[OT] Basketball anyone?

[Boone]

Err, the Nets play in that tiny market of New York City, even if the Knicks get more local coverage.

Sacremento is less than 100 miles from the SF/Oakland/San Jose area, and I'd wager the Kings get a lot more press in the Bay Area than the Warriors do.

Lets make it real simple.... if the Golden State Warriors were playing in the championship do you think anyone would give a rats ass? People down in the Bay Area don't give a rats ass about Warriors and thats their team. So to think that there is a draw of fans from the San Francisco market is silly.

.... thus that leads to New Jersey.... here is the quote of the day... "New Jersey is not New York" Proximity to big town has little to do with its classification of wether it is a "Big Time" team and market.....

..... oh but you protest...... Oh but you would be wrong...... example..... sure...... lets look at the Bay Area once again...

SanFransisco is across the bay from Oakland.... yet in baseball the Giants are a Big time market and team and the A's aren't.

does the above example remind you of anything... hmmm like.... I don't know maybe..... NEW YORK VS NEW JERSEY...

LA vs Boston sounds exciting.... but the simple truth of those who know the game is Kings vs Nets will be more exciting. And if thats the case.... Kings in 4-5 games.

 

[Storm Raven]

SanFransisco is across the bay from Oakland.... yet in baseball the Giants are a Big time market and team and the A's aren't.

This is a side note, but I would point out that the "classification" of teams as small market or big market with respect to Major League Baseball is highly suspect to the point of being worthless. Teams are regularly switched between designations, the designations have no relationship to the actual size of the market in question, and many of the senior officials in MLB who make these "determinations" have really bad geography skills

As a humorous example of the last point, I refer you to Bud Selig's recent claim that St. Louis was closer to Minneapolis-St.Paul than Milwaukee. It isn't. St. Louis is several hundred miles further away from Minneapolis-St. Paul than Milwaukee. If you want lots of in depth commentary on baseball market issues baseballprospectus.com has several articles that deal with this sort of thing.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

but the simple truth of those who know the game is Kings vs Nets will be more exciting. And if thats the case.... Kings in 4-5 games.

You're right, a Kings-Nets series ending in 4 or 5 games will be wicked exciting. I think that everyone should be happy now, because regardless of some questionable play by the C's, Nets, Kings, and Lakers at different times, the conference championships are worlds more exciting than the finals could ever possibly be this year. The East just stands to get trounced by the West...

Best,
tKL

 

[King_Stannis]

Err, the Nets play in that tiny market of New York City, even if the Knicks get more local coverage...

i wouldn't make the mistake of assuming that new yorkers care much about new jersey teams. the devils winning 2 cups brought mostly a yawn from your average sports fan in NY, i think. in fact, the devils didn't even sell out their elimination game against carolina in the playoffs this year.

the same assumption could be made for the nets. they have their supporters now, it looks like, but i think that support is as fragile as a house of cards.

 

[Mistwell]

Lets make it real simple.... if the Golden State Warriors were playing in the championship do you think anyone would give a rats ass? People down in the Bay Area don't give a rats ass about Warriors and thats their team. So to think that there is a draw of fans from the San Francisco market is silly.

I don't know which team you MEANT to reference, but it couldn't have been the Warriors. The Warriors are LOVED in San Francisco (even though they always loose). They have one of the loudest crowds anywhere, and attendance is relatively high.

For this last season, the average attendance was 14,468 per game. That's in a stadium with a capacity of 19,596. Included in those totals were some sell out games as well. None of that is too shabby. If the Warriors had a shot at the Championship you can be DAMN sure the Bay Area would be all over that action.

 

[Boone]

I don't know which team you MEANT to reference, but it couldn't have been the Warriors. The Warriors are LOVED in San Francisco (even though they always loose). They have one of the loudest crowds anywhere, and attendance is relatively high.

For this last season, the average attendance was 14,468 per game. That's in a stadium with a capacity of 19,596. Included in those totals were some sell out games as well. None of that is too shabby. If the Warriors had a shot at the Championship you can be DAMN sure the Bay Area would be all over that action.

Loudest crowds.....? Maybe when Rick Barry was playing there in the seventies.... Hell the era of TMC didn't move the "new" fans..... and even the LA fans can make noise every so often.

And the fact that New Jersey is getting great attendance proves a team having a shot at the Championship can excit at least enough fans to sell out an arena.

But all that aside if you were the marketing guy what would you rather have to work with....

1.. The Glamoure and arrogance of L.A. VS. Hard nose Boston

or....

2. The toxic waste state with the Wife beating point guard past team of Limo Driver Killer NJ Vs. Supposed Cow town with more than its share of homely euro players who has "Ross" from friends playing on a sprained ankle... ( oops I mean peja) Sacramento.

.....wait...... Doesn't Jason Kidd have the son with the Big head? and sacramento has lots of Cow Bells..... Thats it I want to see Jason Kidds son's head explode from the vibration of 15,000 + cow bells ringing in unison.

 

[Negative Zero]

I guess the conclusion I will draw from it was that you had nothing to respond with and pawned it off that you didn't want to try to respond to it. Which in a way cracks me up.

i should have known better than to expect a reasonable assumption from someone who makes statements like you do. my bad. the real reason is that comments like yours don't need to be justified. wild statements with expletives thrown in liberally with nothing more than emotion behind them wiil give off that image. you want to be taken seriously? then try acting with some sort of composure.

The nightmare NBA Championship match up for the League is Kings vs. Nets.

i agree completely that this would likely be the most exciting match up. but call me a fan, i still hope the Lakers win!

Oh... also when the Zen master was asked "why wasn't Kobe on Bibby on that inbounds play? " Phil responded "Kobe didn't want to be on Bibby" telling him he didn't feel comfortable with guarding him...

now, i never heard this, and i'd really like to hear from someone else who actually did. this seems completely out of character coz 1, Kobe wasn't usually guarding Bibby anyway and 2, even the people who don't like Kobe agree that he has ego. i can't imagine Kobe's ego letting him ever say that he feels intimidated by anyone.

still both of those series have been amazing! as a basketball fan it's a beautiful thing to watch. i may even have to blow off my DnD game on sunday if either series goes to a game 7. *sigh* choices choices.

~NegZ

 

[Black Omega]

Yes, watching ESPN they had a film clip of Phil Jackson saying Kobe wasn't put on Bibby because he didn't feel comfortable guarding him. Kobe said he didn't put it in those words, so it might also be a mind game from the Zen Master

If I was going to script this, you'd have to go for Celtics-Lakers. But the way Boston has opened the last three games has me more and more thinking this is NJ's year. And while you can't count out the Lakers by any means, it's the Kings on the verge of winning that series. Probably the worst combination I can think of for TV ratings, but should be entertaining games, even if Sac will win easily.

 

[Mistwell]

Yeah you can see the quotes at ESPN.com

"If someone out there sees Mr. Jackson, ask him if he's OK. Then check his I.D. to make sure it's really the Lakers coach. Then ask him why, on a play that very well could determine the Lakers' chance of three-peating, he did not put his best defender, Kobe Bryant, on the Kings' most clutch player, Mike Bibby.

Jackson, or a very close resemblance, said he stuck with Derek Fisher on Bibby because Kobe didn't want the job.

"He said, 'I don't feel quite comfortable picking him up at this time and not being used to his moves,' " Jackson said. "I think it was the decision he wanted to make and I concurred."

It doesn't sound like Kobe, does it? Kobe didn't think so, either.

"You know I wouldn't use those exact words," Kobe said. "That's ridiculous.""

See:
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2002/s/2002/0528/1388099.html

 

[Mistwell]

Interesting note: New Jersey's attendance ranks fourth from the BOTTOM for this season, considering all NBA teams. They rank below Golden State, by the way.

Also nice to note that my beloved LA Clippers ranked above Boston, New Jersey, and Sacramento in average attendance this year (and that without a playoff showing). In fact, they were less than 950 people off in average attendance than the Lakers, playing in the same arena as the Lakers. No wonder my season ticket prices just went through the roof for next season!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance