Tag: NBA

Blog brother rips NBA for hometown crews working playoff games

The always biting website Awful Announcing has repeatedly taken NBA-TV to task this week for its broadcasting of the first round of the playoffs.  

As a money-saving consideration — understandable considering the likelihood of a work stoppage — the NBA is penching a few pennies by picking up a local broadcasting feed rather than send its own crew to cover a game.

So viewers across the country have heard the Spurs announcing team of Bill Land and Sean Elliott one night and the Grizzlies’ crew of Pete Pranica and Brevin Knight for Game 5.

Or as Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder :

“Instead of subjecting us to the homerish San Antonio pair of Bill Land and Sean Elliott… we got the homerish Memphis pair of Pete Pranica and Brevin Knight for Game 5.  All I know is I never want to hear the phrase “Z-Bound” again,” Yoder wrote.

The criticism is on the mark for the NBA. The two announcing crews can’t be blamed because they are broadcasting for their own home audiences first and the NBA as an afterthought. They shouldn’t change their approach just because “Big Brother” is too cheap to hire its own worker bees.

It does show the NBA as being a little rinky-dink from the rest of the big leagues in how they do their telecasts. The NFL and Major League Baseball don’t do that for their playoff crews.

And the NBA shouldn’t either. It’s beneath them not to have their own crews at games as important  as these playoff games with as much interest in them. The Spurs-Grizzlies Game 5 broadcast attracted the largest viewership in NBA-TV history.   

But Yoder can relax and maybe even be happy tonight. 

The ESPN crew of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will be doing the game. I saw them during their walkthrough this morning at the FedExForum. 

Here are some other takes from my blog brothers going into tonight’s huge game:

  • B Diddy from Air Alamo.com quotes from Dylan Thomas tofor tonight’s game.
  • Even after losing Game 5 in San Antonio, Zach Randolph tells the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Ron Tillery that heabout his team’s chances of winning the series.
  • ESPN.com’s playoff predictor has improved  odds of a to 48 percent.
  • Scott Sereday of 48 Minutes of Hell.com wonders why the Spurs have in the series.
  • Big 50 of Pounding the Rock.com writes that the Spurs weren’t interested in any  andtonight in Memphis.
  • Paul Garcia of Project Spurs.com details several , including keeping Memphis’ big  players out of the paint and playing Tiago Splitter.
  • Andrew McNeill of 48 Minutes of Hell.com as emblematic of the Spurs’ struggles in the series and provides a to ESPN.com’s True Hoop network.
  • Jeff Garcia provides us with rack of dry ribs. Sorry, I couldn’t resist after my delicious lunch today.
  • Griffin Gotta of the Memphis-related StraightouttaVancouver.com tells Memphis fans to. 
  • Robert Kleeman of the Bleacher Report.com advises the Spurs  to remember what when they play Memphis Friday night.
  • Five pundits on ESPN.com pick the Thunder to close out the Spurs and also reflect on whether a loss tonight will be the for the Spurs.  
  • The New York Times’ Harvey Araton has some nice things to say about the Spurs, although he mentions that the team’s dynasty “.” 
  • My old friend Berry Tramel of The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman considers who the Oklahoma City Thunder .  
  • Chip Crain of the Memphis-related blog 3 Shades of Blue.com writes that Tim Duncan has in the entire series.
  • Reid Cherner of USA Today wonders if Neal after his season-saving shot Wednesday night.
  • Bart Harridge of Spurs Planet.com notes his happiness in seeing Neal in Game 5.
  • Hirschof of Pounding the Rock.com relives some of his observations after Neal’s .
  • The Pro Sports Exchange provides its daily reports on the  and the .
  • Dingo of Spurs Dynasty.com checks out a fewof the first five games of the series.
  • Alleyoop of Spurs Locker.com provides his.

NBA playoff TV ratings soar as lockout nears

The NBA has received some good news as early television ratings for the first round of the playoffs have skyrocketed.

The Washington Examiner reports that the to the league’s highest ratings ever. First-round games delivered an average of 2.7 household rating — up 29 percent from last season — with 4.170 million total viewers that were up 32 percent from last season.

The league’s television ratings were up at least 32 percent in every major demographic category. But particularly notable is the league’s growth with affluent viewers with household imcomes or at least $100,000 and $125,000. The growth for both affluent categories is the most of any professional sports league, playoffs or regular season, the Examiner reports.

Notes on a scorecard: Can the Spurs’ perimeter shooting carry them in the playoffs?

The Spurs finished up their home regular season schedule Saturday with the kind of game that has marked their season.

Their 57.7 percent shooting percentage was one of their best efforts of the season as they hit for eight 3-pointers en route to a 111-102 victory over Utah.

The Spurs already have broken the previous team record  for 3-pointers, set in 2008-09 with 625 3-pointers. They currently have 671 for the season.

If they maintain their current pace of about eight 3-pointers a game in their final two games of the season, they will finish among the top 21 teams in NBA history in terms of total 3-pointers made.

And that’s the rub. None of those teams have won a championship. The high for an NBA championship team was Houston in 1994-95 with 646 3-pointers.

Those long jumpers sometimes miss, leading to easy transition buckets on long rebounds by the other team. The Spurs have seen that happen occasionally this season.

It will be interesting to see if Gregg Popovich dials back the perimeter game and tries to win with a more balanced attack in the playoffs.

Past history shows that some kind of  transformation will be necessary to be able to win a championship.

But can this team change its stripes in the playoffs? We’ll have to wait and see, beginning next weekend.

Here are a few other notes and tidbits after the Spurs’ fourth straight victory after their season-worst six-game losing streak.

  • The Spurs featured seven players in double figures and almost had two more as George Hill (nine points) and Matt Bonner (seven points) just missed. The Spurs are now 3-0 when seven Spurs score in double figures and 2-1 in games where eight players reach double figures.
  • Richard Jefferson led the team with 20 points. It was his first 20-point effort since scoring 22 points against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 10.  Jefferson notched three 20-point efforts in the first seven games of the season and then produced a high of 19 over the next 72 games before Saturday night.
  • Jefferson also continued a recent shooting binge. He’s averaging 10.8 points in his last six games. And he’s shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from 3-point range during the Spurs’ four-game winning streak.
  • Tiago Splitter finished with 13 points and eight rebounds – with 10 points and six rebounds in 12 minutes in the fourth quarter. It was Splitter’s fourth-highest scoring game of the season and tied for fifth in rebounds. His 18 minutes, 56 seconds of playing time was his most since making his last start against Portland on March 28 in a game where he produced 14 points and nine rebounds. In his previous four games before Saturday, Splitter was averaging 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds and three times in those four games he played 4:12 or less.
  • Tony Parker played 29:15 against the Jazz, marking the third time in four games he’s played 30 minutes or less. His 13 points and seven assists helped him continue a recent shooting surge since a 2-for-11 outing against Phoenix three games ago. Since then, Parker is averaging 18 points per game, shooting 60 percent from the field and averaging 5.7 assists per game.
  • DeJuan Blair got his first start since March 6, and produced 12 points and seven rebounds in 24:21. It marked his second-longest playing stint since his demotion. His 12 points marked his most since scoring 14 points in back-to-back games on March 11-12. Blair hit 6-for-9 from the field in a turnaround from a recent mini-slump where he had averaged 4.8 points and shot 37.9 percent from the field in his previous six games.
  • Manu Ginobili benefitted from some rest, playing only 27:21 to mark his third game in the last four with less than 30 minutes. Ginobili is averaging 18.3 points, shooting 58.8 percent from the field and averaging five assists in his last three games.
  • Ginobili failed to attempt a 3-pointer. It was the first game where he has failed to attempt a 3-pointer since Game 4 of the first round of the 2008 playoffs against Phoenix. He also notched six assists for the 36th time this season. When Ginobili has at least six assists, the Spurs are 27-9 (.750). In the rest of their games, they are 43-10 (.811).
  • Gary Neal’s recent surge continued with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists. It marked his fourth double-figure scoring game in his last five games. During that span, he’s hitting 60.6 percent from the field and 60 percent of his 3-pointers.
  • Tim Duncan notched 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots in 22:23. Before Saturday, in his five games since returning the lineup from his sprained ankle, Duncan was averaging 16.0 points and 8.8 rebounds.
  • Duncan had four blocked shots marking among his top nine games of the season in that statistic. In games where Duncan has blocked at least three shots this season, the Spurs are 26-0.  It marked the fifth time this season that he has produced at least 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots in the same game.
  • Hill’s string of double-figure scoring games was snapped at three after scoring nine points. Hill had averaged 20.3 points in his previous three games, hitting 55.3 percent from the field during that span.
  • The Spurs had limited opponents to less than 30 points in 16 quarters before allowing Utah to score 30 points in the third quarter. The last time an opponent scored more than 30 came in the second quarter of the loss at Houston last week.
  • The Spurs hit 57.7 percent from the field after hitting 60.5 percent against Sacramento in their last game. They have hit at least 50 percent from the field in four of their last five games. In games where they have shot 50 percent or better this season, they are 26-4, including 16-0 at home.
  • San Antonio shot 75 percent from the field in the second quarter, coming close to their season high for the second quarter of 78.6 percent against Detroit on March 9. And they shot 80 percent from the field in the third quarter, just less than the 82.6 percent they shot in the third quarter against Sacramento on Wednesday night.
  • The Spurs allowed Utah to hit 53.8 percent from the field. It was the first time an opponent hit better than 50 percent since Boston hit 54.8 percent last week. When opponents hit 50 percent or etter, the Spurs are 7-13, including 4-4 at home.  
  • James Anderson and Danny Green did not play. Da’Sean Butler, Chris Quinn and Antonio McDyess were inactive.
  • Hill led the team with a plus-minus score  of plus-11. Jefferson was at plus-10. Duncan was plus-9. Splitter had the only negative score at minus-1. The San Antonio starters were plus-24. The bench was plus-21. Utah’s starters were minus-36 and the Jazz’s bench was minus-9.