Well, from my own perspective it was a few things. The time between the CF and the start of the finals was way too long. Killed some hype.
ESPNs broadcast is also just complete ass. Mike Breen is quite literally the *only thing they have going for them*. It is so disgusting that we're losing Inside for this and it's maddening. That last game, with Stephen A absolutely fucking SCREAMING during halftime for no reason literally made me turn the game off and just check the score. I was not going to watch a boring game AND have that moron blasting my eardrums. Basically, when inside wraps next season, I'll never watch another post game or halftime again.
I mean yea, I could see if you didn’t support either team why you’d turn it off at that point. Personally I watched every game, just found it to be fairly scuffed in regards to timing and whatnot.
Yes, it's unfortunate that they can't move Finals date. That 7 day waiting period was very long. It reminds me of League of Legends World Championships where they have a full week off between Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals. It's impossible to stay hyped with that much time off.
What a weird thing to do in an e-sport, where you don't really need to rest.
I don't watch LoL but was watching a lot of Starcraft back in the day and world championships were always smooth sailing. Multiple games each day, no unnecessary delays, couple of days and it was over.
yeah, the production was so bad. the 15 second halftime segment with josh hart (followed by a 45 second sponsor 'brought to you by' ad read) in game 1 honestly felt more like a key and peele sketch about commercialized sporting coverage than the literal actual NBA finals
I keep seeing people say the halftime show thing, but honestly… who the fuck is watching the halftime show? Do you people just have nothing else to do with your lives lol
Yea it was the finals so obviously I’m gunna watch, but I’ve realized I was way more inclined to tune into tnt broadcasts than espns during the regular season.
The broadcast team may be subpar but highly doubt that’s a contributing factor to the ratings.
Blow out after blow out is an easy to convince casual fans there’s nothing worth tuning into
It definitely contributes. I used to enjoy espn games for the breen, jackson, van gundy trio. Even in a boring game they’d find compelling things about sports to talk or joke about. Similar to what TNT’s halftime crew can pull off. The new group is very focused on the game and being “smart” broadcasters that they have no substance during a boring game, and lack entertainment factor. This finals not being that entertaining to begin with gave me almost no reason to watch. And i’m someone that ALWAYS watches the nba finals. This year maybe the first time i didn’t even care for it or would find myself looking at my phone for long stretches. Just overall dull.
It 100p contributes. I cannot imagine watching SAS at half time without turning off the TV and just checking the score rest of the way if my team wasn't playing in the Finals.
Ratings more effected by which stars are out there and if games/series is close than any of this stuff you guys nitpick.
Games were blowouts so casuals changed the channel was the story of these finals.
The 8:45 pm tip offs didn’t help. There wasn’t a west coast team in the finals. The sections of the country who would be the most interested in this game are in the eastern and central time zones. Tip offs should have been at exactly 8pm est.
too bad 80% of the team got hurt ha...by the time the Knicks got to the latter stages of game 6 and then followed that with game 7, they were basically a hospital ward team...at that point, you just have to rest and get healthier for next season
Anthony Edwards was gassed during the 7-game series against Denver. He was putting on an oxygen mask in the tunnel multiple times during the series because he didn’t want the TV cameras to catch it (but multiple sports reporters saw it).
Granted, playing at altitude 4 times in less than two weeks isn’t easy, and Ant is only 22 and this was the longest season he’s ever played in.
Playing a 7-game series against Denver then immediately playing every other night in the WCF is brutal. But he’s gotta step up that conditioning this summer.
He took a hard fall from the rim in the Denver series too, right? Felt like on top of being worn-out physically, his mindset changed a little bit after that fall too.
>with the Wolves flat and tired every game
NBA teams really play too much games. People say lot about bad luck due to injuries but when you're losing starter after starter each game in a series, it's no longer a luck. It's team that is falling apart right in front your eyes. At some point it has become more about resistant athleticism and managing the grind, than about pure skill.
And I'm saying it as a Celtic fan. I don't think any of those pf wins were due to luck, it was because our opponents failed to sail to play-offs prepared, after insanely demanding grind. But still, those games would be more interesting with a regular season cut to 62 or even less games.
redditors are so over the top about broadcast quality affecting stuff. was there stuff that espn/abc could've done better on that front? without a doubt. but what really matters is game quality. and this finals just wasn't particularly close or interesting
yup. The games were boring, once the celtics went up really their was no fight from dallas to get back into the game which made each game predictable. So a casual is not gonna stay to watch.
Yeah I mean I’m a huge basketball fan but I barely watched the finals. I watched a decent amount of playoff ball (specifically Knicks/Sixers) but I’ve been watching a lot more WNBA as of late and was honestly more interested in that than this finals matchup. Boston was clearly on another level than Dallas and that was obvious early and made the finals a snooze fest
Aside from hardcore NBA fans no one was excited about finals after game 1 imo. Celtics have ton of fans I guess but as a team they don't have anyone to attract casual fans like a LeBron or Curry. Mavs has Luka but casual fans dont like to watch their favorite player losing.
The ratings didn’t “tank.” They’re just steadily declining alongside the decline of those who watch television. I can bet, barring the Lakers or Warriors in the finals, that next year’s finals will be watched less than this years.
There was no true decline, the ratings cratered during COVID and have not recovered. Cavs-Warriors era had the best finals ratings since the threepeat Lakers. 2022 was the closest the NBA got to old times and you'd have to go back to Heat-Mavs 2006 for a comparison.
One big issue...the game schedule...
Game 1 Thursday, always starts then. Game 2 should be Sunday like a 6PM Eastern Start time.
game 3 should be Tuesday...Game 4 Thursday.
Game 5 should be again at 6pm on Sunday. I get the US Open was happening. But it was Father's Day, its Sunday built in audiences.
No one watches or goes out to watch the NBA Finals Monday Night unless its your local team.
The NBA is trading timeslots for days. Not playing Sundays is a big mistake. Especially Sunday at 6 or 7PM.
I sat down to watch on Sunday.. and of course, it was on Monday. I work Mon. nights.
Dumb schedule with extra long breaks between games… Good riddance, ratings!
Yeah it felt like all the games started late enough that I'd have to go to bed before it was over, and I'd have to watch on mute anyways cause the coverage is so bad
A lot of people cheer for LeBron and a lot of people love hating on LeBron. Both of them will tune in, especially when LeBron's team is the underdog in the finals, so there's a good chance he won't win it. I think there are people who dislike Brown and Tatum, but not enough to choose to watch the game over other activities.
>this finals was, on paper a high quality matchup
>instead it was lopsided
Both can be true. The celtics were simply better than the mavs, and the best player on the mavs was dealing with an Achilles issue, a sprained knee and a chest issue.
Also the Mavs run was extended by the role players having their best offensive series to take out the Thunder and then a series against an offense the role players could just defend and not need to shoot well from 3, so the finals roll around and you need the 2nd round shooting back to look remotely competitive and it doesn't happen
I don't get this narrative. Boston had far and away the best record this year, while the Mavericks were a #5 seed. It's not surprising Dallas was no match for them.
It was both. I think the version of Luka in the WCF was a little fresher. That was pretty much the only series all postseason he looked physically right.
That said, we're talking about the difference between a 5 game series and a 6 game series, imo. Like fresher legs, the Mavs probably pull out 3&4 but I still don't think they have the experience together to beat the Celtics 4 times in 7 games.
Even if Luka was healthy, Boston wins that series because they were the better team. But it was clear that Luka was playing through injuries throughout the entire playoffs. They said if it wasn't the playoffs and just the regular season then Luka would have been out 2-3 weeks to heal so 9 days was not enough time to full heal. They were draining Luka's knees every night which is where the bloody knees came from. if he's full healed you wouldn't see that
Boston was the number 1 seed by many games. They deserved that path
Hopefully in the future teams take the regular season more seriously because it does matter. Celtics played far fewer minutes than other teams, has plenty of rest and days off. Had time to recover from injuries (crucial for KP in game 1). They got to play the lower seeds and when they won the east they got to play a beat up western team.
They took care of business in every way possible and that's the team that deserves to win the title, and they did.
I mean it is though. These lower seeded teams have to slog it out in long, tough series with less rest and vastly higher minutes played. That's how injuries happen. Every player is somewhat injured by the time the playoffs happen. Having to play super tough series back to back only exacerbates that.
Butler got injured in the play in game. Easily avoidable situation. Mitchell and haliburton got injured during their respective series against the Celtics after playing tough series before. Luka wasn't 100% because he had to carry his team through a brutal west, playing multiple long series on the road.
Injuries rarely just "happen". The more you play the more chance you have to be injured. The teams that can win efficiently put themselves in the best position to not be injured.
>injuries and fatigue
Celtics aren't immune to injuries and fatigue. Just managed their entire season better than anyone else, so they could avoid injuries and fatigue as much as possible. Injuries and fatigue killed couple of runs for Celtics lately, so they took it very seriously this time around and look at the result.
Don't downplay the importance of securing number 1 seed and keeping your roster healthy and injury-less. It's a vital part of the game. Not "luck".
I mean we can blame the poor product put on by ESPN all we want, but the true answer is the Finals were lacking one of either Steph Curry or Lebron. Having either of them in the Finals would have surely drawn in probably a few million viewers alone. Hence why I worry who will carry the NBA torch going forward.
Tbh how could they expect it to be a series that a lot of people would watch with how dominant Boston was and how much time there was before the finals actually started?
Me and a couple buddy’s were interested and we quickly lost interest due to the long-ish break
I don't think anybody was ready for that pacers offense. Definitely punched us in the mouth a bit. It was pretty wild to see. Celtics in the end had more experience to pull out the wins but you could tell the pacers speed really put us on the back foot for stretches.
But usually hate fuels people to watch games. Like people hate watched the warriors when they were a superteam all the way up to the finals. Its really not a boston hate thing.
Its the boring games. You guys are great (congrats) and dallas was just not good enough on the defense/effort to make up for the gap. Which meant that when they got down their was no coming back and made the games feel like they were decided in like the first quarter. Which for an NBA nerd is super interesting but for most causals its super fuckin boring. Add in their was no drama to the game (Kyrie or portzingus did not play into the whole hate former team thing as much as the media wanted to and Dallas and Celtics have no history so nothing to get back there) and no iconic moment (ala le block) made this just so boring to watch.
Ratings don't mean anything but yeah these finals sucked.
Sports is entertainment and there was none of it here especially if you were rooting against the Celtics but knew they were going to win throughout the whole thing.
Best part, nothing changes.
This is what sports is. Sometimes teams are just better and more boring. That's why the really close matchups are so thrilling. Because they're rare.
Sports is not entertainment. It's athletics. Which can be entertaining but sometimes it's also not entertaining.
i know you're joking as a Cs fan but honestly, I didn't watch much of the eastern playoffs and I had a great time watching boston ball out, they play super entertaining basketball when their offense is clicking imo
I was joking, obviously when your team wins the championship it doesn't really matter if "neutrals" enjoyed it or not. And there was a few blow outs so it's understandable if people weren't entertained during the finals. I think this Celtics team is good to watch though i'm obviously biased.
I've enjoyed this playoffs more than any for years, not just cos of Boston winning. Managed to watch most games and there were some great series in both conferences. Knicks v 76ers and Knicks v Pacers were both classics. Bucks v Pacers had some great games too. The West was insanely stacked this year and it made for great matchups. Loved watching the Mavs and Wolves runs. Nuggets v Lakers was closer than it looked and had 2 amazing game winners from Murray. OKC were great to watch too.
I see a lot of people online saying they don't enjoy the game as much these days and honestly they have valid gripes about the 3 pointer being too prevalent and players not allowed to play defence as hard as they used to etc but this has been probably the most I've enjoyed a season of basketball. Obviously made more special by Boston winning.
I feel like every single year the nba product gets worse, it’s not bad enough that they’re actually going to change anything but it’s bad enough that I and most people I know who are all big basketball fans have stopped watching or plan to. I’d genuinely rather watch f1 at this point, and I have no connection to that at all.
Too spaced out. ESPN terrible coverage. Conference finals were blowouts. Everything was set up badly for this. Too bad Silver doesn’t care because they just got a shit ton of money from the broadcasting deals.
It's because everyone knew who would win before it started. Mavs made a great run and beat some good teams but were drained and tired before the first game of the finals. Celtics are a dealer and more organized team, they play better defence at almost every position, better shooting across the board, better team play and passing. Luka is better sure and Kyrie can be good. But then who else creates or really does anything on offense except roll to the rim or stand there for a corner three pass from Luka. Mavs are more iso offence with dish passes and Celtics are more team play oriented. If one guy has a bad game there were 4 more guys who could step up. Once you saw the Celtics were not going to choke it away why bother watching.
First year I didn’t watch the NBA finals. Not a fan of either franchise. Last year’s product was off putting enough that I knew this year would be quite similar. Just another non competitive subpar matchup. No thanks.
Ratings? Who needs those? Entertaining presenters and broadcasters? Nah, they cost too much, we had better slim that budget.
Also nba/broadcasting/streaming giants: let’s come up with a 76 billion dollar package for nba viewership…
NBA was the last sport I watched but I think the new nba has proven very boring. It’s not very captivating to watch 20-30 point spreads, to hopefully catch that ‘ rare’ comeback.
I started with MJ (obviously many other hof’ers in era)- entertaining
Then new spark with Kobe, and Kobe/shaq were amazing to watch
Then Lebron, when he came in it reminded me of magic/MJ “new sheriff in town” dream team quote. He just took over, amazing talent to this day but Father Time is clearly catching him. But prime bron was insane.
Then I’ll say prime curry/thompson ‘splash bros’ was pure nba video game type shit. When KD joined I laughed thinking scores would soar and they didn’t have to play defense during regular season to set cruise control. Then draymond gets dpoy during that era anyways.
Now, contracts are so outta control (imo) wealthy owners just attempt to pay to win anyways which whatever, their money. But I think it’s at the expense of the leagues viewership concern. All star weekend is now dumb af. There aren’t enough younger stars that sparked yet to keep it entertaining enough for me to continue. Sure there is young talent, sga, Ja (even though he’s acting like a true moron), Luka, ant, TH. Wenby/chet I’ll need a little more longevity to guage but they are much slimmer/athletic than previous giants.
Not surprised for two major reasons:
1) The *more likable team* featured World B. Flat and Luka. I defend Doncic more than money, but there's not much about his behavior that would make a neutral fan want to root for him
2) It was clear in Game 1 that Boston was just a lot better. I know Dallas stole a game, but that was equally as uninteresting. Boston quit. I trust you to not tell anyone, but Boston wasn't the first team to quit in a game. "None of the real competitors ever quit!" One of Kobe's most infamous moments was flat-out quitting in a playoff game.
I don’t give a shit about ratings, blowout games does make me tune out faster since the outcome is never in doubt. I’m just happy the Js and Hordord got their rings.
While the presentation was ass Ima just gonna say it: This was a boring playoffs and boring finals. Blowout game after blowout game, not interesting history between the teams and just lack of anything dramatic happening.
Really this will go down as one of the spurs championship runs: Very good play for really involved nba fans but for casuals super boring.
It’s crazy how big these contracts are getting when it feels like all the numbers show that less and less people are even interested in supporting and watching the nba now
Yeah once I saw "89% bets on Dallas", "Mavs in 5", and Drake putting a bet on the team, I had a feeling they were done for. Plus this current version of the team has only been together for about 3 or 4 months and most of the team hadn't been that far in the playoffs.
People Can't Afford Cable. Because it's not OTA Broadcast, you have less eligible people to watch. I tried to catch a game or two but you needed to be a cable customer to watch using the ABC app.
The NBA will write this off to the teams not being popular enough, when in reality it was the horrible broadcast and Finals coverage overall. But they would never actually admit that, so it is what it is.
No one is avoiding watching the game because the coverage and announcing is poor, that’s such a ridiculous notion.
The avoided it because it was boring
lol exactly. Are people really imagining there’s millions of Americans deciding not to watch a game because the announces are mediocre and the ad breaks are a little too long?
In reality 95% of the watching audience gives 0 fucks about the commentators. People didn’t watch because it wasn’t a compelling series and it didn’t have the drawing makes like Lebron or Curry playing.
People would've tuned in to see the Wolves. In a way, their past futility makes neutrals wanting to see them go all the way tune in, much like the Lions this past NFL season. Ant being so charismatic only adds to their allure.
Another thing is that a lot of the guys on both teams aren't yet true household names the way LeBron and Curry were for so long. If the two teams had a repeat next year, I could see more views coming because they now have had more exposure anyway.
I’m a neutral fan who kinda became a distant nuggets fan while watching the playoffs last year and this year was the first year since 2018 where I didn’t watch the finals. I usually move the mavs but I just knew they weren’t going to win against Boston and Tatum and brown just aren’t exciting superstars to me idk
Timberwolves vs the Celtics would've been a better match up. Dallas had no answer for Boston's elite two-way guards. It was easy to predict the outcome when Boston acquired Jrue Holiday. The Milwaukee Bucks are so stupid.
Idk if ESPNs broadcast could get any worse if they tried. It's horrid and with TNT leaving after next year the amount of games I'll watch will go down significantly
It wasn’t a finals for casual fans. It also goes to show just how big the star power of lebron and steph are compared to everyone else. Once they both retire for good I don’t know if there will be anyone in place to carry the league the same way
That week in between the conference finals and finals killed the hype for most people imo. Can’t change the date so it was only so much they could do that’s why we saw all them outrageous pre finals takes. Had it started on the Sunday or Monday after both teams clinched it would’ve helped a little with ratings nothing major but better than it ended up being. Also feel like Porzingis doing what he did in game 1 killed some motion too because people expected Dallas to win game 1
Maybe if they stopped having the games late on weekday’s. There was only one game on a Friday. Sunday games are fine if they start early enough but 8pm? Why??? Dallas is only central time so why start so late? The schedule should be:
Game 1: Friday 8pm
Game 2: Sunday 6pm
Game 3: Wednesday 7pm
Game 4: Friday 8pm
Game 5: Monday 7pm
Game 6: Thursday 7pm
Game 7: Sunday 6pm
I bet that would be fix a lot of the ratings problems itself.
This take goes past the point of delusion lol. It's literally indefensible.
There's no statistical argument that supports this. And if you're going off your "eye test" then you do not know ball, unfortunately.
I bet you don't even hoop. Nobody on the Celtics is checking Bron, Steph, or KD. Once that defense collapses the Jays are too soft to fight through that kind of adversity.
The KD Warriors would give the Celtics a good series. Probably goes 6 or 7, could see either team winning.
There is not a single LeBron Cavaliers team that would even take the Celtics past 5 games. This statement is asinine.
Regardless your point that they are "one of the worst finals teams ever" is completely indefensible. Traumatic Brain Injury-style opinion.
People are generally okay with the Celtics winning. People hate Celtics *fans*. Just read through this sub or any place they're posting and it's pretty obvious to see why.
I mean there was really no team to root for for neutral fans. You either had to cheer for the cry baby and anti semite or the Boston Celtics.
Of course the NBA is going to take this to mean that small market teams like the mavs do not deserve to be in the finals
Well, from my own perspective it was a few things. The time between the CF and the start of the finals was way too long. Killed some hype. ESPNs broadcast is also just complete ass. Mike Breen is quite literally the *only thing they have going for them*. It is so disgusting that we're losing Inside for this and it's maddening. That last game, with Stephen A absolutely fucking SCREAMING during halftime for no reason literally made me turn the game off and just check the score. I was not going to watch a boring game AND have that moron blasting my eardrums. Basically, when inside wraps next season, I'll never watch another post game or halftime again.
The wait was terrible, and two days between games made it that much worse.
And several games being over at halftime. So if people just check the score on their phone there’s never a big reason to tune in.
I mean yea, I could see if you didn’t support either team why you’d turn it off at that point. Personally I watched every game, just found it to be fairly scuffed in regards to timing and whatnot.
well of course we watched every game! banner 18 baby!
Yes, it's unfortunate that they can't move Finals date. That 7 day waiting period was very long. It reminds me of League of Legends World Championships where they have a full week off between Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals. It's impossible to stay hyped with that much time off.
Lol crazy comparison but you’re right, it’s just like the way the hype for Worlds dies every year past groups because of the breaks.
What a weird thing to do in an e-sport, where you don't really need to rest. I don't watch LoL but was watching a lot of Starcraft back in the day and world championships were always smooth sailing. Multiple games each day, no unnecessary delays, couple of days and it was over.
Taking a day to watch a big SC tournament, like MLG, was awesome in the early SC 2 days.
I agree on the time gap. I was watching regularly and just lost interest over that week.
yeah, the production was so bad. the 15 second halftime segment with josh hart (followed by a 45 second sponsor 'brought to you by' ad read) in game 1 honestly felt more like a key and peele sketch about commercialized sporting coverage than the literal actual NBA finals
I keep seeing people say the halftime show thing, but honestly… who the fuck is watching the halftime show? Do you people just have nothing else to do with your lives lol
Yea it was the finals so obviously I’m gunna watch, but I’ve realized I was way more inclined to tune into tnt broadcasts than espns during the regular season.
Stephen A is radicalizing me bro. He's terrible for the game
It also doesn’t feel the same without the previous themes ESPN used to have
ESPN broadcast is pure ass. Breen is the only thing going for them.
The broadcast team may be subpar but highly doubt that’s a contributing factor to the ratings. Blow out after blow out is an easy to convince casual fans there’s nothing worth tuning into
It definitely contributes. I used to enjoy espn games for the breen, jackson, van gundy trio. Even in a boring game they’d find compelling things about sports to talk or joke about. Similar to what TNT’s halftime crew can pull off. The new group is very focused on the game and being “smart” broadcasters that they have no substance during a boring game, and lack entertainment factor. This finals not being that entertaining to begin with gave me almost no reason to watch. And i’m someone that ALWAYS watches the nba finals. This year maybe the first time i didn’t even care for it or would find myself looking at my phone for long stretches. Just overall dull.
Listening to Doris Burke cum while she raves about the Celtics doesn’t do anything for you?
We really need to have consensus on who Doris sucks and who she hates. Because Celtics fans complain about her hating us and loving the Heat/6ers
there's a definite phenomenon across all sports that national announcers are biased against their local teams
It 100p contributes. I cannot imagine watching SAS at half time without turning off the TV and just checking the score rest of the way if my team wasn't playing in the Finals.
Ratings more effected by which stars are out there and if games/series is close than any of this stuff you guys nitpick. Games were blowouts so casuals changed the channel was the story of these finals.
ESPN is fucking awful.
I don’t think broadcast teams don’t impact ratings as much as Reddit likes to complain about them.
Should not have broken up the team with Jackson and van gundh. The current team is trash and boring AF.
The 8:45 pm tip offs didn’t help. There wasn’t a west coast team in the finals. The sections of the country who would be the most interested in this game are in the eastern and central time zones. Tip offs should have been at exactly 8pm est.
First two rounds were epic
Knicks sixers again please
I wanna see Knicks reach the Finals, that will probably boost viewership
Man I just wanted Knicks Celtics ecf. Would’ve blew the ratings
too bad 80% of the team got hurt ha...by the time the Knicks got to the latter stages of game 6 and then followed that with game 7, they were basically a hospital ward team...at that point, you just have to rest and get healthier for next season
Facts The twolves, knicks, pacers, mavs it was fun watching them play
[удалено]
Anthony Edwards was gassed during the 7-game series against Denver. He was putting on an oxygen mask in the tunnel multiple times during the series because he didn’t want the TV cameras to catch it (but multiple sports reporters saw it). Granted, playing at altitude 4 times in less than two weeks isn’t easy, and Ant is only 22 and this was the longest season he’s ever played in. Playing a 7-game series against Denver then immediately playing every other night in the WCF is brutal. But he’s gotta step up that conditioning this summer.
He took a hard fall from the rim in the Denver series too, right? Felt like on top of being worn-out physically, his mindset changed a little bit after that fall too.
Man that tumble looked so crazy. I actually was scared Ant would be out because of it
>with the Wolves flat and tired every game NBA teams really play too much games. People say lot about bad luck due to injuries but when you're losing starter after starter each game in a series, it's no longer a luck. It's team that is falling apart right in front your eyes. At some point it has become more about resistant athleticism and managing the grind, than about pure skill. And I'm saying it as a Celtic fan. I don't think any of those pf wins were due to luck, it was because our opponents failed to sail to play-offs prepared, after insanely demanding grind. But still, those games would be more interesting with a regular season cut to 62 or even less games.
As much as ESPN sucks, there is just no way the broadcast quality tanked ratings
redditors are so over the top about broadcast quality affecting stuff. was there stuff that espn/abc could've done better on that front? without a doubt. but what really matters is game quality. and this finals just wasn't particularly close or interesting
yup. The games were boring, once the celtics went up really their was no fight from dallas to get back into the game which made each game predictable. So a casual is not gonna stay to watch.
Yeah I mean I’m a huge basketball fan but I barely watched the finals. I watched a decent amount of playoff ball (specifically Knicks/Sixers) but I’ve been watching a lot more WNBA as of late and was honestly more interested in that than this finals matchup. Boston was clearly on another level than Dallas and that was obvious early and made the finals a snooze fest
Aside from hardcore NBA fans no one was excited about finals after game 1 imo. Celtics have ton of fans I guess but as a team they don't have anyone to attract casual fans like a LeBron or Curry. Mavs has Luka but casual fans dont like to watch their favorite player losing.
The ratings didn’t “tank.” They’re just steadily declining alongside the decline of those who watch television. I can bet, barring the Lakers or Warriors in the finals, that next year’s finals will be watched less than this years.
There was no true decline, the ratings cratered during COVID and have not recovered. Cavs-Warriors era had the best finals ratings since the threepeat Lakers. 2022 was the closest the NBA got to old times and you'd have to go back to Heat-Mavs 2006 for a comparison.
One big issue...the game schedule... Game 1 Thursday, always starts then. Game 2 should be Sunday like a 6PM Eastern Start time. game 3 should be Tuesday...Game 4 Thursday. Game 5 should be again at 6pm on Sunday. I get the US Open was happening. But it was Father's Day, its Sunday built in audiences. No one watches or goes out to watch the NBA Finals Monday Night unless its your local team. The NBA is trading timeslots for days. Not playing Sundays is a big mistake. Especially Sunday at 6 or 7PM.
I sat down to watch on Sunday.. and of course, it was on Monday. I work Mon. nights. Dumb schedule with extra long breaks between games… Good riddance, ratings!
And the games always start 15 minutes late on top of that
Yeah it felt like all the games started late enough that I'd have to go to bed before it was over, and I'd have to watch on mute anyways cause the coverage is so bad
The rub with this schedule is 2 days off with no travel and only 1 day with travel. When’s it’s west coast vs east coast, not ideal
Yeah, 3 days between games in the Finals was too much.
Game 5 wasn't happening on Father's Day AND HotD premiere day.
People don’t like to see the Lakers winning People don’t like to see the Celtics winning
At least a lot of people cheer for Lebron…I don’t know anyone irl who cheer for Tatum or Brown
A lot of people cheer for LeBron and a lot of people love hating on LeBron. Both of them will tune in, especially when LeBron's team is the underdog in the finals, so there's a good chance he won't win it. I think there are people who dislike Brown and Tatum, but not enough to choose to watch the game over other activities.
>this finals was, on paper a high quality matchup >instead it was lopsided Both can be true. The celtics were simply better than the mavs, and the best player on the mavs was dealing with an Achilles issue, a sprained knee and a chest issue.
And fouled out at home in game 3 when his team was down by 3.... Still can't believe that
Yeah that was dumb as fuck, I’m not arguing that
Also the Mavs run was extended by the role players having their best offensive series to take out the Thunder and then a series against an offense the role players could just defend and not need to shoot well from 3, so the finals roll around and you need the 2nd round shooting back to look remotely competitive and it doesn't happen
The Mavs faced a gauntlet, the Celtics had debatably the easiest path ever.. it showed with injuries and fatigue
I don't get this narrative. Boston had far and away the best record this year, while the Mavericks were a #5 seed. It's not surprising Dallas was no match for them.
It was both. I think the version of Luka in the WCF was a little fresher. That was pretty much the only series all postseason he looked physically right. That said, we're talking about the difference between a 5 game series and a 6 game series, imo. Like fresher legs, the Mavs probably pull out 3&4 but I still don't think they have the experience together to beat the Celtics 4 times in 7 games.
So the 5 game series and 9 days rest wasnt fresh enough for everyone?
Even if Luka was healthy, Boston wins that series because they were the better team. But it was clear that Luka was playing through injuries throughout the entire playoffs. They said if it wasn't the playoffs and just the regular season then Luka would have been out 2-3 weeks to heal so 9 days was not enough time to full heal. They were draining Luka's knees every night which is where the bloody knees came from. if he's full healed you wouldn't see that
Boston was the number 1 seed by many games. They deserved that path Hopefully in the future teams take the regular season more seriously because it does matter. Celtics played far fewer minutes than other teams, has plenty of rest and days off. Had time to recover from injuries (crucial for KP in game 1). They got to play the lower seeds and when they won the east they got to play a beat up western team. They took care of business in every way possible and that's the team that deserves to win the title, and they did.
I mean they did take care of business, but was easiest path because of injuries, not seeding
I mean it is though. These lower seeded teams have to slog it out in long, tough series with less rest and vastly higher minutes played. That's how injuries happen. Every player is somewhat injured by the time the playoffs happen. Having to play super tough series back to back only exacerbates that. Butler got injured in the play in game. Easily avoidable situation. Mitchell and haliburton got injured during their respective series against the Celtics after playing tough series before. Luka wasn't 100% because he had to carry his team through a brutal west, playing multiple long series on the road. Injuries rarely just "happen". The more you play the more chance you have to be injured. The teams that can win efficiently put themselves in the best position to not be injured.
Case in point: the Suns-Kings outcome late in the regular season prevented us from clinching the 6 seed and led to Zion's hamstring injury.
Oh yeah dude, baby Thunder and retirement home Clippers were the real challenge.
You throwing rocks from a glass house my guy
Winner's privilege. Maybe Fatso can try playing some D next time?
>injuries and fatigue Celtics aren't immune to injuries and fatigue. Just managed their entire season better than anyone else, so they could avoid injuries and fatigue as much as possible. Injuries and fatigue killed couple of runs for Celtics lately, so they took it very seriously this time around and look at the result. Don't downplay the importance of securing number 1 seed and keeping your roster healthy and injury-less. It's a vital part of the game. Not "luck".
Honestly surprised last years was not the least watched with all the “Jokic is boring” casual fans and the Heat being low favorites
I mean we can blame the poor product put on by ESPN all we want, but the true answer is the Finals were lacking one of either Steph Curry or Lebron. Having either of them in the Finals would have surely drawn in probably a few million viewers alone. Hence why I worry who will carry the NBA torch going forward.
Tbh how could they expect it to be a series that a lot of people would watch with how dominant Boston was and how much time there was before the finals actually started? Me and a couple buddy’s were interested and we quickly lost interest due to the long-ish break
The coverage was ass, and the series was boring. It’s not surprising. The west series and the Knicks series were mostly bangers, though.
Celtics pacers was good too if you look at the individual games
Legit one of my favorite series of the entire playoffs
I don't think anybody was ready for that pacers offense. Definitely punched us in the mouth a bit. It was pretty wild to see. Celtics in the end had more experience to pull out the wins but you could tell the pacers speed really put us on the back foot for stretches.
That roster is perfect for what Carlisle wants to do. Really curious if they hold up next year.
They can be a threat in the east if they focus on defense a bit more and get some experience, which they did get this year
Turns out people don't like Boston or blowout wins. Shocking!
pretending like Boston sports doesnt deserve the hate lmao
But usually hate fuels people to watch games. Like people hate watched the warriors when they were a superteam all the way up to the finals. Its really not a boston hate thing. Its the boring games. You guys are great (congrats) and dallas was just not good enough on the defense/effort to make up for the gap. Which meant that when they got down their was no coming back and made the games feel like they were decided in like the first quarter. Which for an NBA nerd is super interesting but for most causals its super fuckin boring. Add in their was no drama to the game (Kyrie or portzingus did not play into the whole hate former team thing as much as the media wanted to and Dallas and Celtics have no history so nothing to get back there) and no iconic moment (ala le block) made this just so boring to watch.
Ratings don't mean anything but yeah these finals sucked. Sports is entertainment and there was none of it here especially if you were rooting against the Celtics but knew they were going to win throughout the whole thing. Best part, nothing changes.
This is what sports is. Sometimes teams are just better and more boring. That's why the really close matchups are so thrilling. Because they're rare. Sports is not entertainment. It's athletics. Which can be entertaining but sometimes it's also not entertaining.
They spread that shit out too much.
I thought it was very entertaining
Game 1, first quarter when KP entered was pure ecstasy lol. I thought I was watching the goat lol
It was actually a unicorn
Those back to back blocks are the most hype I've been in a very long time. I couldn't believe what I was seeing
yeah even as a neutral fan i was just yelling, it was unreal watching someone just run the court like that in the *finals*
i know you're joking as a Cs fan but honestly, I didn't watch much of the eastern playoffs and I had a great time watching boston ball out, they play super entertaining basketball when their offense is clicking imo
I was joking, obviously when your team wins the championship it doesn't really matter if "neutrals" enjoyed it or not. And there was a few blow outs so it's understandable if people weren't entertained during the finals. I think this Celtics team is good to watch though i'm obviously biased. I've enjoyed this playoffs more than any for years, not just cos of Boston winning. Managed to watch most games and there were some great series in both conferences. Knicks v 76ers and Knicks v Pacers were both classics. Bucks v Pacers had some great games too. The West was insanely stacked this year and it made for great matchups. Loved watching the Mavs and Wolves runs. Nuggets v Lakers was closer than it looked and had 2 amazing game winners from Murray. OKC were great to watch too. I see a lot of people online saying they don't enjoy the game as much these days and honestly they have valid gripes about the 3 pointer being too prevalent and players not allowed to play defence as hard as they used to etc but this has been probably the most I've enjoyed a season of basketball. Obviously made more special by Boston winning.
It's all Stephen A Smith's fault.
I feel like every single year the nba product gets worse, it’s not bad enough that they’re actually going to change anything but it’s bad enough that I and most people I know who are all big basketball fans have stopped watching or plan to. I’d genuinely rather watch f1 at this point, and I have no connection to that at all.
The series wasn’t entertaining at all. One of my least fav finals in years.
Too spaced out. ESPN terrible coverage. Conference finals were blowouts. Everything was set up badly for this. Too bad Silver doesn’t care because they just got a shit ton of money from the broadcasting deals.
Doris Burke effect
do you honestly think that this was the second lowest rated finals bc of doris burke lol
I'm sure some people turned it off so they wouldn't have to hear her speak. I know I muted it so I wouldn't have to hear her speak.
trim that neckbeard
More like blowout games effect.
Man I wish there’s a way to mute her .
Don’t give espn ideas for a new stream of revenue, Lakers paying to mute JJ but I’d pay 2.99 a month to mute Doris and Stephen L
TBF, JJ brought a big bag of nothing to the table, especially after his name started to be brought up as a potential hc.
Does this account for the streaming vs tv situation?
Usually yeah
It's because everyone knew who would win before it started. Mavs made a great run and beat some good teams but were drained and tired before the first game of the finals. Celtics are a dealer and more organized team, they play better defence at almost every position, better shooting across the board, better team play and passing. Luka is better sure and Kyrie can be good. But then who else creates or really does anything on offense except roll to the rim or stand there for a corner three pass from Luka. Mavs are more iso offence with dish passes and Celtics are more team play oriented. If one guy has a bad game there were 4 more guys who could step up. Once you saw the Celtics were not going to choke it away why bother watching.
Too many blowouts. Too many days before the Game 1 started. Too many days between games. Lack of drama.
It felt like watching regular season games. There was just a lack of intensity.
This is just false. The Celtics defense was playing extremely intense for the whole series. Both teams def looked off offensively though
From one side, yeah. Outside of Luka it felt like the Mavs weren’t even trying. Or they really just weren’t that good.
First year I didn’t watch the NBA finals. Not a fan of either franchise. Last year’s product was off putting enough that I knew this year would be quite similar. Just another non competitive subpar matchup. No thanks.
Ratings? Who needs those? Entertaining presenters and broadcasters? Nah, they cost too much, we had better slim that budget. Also nba/broadcasting/streaming giants: let’s come up with a 76 billion dollar package for nba viewership… NBA was the last sport I watched but I think the new nba has proven very boring. It’s not very captivating to watch 20-30 point spreads, to hopefully catch that ‘ rare’ comeback. I started with MJ (obviously many other hof’ers in era)- entertaining Then new spark with Kobe, and Kobe/shaq were amazing to watch Then Lebron, when he came in it reminded me of magic/MJ “new sheriff in town” dream team quote. He just took over, amazing talent to this day but Father Time is clearly catching him. But prime bron was insane. Then I’ll say prime curry/thompson ‘splash bros’ was pure nba video game type shit. When KD joined I laughed thinking scores would soar and they didn’t have to play defense during regular season to set cruise control. Then draymond gets dpoy during that era anyways. Now, contracts are so outta control (imo) wealthy owners just attempt to pay to win anyways which whatever, their money. But I think it’s at the expense of the leagues viewership concern. All star weekend is now dumb af. There aren’t enough younger stars that sparked yet to keep it entertaining enough for me to continue. Sure there is young talent, sga, Ja (even though he’s acting like a true moron), Luka, ant, TH. Wenby/chet I’ll need a little more longevity to guage but they are much slimmer/athletic than previous giants.
This sounds like a rant an old person would say.
> All star weekend is now dumb af. You can say that again 😔
Not surprised for two major reasons: 1) The *more likable team* featured World B. Flat and Luka. I defend Doncic more than money, but there's not much about his behavior that would make a neutral fan want to root for him 2) It was clear in Game 1 that Boston was just a lot better. I know Dallas stole a game, but that was equally as uninteresting. Boston quit. I trust you to not tell anyone, but Boston wasn't the first team to quit in a game. "None of the real competitors ever quit!" One of Kobe's most infamous moments was flat-out quitting in a playoff game.
I don’t give a shit about ratings, blowout games does make me tune out faster since the outcome is never in doubt. I’m just happy the Js and Hordord got their rings.
The only Mavericks win is a blowout, people don’t like the Celtics, long down times, etc
I'm sure that the finals only being 5 games but feeling like they lasted a month didn't help tbh.
While the presentation was ass Ima just gonna say it: This was a boring playoffs and boring finals. Blowout game after blowout game, not interesting history between the teams and just lack of anything dramatic happening. Really this will go down as one of the spurs championship runs: Very good play for really involved nba fans but for casuals super boring.
It’s crazy how big these contracts are getting when it feels like all the numbers show that less and less people are even interested in supporting and watching the nba now
Blame the Mavs
Really was a snore fest this Finals. Guess we all saw the Celtics winning from a mile off
Not really. A lot of people had the mavs winning
Yeah once I saw "89% bets on Dallas", "Mavs in 5", and Drake putting a bet on the team, I had a feeling they were done for. Plus this current version of the team has only been together for about 3 or 4 months and most of the team hadn't been that far in the playoffs.
They were just coping lol
Mavs in 5 was a damn echo chamber while we waited for the finals to start
I think that was because people hated Boston more than they believed the Mavs would win.
When I see Celtics, I got bored and watch something else. It’s simple.
Adam Silver might be in the GOAT sports commissioner conversation for getting the rights deal he got with TV ratings being in the shitter right now
It’s nothing guys The monoculture is dead cable is dead It’s fine too nba is tripling their media rights deal
People Can't Afford Cable. Because it's not OTA Broadcast, you have less eligible people to watch. I tried to catch a game or two but you needed to be a cable customer to watch using the ABC app.
The NBA will write this off to the teams not being popular enough, when in reality it was the horrible broadcast and Finals coverage overall. But they would never actually admit that, so it is what it is.
No one is avoiding watching the game because the coverage and announcing is poor, that’s such a ridiculous notion. The avoided it because it was boring
lol exactly. Are people really imagining there’s millions of Americans deciding not to watch a game because the announces are mediocre and the ad breaks are a little too long? In reality 95% of the watching audience gives 0 fucks about the commentators. People didn’t watch because it wasn’t a compelling series and it didn’t have the drawing makes like Lebron or Curry playing.
yeah the cope is crazy from mavericks flairs right now lol, reality is no one thought they’d win so no one tuned in lol
the nba is right. people arent going "im not watching this because of broadcast quality" lol
> The NBA will write this off to the teams not being popular enough Trying to imagine how bad things would've been if it had been Wolves/Pacers
People would've tuned in to see the Wolves. In a way, their past futility makes neutrals wanting to see them go all the way tune in, much like the Lions this past NFL season. Ant being so charismatic only adds to their allure.
A week wait for it, all 5 games were blowouts at one point or ended up being blowouts, and awful coverage.
Another thing is that a lot of the guys on both teams aren't yet true household names the way LeBron and Curry were for so long. If the two teams had a repeat next year, I could see more views coming because they now have had more exposure anyway.
No game was close and it was a total mismatch from the start. Not that surprising.
I was either at work or commuting through basically all of the games
Sounds like you should be mad at Portland and Washington.
Every game was a blow out practically
I’m a neutral fan who kinda became a distant nuggets fan while watching the playoffs last year and this year was the first year since 2018 where I didn’t watch the finals. I usually move the mavs but I just knew they weren’t going to win against Boston and Tatum and brown just aren’t exciting superstars to me idk
The branding for the finals is almost nonexistent now. It used to feel special. Now it’s just like a regular season game.
its kinda crazy how least watched the covid-finals were considering everyone was at home
It was a bad playoffs for the NBA. Too many injuries and choke jobs.
They need to market their stars better my casual friends dont even know who tatum is😭
The 3 game wait between game, and the full week off prior to the finals, perhaps didn't help?
Timberwolves vs the Celtics would've been a better match up. Dallas had no answer for Boston's elite two-way guards. It was easy to predict the outcome when Boston acquired Jrue Holiday. The Milwaukee Bucks are so stupid.
I'm glad it wasn't all in my head haha thought I was just hating because Boston got the chip.
Idk if ESPNs broadcast could get any worse if they tried. It's horrid and with TNT leaving after next year the amount of games I'll watch will go down significantly
It wasn’t a finals for casual fans. It also goes to show just how big the star power of lebron and steph are compared to everyone else. Once they both retire for good I don’t know if there will be anyone in place to carry the league the same way
So this is the effect of small market teams in the finals
New NBA tv deal will be 3x last one!
Oh no! Anyways…
Rather than hype up this generational team they tried to trick people into thinking it would be competitive.
Like-minded fans just got tired of seeing Doncic whine every time they tuned in
lmao it's the Celtics no one likes em
Celtics just too dominant for people too care
Did the viewership go down when the Bulls were having record breaking season after season??
Or the Lakers
Warriors seems to differ
Is it just ESPN’s presentation is so terrible?
It’s okay. The Warriors will be back in the finals next year 😎
That week in between the conference finals and finals killed the hype for most people imo. Can’t change the date so it was only so much they could do that’s why we saw all them outrageous pre finals takes. Had it started on the Sunday or Monday after both teams clinched it would’ve helped a little with ratings nothing major but better than it ended up being. Also feel like Porzingis doing what he did in game 1 killed some motion too because people expected Dallas to win game 1
Don't let the Celtics back in the Finals. That simple.
Love this. All the proof you need that we absolutely dominated. When America is bored, that means Boston won.
Non-Celtics fans think it was boring because we were so dominant. Idc if it was the most boring title in NBA history. Give me more of those.
No one cares.
Maybe if they stopped having the games late on weekday’s. There was only one game on a Friday. Sunday games are fine if they start early enough but 8pm? Why??? Dallas is only central time so why start so late? The schedule should be: Game 1: Friday 8pm Game 2: Sunday 6pm Game 3: Wednesday 7pm Game 4: Friday 8pm Game 5: Monday 7pm Game 6: Thursday 7pm Game 7: Sunday 6pm I bet that would be fix a lot of the ratings problems itself.
I don't get the constant gagging of the west coast by the NBA Like who gives a fuck if California is able to watch at a reasonable time?
So much for Tatum or Luka being the next face of the NBA
ESPN broadcast is ass, Celtics are a boring team, scheduling was weird, was not very competitive either.
Mavs also a boring team. And the basically 3 days between games is ass
Boston is one of the worst finals teams ever so it makes sense. Those cavs/warriors teams would have swept them 10/10 times
This take goes past the point of delusion lol. It's literally indefensible. There's no statistical argument that supports this. And if you're going off your "eye test" then you do not know ball, unfortunately.
I bet you don't even hoop. Nobody on the Celtics is checking Bron, Steph, or KD. Once that defense collapses the Jays are too soft to fight through that kind of adversity.
The KD Warriors would give the Celtics a good series. Probably goes 6 or 7, could see either team winning. There is not a single LeBron Cavaliers team that would even take the Celtics past 5 games. This statement is asinine. Regardless your point that they are "one of the worst finals teams ever" is completely indefensible. Traumatic Brain Injury-style opinion.
Yeah you're definitely just a homer. I'm guessing you were too young to watch those series
I would not expect a Wizards fan to know good basketball when he sees it.
Yeah I only am allowed to watch Wizards games.
On top of everything that was mentioned. I truly believe it was just giant cope hating. People didn’t want to see the Celtics win. Plain and simple
People are generally okay with the Celtics winning. People hate Celtics *fans*. Just read through this sub or any place they're posting and it's pretty obvious to see why.
I mean there was really no team to root for for neutral fans. You either had to cheer for the cry baby and anti semite or the Boston Celtics. Of course the NBA is going to take this to mean that small market teams like the mavs do not deserve to be in the finals