The Los Angeles Lakers took on the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon in a nationally televised game that featured LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George. The Lakers and Clippers are currently in first and second place in the Western Conference, and seem destined for a showdown in the conference finals. Jay-Z was in attendance. This game had HYPE.
The game delivered too, staying close until late when LeBron led a Lakers charge to take the game, 112-103, and showed LeBron off as a potential MVP winner, even at the age of 35.
The game felt important, and it delivered. We need more of it. We need more of these two teams.
Now, of course, I would never suggest that NBA commissioner Adam Silver, with the help of the refs, should orchestrate all the playoff series so that the Lakers and Clippers would meet up. That would be abhorrent. Mr. Silver, don’t you dare do this.
[Wink]
I kid! I kid!
But Sunday’s greatness also showcased a major problem for the NBA: It shouldn’t take that much to get people really fired up for a regular-season NBA game.
Sunday was the first regular season game this year that felt special, that wasn’t part of the NBA Christmas package, a wonderful gimmick that delivers every year. For just a regular game, this was one of the first that seemed important, before, during, and after the game.
We’ve had amazing games so far this year, games with playoff atmospheres, game with real rivalries. But this was the first game this season where everything came together: Marquee stars, marquee teams, national TV, local rivalry, playoff-like atmosphere.
It was appointment television … which feels rare now. For too many sports and leagues now, it’s really hard to convince an audience that anything outside the postseason is appointment television.
This isn’t just an NBA problem. This is an “every American pro sports league minus the NFL” problem. For years, both the NHL and the MLB have had to deal with the casual fan saying “eh, I’ll tune in for the playoffs.” Same deal with MLS, where over half the league makes the postseason. Now it appears to be coming for the NBA.
(This right here is why the league is exploring mid-season tournaments and other ideas that seem outrageous — they’re trying to get non-diehards involved early.)
Sunday felt special, but that’s the thing: It shouldn’t take an intra-city rivalry game between probably the two best teams in the league, multiple MVPs on the floor, and arguably the greatest player of all time recapturing his MVP-form, Jay-Z there … it shouldn’t take ALL THAT to get people excited about the regular season. That’s too high a bar to clear.
I’m not sure there’s an easy solution, either. The NBA has to simultaneously market its lesser stars better, and sell fans on the idea of the importance of the regular season better, and possibly try out things like a mid-season tournament, or else it will go the way of other sports: Something casual sports fans will keep an eye on until the postseason, and then get caught up. That’s fine for most sports fans, but not good at all for the NBA.
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