SPURS WIN !!!!!!!!!!!!

[dav4463]

Spurs proved that a team concept, classy players, and great defense wins an NBA championship. Just like the Pistons did a year ago. The two best teams met in the finals and the best team won. Congrats Spurs, and if the uninformed masses made it a low rated series on TV....who cares ? The #1 rated show this week was "Dancing with the Stars" !!! so what does that say about the normal viewing public ?!!!

Way to go Spurs !!!

[BIG RED]

So, what's your piont? BBall has not many followers. 7th game. No one watching. Or are you are saying they were watching other things? Exactly. Basketball has fallen big, you just stated it. It's a shame, but that's what happens. I haven't watched in awhile myself.

[Speed Figure]

I those think ratings are BS! Most fans watch big games at sports bars. We do know this, more fans are watching the NBA than the NHL!:faint:

[BIG RED]

Absoloutelytivilly!! :lol:

[Hosshead]

:ThmbUp: I thought it was a great series. Had some of everything:
One team asserting dominance.
Then the other team.
Then when they figured each other out, it got close. Every posession was important.
Two of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
Both sides an example of "Team Play".
The winning coach was the student, (grasshopper, was taught well), of the losing coach.
Everything on the line, down to the last game/last quarter !

Glad I don't go by what other people are watching.

[kingfin66]

I those think ratings are BS! Most fans watch big games at sports bars. We do know this, more fans are watching the NBA than the NHL!:faint:

Sorry Speed, but the ratings are real. The fact is that 2/3 of the U.S. population lives in the East. They aren't going to stay up until midnight to watch the Pistons/Spurs. Had the start time been earlier, the ratings might have been better. Basketball has become like hockey in the sense that the ratings are high in the cities still playing. Once a team is eliminated, however, the ratings plummet in that city. This was definitely the case in places like Seattle, Washington D.C., etc., where teams hadn't been in the playoffs much lately.

BTW, great game and it ended up being a great series.

[Wiley]

This was a great series, too bad the Pistons could not pull it out but you have got to hand it to the Spurs when it looked like the Pistons might put them away in the third quarter they picked up their defense and stayed with the Big 'Fella' who inside/outed three wide open three's that put it out of reach. Key to me last night was Popovich putting Bowen on Billups down the stretch when Mr. Big Shot usually drains a couple of well timed three's to gap the lead in the Piston's favor. Parker in other games had no chance containing Billups either outside or inside. I could not understand not clearing for Rasheed everytime down in the fourth quarter with Horrey on him as he could score at will on him - but they stuck with the poor shooting of Hamilton, Billups and Hunter and there you have it.

[Hosshead]

This was a great series, too bad the Pistons could not pull it out but you have got to hand it to the Spurs when it looked like the Pistons might put them away in the third quarter they picked up their defense and stayed with the Big 'Fella' who inside/outed three wide open three's that put it out of reach. ..... I could not understand not clearing for Rasheed everytime down in the fourth quarter with Horrey on him as he could score at will on him - but they stuck with the poor shooting of Hamilton, Billups and Hunter and there you have it.Yeah, I was amazed throughout the series at how many points Hamiliton and Billups score from the same spot. -- About 2 ft. from the end of the free throw line. (where the end of the free throw line meets the court. Those shots are only about 2-3 ft. farther than a free throw, yet they were able to curl around a screen and shoot those almost at will (all year). When the Spurs started taking that shot away, Detroit seemed to start shooting (as you put it) poorly.
Rasheed seemed to be able to score those long shots over (the shorter) Horry, but Detroit needed him for rebounding too.
No doubt that the 2 best teams were there !

[Wiley]

Hosshead,
You are right that the two best teams in the NBA squared off in the finals and that has not happened much over the past few years - the Spurs were better than the Lakers last year but lost on that miracle Fisher shot to help deny them a place in the finals. I also agree on the cut off of the curl move by the Spurs for mainly Hamilton, who runs off screens/picks better than anyone in the league, and to a lesser degree Billups, he usually creates his own shot when he can. When I say the guards poor shooting cost the Pistons the game well the Spurs had a lot to do with that - Bowen and Ginobli's tough defense.

The Pistons, for the most part, are a guard oriented scoring team so shutting them down is the key. 'Sheed cannot carry a team by himself scoring for a whole game, reference his stay in Portland and Ben Wallace is very limited unless he is 2 feet from the hoop and even then he tends to hurry his shot in some wild manner. Most of 'Sheed's outside shots, which were tough, Duncan was on him, with Horry he could do whatever he wanted backing him in and scoring over, under, around or fade on every play given the chance.

It was really two teams that are almost mirror images of each other playing tug of war over the control of the games which was fun to see.
You could easily see these two teams in the finals next year if the Pistons can keep there team together - Dumars has done a great job in putting this team together. I think the Spurs have longterm contracts for their big three so they will be together a while and formidible.

[dav4463]

I think the reason ratings are lower in all sports today is that it is compared to ratings taken when most people did not have internet, cable, etc... the big three ABC,NBC,CBS dominated ratings. Today there is so much to choose from. I just don't see a way to accurately judge what people are watching. I believe the NBA is as strong as ever and has a core group of fans that will always keep it going. I hope the team concept demonstrated by the Spurs and Pistons will continue. Market the team, not the player. Both teams were great and battled to the end. It was a fun series.