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Well, it
was semiclassic, anyway.
You
couldn’t say the quote, unquote, Renewal of the Storied
Lakers-Celtics Rivalry, lived up to everyone’s
expectations, especially around here.
After
blowing a 24-point lead in Game Four that was probably
the biggest in Finals history and getting humiliated in
Game Six, the Lakers are like their 1984 team that
coughed up a title to the Celtics…living in the hope of
a rematch next spring.
In the
meantime, Lakers fans can take this summer off.
Kobe
Bryant’s comments after Thursday’s exit meeting made it
clear that he’s happy, officially ending last summer.
This
being a 180-degree turn—by a force of nature who isn’t
given to making one-degree turns—their season was
already a success, or a miracle, by January 14.
That was
the night Bryant tipped off his change of heart, saying
they were a “championship-caliber team” with Andrew
Bynum.
Everything else was gravy until the Celtics turned the
gravy boat over on them.
So let’s
just say the Lakers had better not try Bryant’s patience
by walking off the court looking like punks 10 days
before his possible opt-out next year.
For the
National Basketball Association (NBA), the Finals
offered a dramatic comparison between its Golden Age of
the ’80s and today.
No one
will ever call this a golden age; the game isn’t as
entertaining, and none of today’s stars has the mythic
status accorded Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
On the
other hand, despite allegations of fixes and conspiracy
theories that threatened to eclipse the championship
series as none had ever been, this Finals made a
statement about the NBA’s place in professional sports.
Better
ratings…sort of
Wherever
the NBA used to be, it’s still there.
If this
year’s Finals’ 9.3 TV rating was disappointing, it was
actually better than the ‘80s ratings, relative to other
sports.
As the
web site Sports Media Watch noted, the NBA rating was
right behind the NCAA final’s 9.4 and the World Series’
10.1.
The
highest-rated Lakers-Celtics Finals in 1987 got a
15.9—but that was almost 4 points behind the NCAA
final’s 19.6 and 8.1 behind the World Series’ 24.0.
Game
Five bumped up against the icon of icons, Tiger Woods,
in a US Open they’ll talk about forever that ran into
prime time.
Game
Five got a 10.1 rating to the Open’s 7.5.
However,
about that NBA audience. …
The
comparison is no longer the 18.7 rating for Michael
Jordan’s last Finals in 1998. Those days are over, like
those when World Series ratings were in the 30s.
From
1999 to 2002, the NBA Finals rating was between 10 and
12. As late as 2004, the Lakers-Detroit series drew an
11.5.
Since,
the Finals have posted ratings of 8.2, 8.5, 6.2 and this
season’s 9.3.
It’s
holy writ in TV that a 9 p.m. start in the East—which
means ending around midnight—is optimal, proved by the
fact rating numbers go up as games go on.
‘Hate’
late starts
Meanwhile, a Celtics fan named George Hutt, who was
motivated enough to line up to buy Game Six tickets,
told a Boston Globe reporter he wasn’t watching on TV
because of the late start.
“I hate
it,” Hutt said. “The only game I watched in its entirety
was [Sunday] night because I thought it was going to be
the championship.”
While
networks do such a bang-up job of scheduling, nighttime
ratings nose-dive across sports…but daytime events
(Super Bowl, Nascar races, PGA tournaments) hold up
nicely.
If I
were David Stern, before I concede I’ve lost 30 percent
of my audience since 2004, I’d try moving up a start
time here and there to see what happens.
Now,
about the actual game . . .
Before
Game Six, the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan, a Celtics beat
writer when there were classics, wrote a column
headlined, “It has to get better than this,” noting
there hadn’t been a “knock-down, drag-out 48-minute
demonstration of mutual athletic greatness” that would
have thrilled a wider audience.
Defense
hampering classic feel
Unfortunately, today’s defense-oriented game doesn’t
promote classics.
The ‘80s
Lakers-Celtics Finals games that popped up on ESPN
Classic had flowing action with both teams running and
scores in the 110-120 range.
This
season’s, quote, unquote, high-scoring Lakers averaged
only 93.8 points, stymied by that Celtics defense packed
back in the paint.
Athletic
greatness requires a stage on which to perform. Bryant,
one of the game’s greatest high-wire artists, spent the
Finals shooting jump shots from the cheap seats.
The game
has actually sped up in recent seasons after the league
took out hand-checking while coaches wept piteously
about their inability to defend.
That was
good. The next step is to take out as much physical
contact as possible, changing the game from rugby with a
round ball to basketball.
This
would also make it easier to officiate, although nothing
may ever stop owners, coaches and players making
millions off the system from undermining their own
system.
Ref-gate
scandal not over
As the
NBA learned to its dismay, the Tim Donaghy story wasn’t
over, sprouting legs or tentacles like an octopus that
dragged in Dick Bavetta, one of the referees in that
Sacramento-Lakers game in the 2002 Western finals.
Several
officials said FBI agents asked them about Bavetta.
Stories noted his old nickname—”Knick Bavetta”—in a new
context that made it the next thing to an indictment.
The name
came from a Knicks rival, Miami’s Tim Hardaway,
suggesting Bavetta favored home teams, starting with the
one near his Long Island home.
It
remains to be seen what evidence or corroboration
surfaces in the Donaghy story, but to this point there
is none.
In a
proud moment for the NBA that had to come from Stern,
Bavetta worked Game Five which, after all the oohing and
aahing in the media, went smoothly.
The NBA,
if it needs a nip and a tuck in a few places, is still
here. |
