The NBA...what a league!

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:26 am

did anyone witness that Indiana/Denver game tonight.
 
 What a classic......Indiana outlasted Denver 71-60.
 
 Last night New York and Orlando had a legendary 75-68 game.
 
 Couple that with Chicago´s back tio back 60+ point masterpieces and you have the makings of the best NBA season to date.
 
 The WNBA has more action and they are scraping the bottom of the milk carton as it is.
 
 They better have Lebron and the Lakers on all year or there will be nothing noteworthy to watch.
 
 To bad they can´t have a best of 81 series...I´m sure the networks would prefer that to the rest of the garbage.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:50 am

I actually watched a little of this game, my cable is giving a free trial period of the NBA package.
 
 Midway through the 3rd, Denver had 40 or so points. I watched about 6 trips up and down the court (if you can call it that) and it was brutal, just brutal. My over 30 Sunday league plays better ball than that.
 
 On a side note...I picked up NBA 2K3 cheap at Blockbuster and am liking the play. In the process of tweaking sliders and changing the rosters. Boy, there sure was a lot of roster movement in 1 1/2 years.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:02 am

Yes, the NBA is horrible this year. Fortunately, the team I like to watch is very exciting because they play an up-tempo game (Sixers). They have shot above 40% in every game and the scoring has been decent. Iverson is off to a great start shooting 44% and averaging 25.8ppg, 7 assists, 2.75 steals, and 4 boards.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:13 am

Basketball season starts for me at Thanksgiving and ends the first Monday night in April.
 
 In other words, I could give four shits about the NBA. It´s the worst of the "big four" pro leagues, by far, in terms of quality play and entertainment value.
 
 I will follow Denver a bit simply because Carmelo Anthony is there, and I live in Syracuse and still have magical memories of SU´s run to the national title last spring.
 
 Otherwise, the only difference between the NBA and a bucket of s*** is the bucket.
 
 Take care,
 PK

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:13 am

"They better have Lebron and the Lakers on all year or there will be nothing noteworthy to watch. "
 
 If they show the Lakers all year, there WILL be nothing to watch. I am so sick of how the main network (still NBC?) uses the same 4-5 teams for their Sunday games.
 
 Thankfully, we still have football for a few more months. I haven´t even seen a single play of NBA basketball yet. They should shorten the season by a month or two anyways.
 
 -Matt

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:18 am

NBA? What the hell is the NBA?
 
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wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:42 am

It´s funny, ESPN says the ratings in the first week were way up. Not sure compared to what but they seem to be happy nonetheless.
 
 On SportsCenter, they called Carmelo and Lebron the most hyped or acclaimed -- I forget the exact adjective they used -- since Magic and Bird.
 
 Yes they want to promote these guys and the league in general in the worst way.
 
 Hmm, I smell Lakers in the Finals, which probably was hurt last year in the ratings by the lack of the Lakers. The truth is, Kobe´s troubles and now the soap opera with Shaq will draw a lot of viewers.
 
 One thing that´s interesting is that some players who got in legal troubles were suspended for a few games. Kobe hasn´t been convicted but if he is, and lets say get a light sentence like probation (probably not a likely legal scenario), will the league censure one of it´s biggest stars, who got convicted of rape?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:10 pm

WCO:
 
 There´s no way the NBA will censure Kobe if he´s convicted. The league will take the easy way out, saying the system did its job in a matter that had nothing to do with basketball.
 
 Plus the NBA would never suspend one of its cash cows for a non-basketball issue.
 
 Let´s face it: The NBA considers a violation of its substance-abuse policy more serious than it does the violation of a woman´s vagina or anus.
 
 Take care,
 PK

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:25 pm

The ratings are through the roof here in Cleveland, that´s for sure. But I´m still having a hard time getting into it. For about the past 10-15 years I´ve probably spent a grand total of about five minutes watching the NBA. But I´ve already watched most of 3 games already this season, thanks to Lebron.
 
 Although I´ve been really impressed by what I´ve seen out of Lebron in his first few games, my only impressions of the NBA as a league in general so far: I haven´t missed much the past 10-15 years. It´s still just a notch or two above professional wrestling IMO. My two biggest gripes: superstars get the calls, and home teams seem to win way more than any other sport.
 
 But I´m not giving up, I´m still gonna try to get into it this season. It´s hard not to around here. We´ll see.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:19 pm

PK, one of the starters for the Warriors here was suspended for the first 3 games for a domestic dispute. I don´t know the exact details or whether Jason Richardson had jail time but there´s no outrage here like there might have been if it was a Lawrence Philips situation.
 
 Going back to the two rookies and comparing them to Bird and Magic, I remember in their rookie years, they both made their teams a lot better, from a playoff team to a championship team in one case and an also-ran into a playoff contender in the other case.
 
 I remember going over to a guy´s house who had cable to watch one of the early season games featuring the Celtics. CBS had national coverage back then and they hadn´t shown any NBA games because it was still the football season. But there was all kinds of buzz, especially about Bird since there´s an East Coast bias in the media. I´m skeptical that Lebron and Carmelo will have that kind of impact this first year. In fact, Duncan´s rookie year was pretty memorable, with him going into the Garden and blocking a dunk attempt by Ewing.
 
 The NBA tried to hype up Yao Ming and I´m sure he´s still a big deal back in China but here, you don´t see him get nearly the same publicity this year that he got last year.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 2:09 pm

I´m enjoying seeing teh Celtics play, they go up and down the court and Vin Baker looks like his old self. Really depends on the teams you watch.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 1:07 am

"I could give four shits about the NBA. It´s the worst of the "big four" pro leagues, by far, in terms of quality play and entertainment value."
 
 It´s hard to argue because the term "entertainment value" is so subjective, but how do the TV ratings compare? Are the NHL ratings any better this year? It seems like not many people are finding much entertainment value in that sport based on the ratings. Last year the PBA beat hockey in the ratings. The NBA ratings have to be much better than hockey and probably baseball too. I guess it just comes down to personal preference. I haven´t watched more than 5-10 minutes of an NHL game in 5 years (besides some playoff games).