NBA Finals: OKC v Indiana

[storrsroars]

I think a legit appeal of a team in OKC, which by most measures has no business with a major sports team, is that it's the only thing comparable for hundreds of miles around. If a theoretical team moved to Hartford, they'd have major competition just a few hours in either direction. OKC puts "only game in town" on a whole different level.

Both St Louis and Kansas City are larger media markets than OKC. Both supported NBA teams into the 80s. I'm not sure why neither appears to be a viable market for the NBA at this point.

Interesting that Greenville SC is a larger media market than either OKC or Memphis. Greenville's media market size is slightly less than Fairfield County's population.

 

[Inyatkin]

Both St Louis and Kansas City are larger media markets than OKC. Both supported NBA teams into the 80s. I'm not sure why neither appears to be a viable market for the NBA at this point.

Interesting that Greenville SC is a larger media market than either OKC or Memphis. Greenville's media market size is slightly less than Fairfield County's population.

Also, too, Seattle

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think a legit appeal of a team in OKC, which by most measures has no business with a major sports team, is that it's the only thing comparable for hundreds of miles around. If a theoretical team moved to Hartford, they'd have major competition just a few hours in either direction. OKC puts "only game in town" on a whole different level.

Well this is why I thought it was weird not to put it in KC (which had the Kings originally). KC has no NBA competition anywhere close, but OKC is generally a Dallas market city for sports. It's a 3 hour drive.

 

[BugsyCT]

Disappointed that the Knicks lost (blowing Game 1 killed them - flipped the whole series into an uphill battle they couldn't overcome and their weaknesses were continuously exposed in this series), but they had a good playoff run and the Pacers deserved to win. I think they'll give OKC a tougher series than many people think. Should be an interesting contrast of Indy's offense against OKC's defense.

 

[freescooter]

Two markets that aren’t going to interest the average NBA fan. OKC is a nice story and has the league MVP but are people going to watch? I’ll be curious to see what the ratings are.

No doubt the TV folks are wanting to slit there throats! These 2 teams may not do great with NBA fans but they will not draw any casual fans for sure. I suspect the NBA media woes will continue.

 

[REB1094]

I agree and tbh, I like it. The second apron makes it really difficult to stack and maintain super teams. It is unfair for teams because it “punishes” them for investing in and developing their own players (see: Nuggets after their championship, GSW breaking up Klay, Milwaukee trading Middleton for Kuzma), but it seems to be clearly designed to spread talent across the league so successful teams have to have more well balanced rosters

Even the Thunder and Pacers, young high potential teams, have a limited window. They have key guys locked up for a few years, but a few deep playoff runs will increase their price tag and they’ll have to eventually swap them with new guys to keep salaries down

 

[Jaydumo20]

Two of the decisions I will never understand is why two franchises left the Pacific Northwest to move to two small, poor, inland cities like Oklahoma City and Memphis.

Hartford metro has the 8th highest per capita GDP at $87,884 among metro areas with over 1 million people (Hartford has 1.2 million). Memphis (1.3MM people) is $64,735 and Oklahoma City (1.4MM) is $60,113. This does not even include New Haven or Fairfield counties, which would push the population way up and are a lot closer to Hartford than the next closest metro is to OKC or Memphis. Per capita incomes are Hartford ($34,310), Memphis ($20,327) and OKC ($19,366). Those two places have teams and Hartford did not even get a look despite the metro areas being approximately the same size.

Good argument. Hard to argue. However, I'm pretty happy now that UConn ball is the only game in town. What we do have we are the best at. I want every nutmeggers eyes to adore the Dogs and the Dogs alone.

 

[aceboon]

I agree and tbh, I like it. The second apron makes it really difficult to stack and maintain super teams. It is unfair for teams because it “punishes” them for investing in and developing their own players (see: Nuggets after their championship, GSW breaking up Klay, Milwaukee trading Middleton for Kuzma), but it seems to be clearly designed to spread talent across the league so successful teams have to have more well balanced rosters

Even the Thunder and Pacers, young high potential teams, have a limited window. They have key guys locked up for a few years, but a few deep playoff runs will increase their price tag and they’ll have to eventually swap them with new guys to keep salaries down

CBA needs to be tweaked a bit for teams to be able to retain their own drafted/scouted players imo. I get it for teams not being able to just sign whoever and stack the deck but if you have a great front office and coaching staff that is able to nail their dfraft picks and develop them you shouldn't be punished trying to retain them. Thunder should be able to retain their big 3(Shai/Jdub/Chet) but they're going to have to keep cycling in and out of their surrounding parts because they're not going to be able to keep them.

 

[HuskyHawk]

CBA needs to be tweaked a bit for teams to be able to retain their own drafted/scouted players imo. I get it for teams not being able to just sign whoever and stack the deck but if you have a great front office and coaching staff that is able to nail their dfraft picks and develop them you shouldn't be punished trying to retain them. Thunder should be able to retain their big 3(Shai/Jdub/Chet) but they're going to have to keep cycling in and out of their surrounding parts because they're not going to be able to keep them.

The answer is probably a salary cap and/or a change to the max contract so that it’s less as a % of the Apron levels. But the players would never go for it. There’s no other pro sport where 3 guys can take up 80% of your roster expense.

 

[jibsey]

I won’t watch 1 second of the series I hate the NBA games, but for those who do, enjoy.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Two markets that aren’t going to interest the average NBA fan. OKC is a nice story and has the league MVP but are people going to watch? I’ll be curious to see what the ratings are.

OKC is an incredible team. Pacers play one of most fun styles in nba. This is a hoops fans series.

ESPN will screw it up because they don’t know how to cover the sport, so we are likely to see LeBron BS at some point

 

[JohnFSilver]

The answer is probably a salary cap and/or a change to the max contract so that it’s less as a % of the Apron levels. But the players would never go for it. There’s no other pro sport where 3 guys can take up 80% of your roster expense.

The cba is terrible. The players gave away flexibility for higher salary amounts. The owners gave away roster continuity/team building for cost certainty and constraints.

 

[aceboon]

Two markets that aren’t going to interest the average NBA fan. OKC is a nice story and has the league MVP but are people going to watch? I’ll be curious to see what the ratings are.

 

[Palatine]

You gonna root for OKC. Most folks don't know the UConn association but will if they win it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The biggest ratings issue is not going to be the small markets, it will be the fact that OKC is going to stomp Indiana. There were three teams in the east that I thought could have given OKC a legitimate challenge:

Cleveland - Did everything right, but the Garland injury was bad luck, and then various and sundry other injuries added up. This team should be back.
Boston - Overplayed its stars, along with bad luck on Porzingis, and blew a season of having the most talented starting lineup in the NBA.
Milwaukee - Giannis, Lillard, Middleton and a fresh Lopez could have given OKC a run, but the Bucks made a terrible trade with Middleton (should have waited until the summer) and Rivers overplayed everyone else.

Indiana is young and athletic, which is a huge advantage against a team like the Knicks but OKC is younger and more athletic. Carlisle has won with mirrors, and I don't see him pulling another rabbit out of the hat like he did with Dirk's 2011 Dallas team. I think OKC will win 4-1.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I think I'm rooting for Indiana b/c they need the help to make it a series. Regardless it should be entertaining fast break basketball. Indy prides itself on shortest time to get ball over halfcourt, their layups off makes in the last game vs Knicks was reminiscent of Marshall era UConn teams.

Indy needs some luck or 3pt shooting variance because OKC's defense is tremendous and offensively they are just as good if not better than Indiana. Realistically I think OKC wins in 5, someone would need to get hurt for the Pacers to have a shot to win the series.

P.S. I highly recommend the book "Boom Town" by Sam Anderson that ties OKC's history (Boom = weather, bombing, growth) and basketball together.
Boom Town on Amazon

 

[HuskyHawk]

The biggest ratings issue is not going to be the small markets, it will be the fact that OKC is going to stomp Indiana. There were three teams in the east that I thought could have given OKC a legitimate challenge:

Cleveland - Did everything right, but the Garland injury was bad luck, and then various and sundry other injuries added up. This team should be back.
Boston - Overplayed its stars, along with bad luck on Porzingis, and blew a season of having the most talented starting lineup in the NBA.
Milwaukee - Giannis, Lillard, Middleton and a fresh Lopez could have given OKC a run, but the Bucks made a terrible trade with Middleton (should have waited until the summer) and Rivers overplayed everyone else.

Indiana is young and athletic, which is a huge advantage against a team like the Knicks but OKC is younger and more athletic. Carlisle has won with mirrors, and I don't see him pulling another rabbit out of the hat like he did with Dirk's 2011 Dallas team. I think OKC will win 4-1.

I think you underestimate how good Indiana's offense is. OKC in six is my prediction.

 

[Lefty2one]

Certainly OKC's defense vs Indy's offense is the story here. The Knicks defense had plenty of lapses and bad stretches and there won't be two easy marks to hunt in KAT and Brunson. Meanwhile, OKC needed 7 games to dispose of a blah Denver squad in the semis. Wouldn't surprise me if this goes seven games too, largely because I'm not sold on OKC being as good as many think they are.

I will say OKC in six in a very entertaining series.

 

[Palatine]

Certainly OKC's defense vs Indy's offense is the story here. The Knicks defense had plenty of lapses and bad stretches and there won't be two easy marks to hunt in KAT and Brunson. Meanwhile, OKC needed 7 games to dispose of a blah Denver squad in the semis. Wouldn't surprise me if this goes seven games too, largely because I'm not sold on OKC being as good as many think they are.

I will say OKC in six in a very entertaining series.

A blah squad with the best player in the league.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I think you underestimate how good Indiana's offense is. OKC in six is my prediction.

Indiana plays with Pace. They pressure the defense on offense by going quick. They don’t F around like the Celtics, who play the slowest pace in the league. If you beat up Halliburton you can beat the Pacers. They can’t function without him. I would expect OKC to be super physical.

 

[aceboon]

I'm glad I grew up when I did when there was pageantry to the presentation of the NBA Finals and it wasn't treated like a random weekday regular season game

 

[aceboon]

OKC is already good enough that the refs shouldn't allow them to foul on damn near every defensive possession

 

[superjohn]

Siakim gets bumped out of bounds, of course they don't call the foul.

 

[Dove]

Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Pacers fort the ead!!! Less than a tick to go.

Haliburton.

 

[Dove]

Pacers were down 14 with about 8 minutes to go.