Boston has more now that I think of it.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

I'm a college hoops fan, but do follow the NBA during the season. While I pay attention, I really just watch Bucks games and then normally just the 2nd half of games.

LOL This reminds me of a friend of mine in England. He does a lot of sports gambling and even though he doesn't watch basketball, he loves betting on the NBA. His strategy is to watch for teams to get big leads in the first half then bet on the losing team to cover the now overly inflated spread. Despite not watching the games he's betting on, he says it's the most reliable bet in sports gambling.