2013 NBA Playoffs

[Kramerica Industries]

Ratings disaster, and I would love it!

[crashcarson15]

I'm not as convinced that it'd be a total ratings disaster though—I mean, I think you'd have a fair share of non-NBA fans watching because they'd actually be playing something resembling basketball.

[Kramerica Industries]

This would be akin to the 2005 and 2007 Finals, and those were series' that involved legit "classified" (for lack of better term) superstars like Tim Duncan and Lebron James.

A Pacers-Grizzlies meeting couldn't even really claim that (whether you regard Gasol, ZBo, George as superstars is for your own interpretation).

Again, I couldn't care less. I would love seeing the Heat not reach the Finals. But I can't imagine the ratings would be all that great.

[Sport]

I'm not as convinced that it'd be a total ratings disaster though—I mean, I think you'd have a fair share of non-NBA fans watching because they'd actually be playing something resembling basketball.

I'd actually watch a Memphis-Indiana final specifically because of the Heat's absence.

But Miami is 45-3 in their last 48 so what's the point?

[Raysfan12]

Pacers survive the Knicks and will face Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.

[lordsketor]

[dfwabel]

Pacers survive the Knicks and Miami will kick their ass in the Eastern Conference finals.

[The_Admiral]

Miami and Memphis would be awesome. Glamour versus grit, at least as far as cities go.

[cameroncrazie07]

The officiating in that game was hilariously awful, but the Knicks let it affect them WAY too much. I'm tired of watching such an emotionally fragile team and something needs to change about them.

I think this has already been well-covered on these boards, but ESPN's NBA coverage is downright embarrassing. I've never seen a network so biased against a team that hasn't won squat in 40+ years like they are with the Knicks. Antonio Davis? Really??

[The_Admiral]

NBA on ESPN isn't biased so much as half-assed. Relative to their football coverage (and once upon a time their baseball), there's just no pride in their work. It's not a crown jewel of the network, it's just another thing they have. And to think people wished they still had the NHL!

[Kramerica Industries]

There's only two reasons why people wish they still had the NHL, and both of them appear below:

*I also hear some people wouldn't mind Quebec City being back in the NHL, either!

Frankly, for as much as a Doc-hater as you are, you should also be craving the thought of a Gary Thorne-voiced NHL again.

[The_Admiral]

Gary Thorne yelled too much and got everyone's names wrong -- though on that note, I would like again to raise the question as to why Mr. Player Pronunciation Guide pronounces the name of Detroit's triangular-headed superstar as something that rhymes with "Gavel Rat Shook," when I have never known "Pavel" to be pronounced with an 'ash' vowel.

[dbadefense1990]

NBA on ESPN isn't biased so much as half-assed. Relative to their football coverage (and once upon a time their baseball), there's just no pride in their work. It's not a crown jewel of the network, it's just another thing they have. And to think people wished they still had the NHL!

I'd rather have ESPN spewing tons of hate towards all non-East Coast NHL teams than have the NBC networks completely ignore them, altogether.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

I wasn't able to watch the Knicks game tonight, but am not surprised they lost. They're old and it feels like everyone aged a season or two since the end of the regular season. They were built to win now, but would have done better if it had been a lockout-shortened season.

I don't know what's next for the team. They finally won 50 games, but can they built on it? Will Chandler come back? Will/can they sign any help on defense? Can they get guys guaranteed to be able to play 70+ games? Amare is the Ewing Theory all over again, but he's not going anywhere.

The NBA is better when the Knicks are good (sorry, but it's true), but I don't see how they came keep this going for the next year or two. They're built to get to the second round of the playoffs while hoping everyone else gets injured. Just wasn't to be.

[pmoehrin]

It sucks for Knicks fans because I think everyone knows this was the best chance this team as is was ever going to get to win an NBA title.

The only thing I think the Knicks can hope for is Amar'e doing the team a favor and taking a pay cut or even better just retiring. He'll be lucky to play 30 games next year and even more lucky if in 25 years he can still walk. Cap wise they are screwed until 2015 if that doesn't happen and they aren't getting any lottery picks either, so you may see a return of the Marbury era Knicks at least in terms of how good they were in two or three years.

[Unocal]

The Pacers are boring with a capital B. They're only good at size and rebounding and basically winning the occasional road game since they can do no wrong at the Fieldhouse.

I personally could care less about markets and ratings when it comes to the NBA Finals- remember when everyone wanted a Suns-Heat Finals in 2005? Well, neither Phoenix or Miami are huge markets (#12 and #16, respectively) that would have guaranteed giant ratings, but because they played entertaining basketball, people wanted that.

That's the reason people weren't happy to see Spurs-Pistons: moreso their style of play than the size of their cities

With Pacers-Grizzlies: you know that old saying styles make fights? Well, both teams are very similar (thought Hibbert can match up with either Gasol/Randolph, I don't know if David West can match up with the one Hibbert's not with), so it's almost like a carbon-copy battle in a way and a first to 90 wins isn't exactly my cup of tea when it comes to basketball.

In their 2 games this year- the scores were 88-83, 82-81.

[Burkell007]

NBA on ESPN isn't biased so much as half-assed. Relative to their football coverage (and once upon a time their baseball), there's just no pride in their work. It's not a crown jewel of the network, it's just another thing they have. And to think people wished they still had the NHL!

Hit the nail on the head!!....When Jalen Rose is your studio host its half-assed , I just can't get into that, when i was watching the Christmas Day games and the first studio break came and I heard his voice, just did not sound right. He's a analyst not a studio host!

[Lights Out]

Jalen's probably the least objectionable part of ESPN's NBA coverage... Magic and Simmons are God-awful.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

I'm reading Simmons' Basketball Book right now. I'll summarize 500 pages for you: Cocaine and Celtics.

There's only so much Sports Guy you can take.

[Lights Out]

Whoever decided he'd be great on TV should be fired. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard and if they had actually read any of his horrible columns, they'd have realized just how big a Celtics homer he is.

TNT's better by default, but even they're overrated. Shaq is even worse than Simmons, and I don't get why everyone still likes Barkley. His "grumpy old man" act has jumped the shark, and his takes get worse by the year. Just this year alone, he spent all season alternating between whining about the alleged death of halfcourt offense and picking Denver (a transition team with ZERO halfcourt offense) as a threat to come out of the West. You can tell Shaq and Chuck hate each other too, so it's awkward to watch now.