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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- #nba #nbafinals
Welcome back to the show today. We’re talking about what makes a good NBA Finals and whether or not this particular Finals is a good one. This discussion delves into what makes the NBA interesting, what causes people to lose or gain interest in the league, and what fuels the industry of professional sports. We all love watching our favorite athletes and their games, but there's an argument to be made that most people get just as much enjoyment from the game as they do from hearing commentary later that night or the next morning on shows like First Take.
Think about how much time you spend listening to NBA podcasts or watching NBA TH-cam videos versus how much time you spend watching basketball itself. Even during the season, when there are games every night, many of us still end up listening to more podcasts than we do watching games. Why? Because as human beings, we crave stories, and the media helps provide context to these stories that unfold on the court. Even though this context can sometimes feel more like fan fiction, it connects us emotionally with other human beings.
Sure, you’ve never been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in a historic upset, but you’ve likely felt defeated before. You’ve likely confronted the hard reality of being outworked by someone you thought was inferior. This is how we connect to certain players and why we have aversions to others. The best Finals feature players who fans are most connected to, whether deeply connected like many are with Markelle Fultz-a former number one draft pick who inexplicably lost his shot in his rookie year and has spent the last five years trying to find his place in the Orlando Magic's starting lineup-or broadly connected like LeBron James, whose story is well-known even if not everyone is deeply concerned with his life and career.
If we look at the last 20 years of NBA Finals TV ratings, we see that the highest viewership occurred during the Golden State-Cleveland years, featuring LeBron versus Steph Curry. The 2015 Finals had nearly double the viewership of the Finals in the last five years, and Game 7 in 2016 had more viewers than any Finals game since the 1998 Finals between the Jazz and the Bulls-the "Last Dance" year. So, what made those LeBron-Steph years so special?
Firstly, Golden State was just beginning to acquire bandwagon fans, and Cleveland had the biggest star in the NBA. However, this alone doesn’t explain why these series received more attention than any of LeBron’s Finals in Miami. A key reason was Steph Curry. Coming off his first MVP season in 2015, sports fans fell in love with Steph. Whether it was his family-man image, his faith, his boyish appearance, or his revolutionary three-point shooting, Steph became highly marketable. He was everywhere, becoming more well-liked than even Kevin Durant, the next biggest name in the NBA after LeBron.
This year’s Finals is a building year for the league. Viewership is slightly down from last year, despite the Celtics being one of the most supported franchises and Dallas being one of the five largest markets. Only real NBA fans are invested in these Finals. It takes winning a Finals for a player to transcend basketball. If Jokic were playing for a back-to-back championship, it would garner more attention. Likewise, having LeBron, Curry, or Durant in the Finals would draw fair-weather fans. However, this year will raise the profile of Luka Doncic and players like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who will be in the league for the next decade.
Let’s talk about some of the narratives in this Finals. Tatum and Brown have been to the Eastern Conference Finals five times and the Finals twice but have never sealed the deal. This is similar to Luka, who has been close but never this close. More interesting narratives include Kyrie Irving against his old team, Jrue Holiday possibly winning a championship after being traded from the Bucks, and the potential dynamic shift if Brown wins Finals MVP over Tatum. This could change the team’s dynamic, where Tatum is usually the 1a and Brown the 1b.
For me, the best Finals feature at least one star player nearing the end of his career, playing with intensity and cherishing the experience, knowing it might be their last chance. This year, Al Horford, a future Hall of Famer, embodies this as he relishes his possible last Finals appearance. This adds a compelling plotline to this year’s Finals, showcasing the diverse narratives that make the NBA Finals captivating.
