2013-14 NBA Thread part 1

[old_tony]

The issue with ratings might be in who played. Chicago v. Brooklyn looked great when the season started, but both teams are a shirtshow now, especially the Nets. The Knicks were much more horrid that advertised, and with Carmelo out yesterday, the fork was stuck in them at tipoff. Heat-Lakers (with no Kobe) turned out to be at least semi-competitive, in the sense that Miami did what good teams do this time of year to lesser squads -- screw around a little bit in the first three quarters, then turn on the jets in the fourth quarter. Houston-San Antonio was semi-interesting for a fairly one-sided game because of James Harden's performance, and it turned out the last game -- Warriors-Clippers, was by far the best.

The NBA has to be having heart attacks at headquarters, because both New York teams are set up to be bad for a very, very long time.

I'm not saying they shouldn't play at all on Christmas Day. But five games is about three too many. Bad games featuring bad teams in the afternoon, and then the two best games start at 8 eastern and 10:30 eastern. I'm betting a lot of folks were driving home from a relative's house at that time or already home and falling asleep from a whirlwind of the last two days.

 

[Stoney]

I'm not saying they shouldn't play at all on Christmas Day. But five games is about three too many. Bad games featuring bad teams in the afternoon, and then the two best games start at 8 eastern and 10:30 eastern. I'm betting a lot of folks were driving home from a relative's house at that time or already home and falling asleep from a whirlwind of the last two days.

Then why were you not complaining about football games on Thanksgiving? Combined college and pro, there were at least six FB games played on that day. And some pretty weak matchups as well. If anything, forcing college kids to compete on the holidays strikes me as worse. At least these NBA guys (and writers) are adult professionals being paid for it.

Not seeing how Christmas basketball is any worse of a thing than Thanksgiving football. And, in truth, I really don't see anything wrong with it in either case. Go out on Christmas or Thanksg and you'll see plenty of people everywhere who had to work that day. Not sure why those in the NBA or NFL world should be any more entitled to a holiday exemption than the others.

 

[old_tony]

I'm not saying they shouldn't play at all on Christmas Day. But five games is about three too many. Bad games featuring bad teams in the afternoon, and then the two best games start at 8 eastern and 10:30 eastern. I'm betting a lot of folks were driving home from a relative's house at that time or already home and falling asleep from a whirlwind of the last two days.

Then why were you not complaining about football games on Thanksgiving? Combined college and pro, there were at least six FB games played on that day. And some pretty weak matchups as well. If anything, forcing college kids to compete on the holidays strikes me as worse. At least these NBA guys (and writers) are adult professionals being paid for it.

Not seeing how Christmas basketball is any worse of a thing than Thanksgiving football. And, in truth, I really don't see anything wrong with it in either case. Go out on Christmas or Thanksg and you'll see plenty of people everywhere who had to work that day. Not sure why those in the NBA or NFL world should be any more entitled to a holiday exemption than the others.

They've been playing football on Thanksgiving since long before I was born. While I feel bad for the beat writers who had to work yesterday, they're far, far down on my list of reasons I don't care for the NBA games on Christmas Day. In fact, I feel even more for the fans who buy season tickets and have to choose between wasting their ticket or skipping a family gathering.

The NBA got along without playing on Christmas forever. There's a tradition of the Lions and cowboys playing on Thanksgiving, and families in those cities and families throughout the country can plan their gathering to include or ignore them. And as someone who's had to cover a couple of games on Thanksgiving at Ford Field, you can appreciate the tradition.

There is, however, absolutely no "tradition" associated with NBA games on Christmas Day. And, like I said, the dismal ratings will be well-deserved.

 

[poindexter]

NFL on Thanksgiving works. You are usually around second level relatives, not a ton to talk about, and the NFL games are a good conversation starter/stop-gap.

But Christmas usually revolves your close family - what in the heck is your tv doing on? And of course, the product stinks in comparison to the NFL.

 

[Stoney]

The NBA got along without playing on Christmas forever.

There is, however, absolutely no "tradition" associated with NBA games on Christmas Day.

Really, OT, when exactly was this "forever" period when the NBA supposedly "got along without playing on Christmas"?

Because they've been playing on Christmas for as long as I can remember, and a quick google of NBA on Christmas instantly brought up this factoid:

"Since 1947, the NBA has played games every year on Christmas Day, except in 1998, when a lockout canceled half the 1998–99 season, making the NBA the only league to regularly schedule games on December 25." In other words, an annual rite begun one year after the league was officially FOUNDED in 1946. Sure sounds like a "tradition" to me.

And, of course, you realize that hallowed Cowboys Thanksgiving game tradition you cited didn't begin until the late 60s, two decades after the NBA had been annually playing Christmas games, right?

And I'm not sure how the "Lions/Cowboys untouchable tradition" line of reasoning covers some of the other Thanksgiving day FB matchups we saw this year like Stillman vs. Alabama State, Ravens vs. Steelers, T Tech vs. UT, and Ole Miss vs. MSU.

 

[old_tony]

NFL on Thanksgiving works. You are usually around second level relatives, not a ton to talk about, and the NFL games are a good conversation starter/stop-gap.

But Christmas usually revolves your close family - what in the heck is your tv doing on? And of course, the product stinks in comparison to the NFL.

Also, Thanksgiving is about a meal. You can do the big turkey meal around the lunch hour if you choose or around dinner time. It's about getting together for a meal, which (not counting preparation time, which certainly is extensive for the hosts) is about an hour.

Christmas, on the other hand, is a much more extensive thing. There's a meal most-often involved, then there also is gift-exchanging and often either morning mass on the 25th or midnight mass the night before. A family's day on Christmas can often start with gift-opening in the morning at one house and then a trip to another relative's house.

You can schedule your Thanksgiving meal around a football game. And many families do. In fact, it's a big part of the day. You won't find any families that schedule their Christmas activities around an NBA game, much less five.

 

[heyabbott]

Who cares? Let the NBA play their games, people go, people watch and 95% of the country doesn't care.

As far as the journalists working the game, how about the concessions people, ticket takers, clean up crews, parking garage attendants, security, public transit workers, 7-11 workers, McDonalds workers, the electricians, camera people, sound people, truck drivers... many of these people start well before the game begins and stay until after the journalists have clicked "send".

Lots of people work on Christmas, even FoxNews employees are working on Christmas.

 

[Bob Cook]

NFL on Thanksgiving works. You are usually around second level relatives, not a ton to talk about, and the NFL games are a good conversation starter/stop-gap.

But Christmas usually revolves your close family - what in the heck is your tv doing on? And of course, the product stinks in comparison to the NFL.

Also, Thanksgiving is about a meal. You can do the big turkey meal around the lunch hour if you choose or around dinner time. It's about getting together for a meal, which (not counting preparation time, which certainly is extensive for the hosts) is about an hour.

Christmas, on the other hand, is a much more extensive thing. There's a meal most-often involved, then there also is gift-exchanging and often either morning mass on the 25th or midnight mass the night before. A family's day on Christmas can often start with gift-opening in the morning at one house and then a trip to another relative's house.

You can schedule your Thanksgiving meal around a football game. And many families do. In fact, it's a big part of the day. You won't find any families that schedule their Christmas activities around an NBA game, much less five.

There also are families, like mine, who get together with relatives Christmas Eve, open presents early on Christmas morning, and lie in a holiday-induced coma the rest of the day. I grew up with a gentile family that was going to the movies on Christmas back when it was thought only Jewish people did that.

The biggest problem with the NBA's slate of Christmas games this year was not that they existed, or that there were so many of them. It was that so many were duds -- even before the ball was tipped. Chicago-Brooklyn, before the season, was seen by a lot of prognosticators as a potential deep playoff matchup. Oops. The Knicks were decent last year, and then with Carmelo out a bad situation got worse against Oklahoma City. Kobe gets hurt again, so it's your Nick Young-led Lakers surprisingly making a game out of it with the Heat for a while.

 

[Big Circus]

OK, I've been under a rock, NBA-wise.

But what the heck is the deal with these T-shirt jerseys? I think they look tacky ... Brooklyn looks like they're tall kids in an eighth-grade gym class.

Those were horrendous. I think the worst part is the logos on the front - more specifically, the lack of numbers on the front. Reminds me of rec-league ball when the ref had to ask you to turn around to see your back when he called a foul on you. That was always humiliating.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Probably deserves own thread, but on Twitter now it's being reported Russell Westbrook will be out until after the All-Star break because of a scope on his knee. Sucks -- first he's one of the most exciting players in the league but also anything that damages OKC means there's a slightly better chance Houston emerges from the West. And I can not watch James Harden shoot 25 free throws a game into June.

 

[heyabbott]

Bynum is so forking stupid, such an ignorant dumb shirt, that he couldn't hold off and be a normal human being until January 7, when his guarantee kicks in. Dumb bench will lose 18 million because he couldn't be an adult for 4 months.

 

[GoochMan]

Bynum is so forking stupid, such an ignorant dumb shirt, that he couldn't hold off and be a normal human being until January 7, when his guarantee kicks in. Dumb bench will lose 18 million because he couldn't be an adult for 4 months.

Are the rumors about what Bynum's exile-inducing transgression true? Because if so, I gotta wonder what is in the water in the Cavaliers' facility.