<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NEW YORK -- The NBA Finals continue to draw far fewer viewers than last year. The San Antonio Spurs' 75-72 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night received a 6.4 national rating and an 11 share on ABC, down 20 percent from the 8.0/14 for last year's Game 3 between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. The Game 3 drop follows a 30 percent plunge for Game 2 and a 19 percent decline for Game 1. The rating is the percentage watching a telecast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households. </div> As I predicted there would continue to be a drop in viewers after two straight blowouts. As this has been noted before, the San Antonio Spurs aren't exciting for an average fan to watch. Although last night's game was much closer than the previous two, there was very little offensive rythem which is what common fans want to see. Tommorow is an elimination game so I do expect more viewers than game 3 however with these finals I doubt the ratings will skyrocket up.
I guessed that the Spurs would beat Cleveland but I didn't think this badly, and I wanted Cleveland to win because I've nver liked the Spurs ever since the finals when they beat NJ.
No surprise here, it is a horrible final, because I'm still waiting for the Eastern Conference Champs to show up. So far it's been the Spurs playing LeBron, not the Cavs. Maybe Next year, The suns will get it together and beat the Spurs.
Im waiting for anyone to show up LeBron has done nothing for his team late in the games. People blame it on spurs but its not just them Cavs are doing nothing but getting destroyed.
lol, who the hell wants to see a dynasty like the Spurs facing a team that doesn't really deserve to be there and is overmatched in every way? There's no way the Spurs lose this series. My prediction was 4 or 5 games, but I hope it's 4 because I really want this series to be over. Like Bill Simmons said, if the off-season and the draft are drawing more attention and scrutnity than the Finals, there is a problem with the league. I think the playoffs should be a Sweet 16 tournament between the best teams, with the matchups being determined by record and conferences not being a factor. I like that idea, and it would make things MUCH more interesting. That way, teams like the Cavs would barely squeeze past the first round or 2nd round, nevermind the Conference Finals.
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Just eliminate the conferences and have a Suns/Spurs final.</div> I would love that as well.
And players would have to fly further distances for the first 3 rounds of playoffs if conferences were eliminated. As well, if the league has double headers in the first round and two teams 3 time zones apart like Raps and Warriors, then either the Raps' fans will have to watch a late game to see their team play in Goldenstate, or Warriors will have to see an early game. Otherwise rather than travelling distances and scheduling difficulties, I like the idea of the Conferences intermixing to avoid having the best two teams match up in the second round.
<div class="quote_poster">Skiptomylue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">And players would have to fly further distances for the first 3 rounds of playoffs if conferences were eliminated. As well, if the league has double headers in the first round and two teams 3 time zones apart like Raps and Warriors, then either the Raps' fans will have to watch a late game to see their team play in Goldenstate, or Warriors will have to see an early game. Otherwise rather than travelling distances and scheduling difficulties, I like the idea of the Conferences intermixing to avoid having the best two teams match up in the second round.</div> Well actually, that is a good point but it is the only flaw. However, I believe the current system is very detrimental towards the league. The League could also switch to the 2-3-2 format for all rounds (to save players from jetlag and such).
This is what I hate about Basketball, its all becoming about "which team is the most marketable" and "______ should be playing ______ so its not a boring series", the game has become all about viewer ratings and making $$$, there is no passion left in the game, it's become just a business now, it almost feels like im watching WWF or somthing.
I'm actually kind of glad the ratings are so low. It's the only thing that will get through to the stubborn people who run the NBA.
It won't get through to Stern, he's too stubborn..like you mentioned. The fact is the Spurs are one of the most fundamentally sound basketball teams ever to grace the court, and the average fan doesn't like that...which is obvious. It also proves that people aren't buying into the LeBron hype, I think they're over it. People realize that he's in a small market and that his game isn't as flashy as it was hyped up to be....at least yet. His shoe sales have been more than lackluster (that is why Nike is hesitant on offering Durant a huge contract), his apparel sales are low as well, and people are interested in watching him play in the finals. He doesn't carry the marketing weight as a Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'neal, Allen Iverson, or a Kobe Bryant. People don't put tuning in to watch LeBron James on top of everything else.
NBA Finals ratings will not do well until the Lakers or the Celts are in the middle of the mix. Spurs are old news and the Cavs are a small market team many people don't care about. You don't rely on the commish to do something about this, he doesn't run a team.. You can only put the hopes in the owners and GMs to make moves on getting some marketable players.
No surprise here with the ratings falling everybody knew that the Spurs were gonna beat the Cavaliers there just to much for them LeBron had terrible games and mostly everybody thinks the Spurs are boring.Plus the East sucks so bad in so may ways, theres only two teams that may of had a chance of beating the Spurs The Heat and Pistons.
The Heat had a chance of beating the Spurs? Doubt it. The same for the Pistons, hell they couldn't beat the Cavs.
The Heat could of had a slight possible chance of beating the Spurs. Shaq would of given Duncan a hard time and ratings would of probably been better than there all today.