Tanking NBA Finals ratings go beyond small-market problems
NY Post
Surely it wasn’t selected to make a point or to lament what the NBA has become, but it was, nonetheless, a picture worth a thousand 3-point heaves.
During Thursday’s Game 6 of the Thunder-Pacers Finals, ESPN/ABC went to commercials with a full screen color photo of Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon trying to gain position on each other. Presumably the picture was taken during the 1994 NBA Rockets-Knicks Finals, won by Houston in seven.
That was in a time — a long time, but not long ago — when riveting center vs. center games made nationally televised NBA games extra special. Didn’t matter if your team was playing, an epic was in the wind and it was headed your way.
Outside of Michael Jordan, the game’s appeal since the late 1950s began with the opposing centers. Willis Reed vs. Wes Unseld or Gus Johnson, Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal vs. Tim Duncan or Dikembe Mutumbo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs Bob Lanier or Moses Malone, Robert Parish vs. Bill Laimbeer.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The hockey world is getting a new TV adaptation of another romance series that helped define the genre.
What is there about Giants edger ushers and their fixation with single-digit jersey numbers?
Cade Cunningham, almost inarguably the best player in the East this season, is likely out for the remainder of the regular season. That’s the word out of Detroit following the depressing news that Cunningham punctured a lung when he took a knee to his side Tuesday from Washington’s Tre Johnson while chasing a loose ball.
Legal problems continue to follow ex-NHLer Billy Tibbetts.
After legendary Mets broadcaster Howie Rose announced his retirement Thursday, he took to social media to send a message to fans in Queens.