Lakers-Spurs

[Former Wildcat]

I know this forum is usually overrun with football recruiting and hockey (ugh), but the biggest series of the NBA season begins on Wednesday. After watching the Spurs uglyball their way to a win over the Hornets, I really hope Kobe, Derek, and Pau run them over. These are the two most successful teams of the post-Jordan ear (7 of 9 championships). I am pretty hyped up, but who does everyone have. I like the Lakers in 7 games, with Kobe showing why he was the MVP and Chris Paul was not.

[Dfense wins games]

I think the Lakers will win. Taking care of Duncan without Bynum is going to be a tough task for Pau/Walton/ whoever....

Although Kobe is the MVP this year, he gets the ball in the bucket himself or with his team, either way, i dont see the Spurs keeping up with them.

Lakers in 6

[Former Wildcat]

Game 1 was unbelievable. Down 20 with 6 minutes left in the third, the Lakers come back to win. Kobe was Jordan-esqe in the second half. Should be a great series.

[flybynight]

hockey (ugh)

Basketball (ugh)

and FYI the biggest series of the NHL season is going on too so suck it trebeck

[Former Wildcat]

The Stanley Cup?? Comparing the Stanley Cup to the NBA is ridiculous. There is a reason why Sportscenter usually runs coverage of MLB regular season games before hockey playoffs. Comparing a Penguins team that has stunk for a decade to either the Spurs or Lakers is appalling. Comparing the number 2 sport in America to the number one sport in Canada is also embarassing. Name one member of either hockey finalist that has the name recognition of Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan or Tony Parker or Derek Fisher. The only player whose name I can even think of is Crosby and isn't he like a 20-year-old phenom with no rings. Kind of like Kobe 8 years ago except when he is 28 he will not have three rings and no one will know him.

[Dfense wins games]

I guess this should be under the "Pittsburgh Penguins" but here it goes...(assuming Former Wildcat wasnt being sarcastic in his post)

Hockey is a rising sport in America after a drop off the past couple of decades. The reason "Miracle" was such an awesome happening was because people loved hockey at the time. If it was our golf team vs theirs, no one would have cared. It dropped off, but thats why Hockey, more specifically the Pens, are such a growing excitment with new, young talent. They have Staal, Crosby, and Malkin (average 20 yrs old) and Fleury at 23. There are other rising greats such as Ovechkin for the Sens, Kovalchuk for the Thrashers. Young stars are bringing this generation back into the sport. That is why this stanley cup will be a great one to watch. Red Wing dominant tradition vs Penguin young ignorance.

Professionally, Football is my #1 sport with Hockey and Basketball tied at #2. With that said, I can watch the Pens attack the net all night long. Basketball gets a little drawn out for me, no matter how flashy Kobe or LeBron become. Because it is turning into a 1 on 1 game - the main reason we got our butts kicked the last olympics. The more pro basketball pushes individuality, the less I want to watch it.

[vman]

Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley give me the Brandy!!!!

Hockey is making a comeback.....league could not have asked for a better Cup match-up!

I know it is relative to just this tri-state area but did you check out FSN's ratings late in the season & when they carried early round playoff games...record setting!!

I do not watch one minute of reg season NBA games & after watching some of the Celts/Cavs series, I remembered why......seemed like every game one or both teams shot 'bout 30%...lot of bad BBall!!

[The Ancient Enemy]

There is no trophy in sports better than the Stanley Cup, first of all, and secondly, the NBA is the worst professional league in probably the world. The commissioner is a complete idiot that everyone makes fun of, the whole league has image problems, every team (except Detroit) in one half of the league absolutely sucks, and name me another sport where you can transplant 2 players and go from last place to first within one season. Have you seen an NBA game in the past 15 years? There are TWO teams worth watching: San Antonio and Detroit, because they are the only teams who can actually draft players and build a team the proper way. It's a street-ball game otherwise, with very little discipline and even less unity. If Boston does end up winning this championship, that pretty well seals the deal for how completely worthless the NBA is, as far as I'm concerned.

[Crimson09Crazy]

i do love the Pens and dont get me wrong i watch every game and i know every player and i watch hockey regularly and not to mention ive been watching for my whole life not one of the bandwaggon jumpers but in all honesty id trade the Pens in a heartbeat for an NBA team in Pittsburgh


To compare the NHL to the NBA is ridiculous and you know it is...The 1st 2 games of the NHL Stanley Cup finals are on cable? You cant be serious to say the NBA Finals would ever be carried on ESPN and not ABC or NBC ect is actually funny


Sorry to Say the NBA is much more popular I mean Kobe LeBron Garnett Iverson Shaq Wade get wayyyyy more recognition then any other professional athletes football included. Crosby and Ovenchkin and uhh well ummmm i dont think there is another superstar in the entire league. Hockey is coming back and promoting those 2 players very well but it will never ever come close to basketball.Just a simple fact

Pens in 6 by the way

[The Ancient Enemy]

Let's talk about how popular the NBA supposedly is.

Do you know anyone that watches regular season NBA games?

The reason why the NHL is not as popular (supposedly) as the NBA is because they took those teams out of Canada and put them in terrible markets. The Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning both won Stanley Cups recently and no one cared. Carolina was actually one of the best teams in hockey for a little while and still couldn't establish any kind of a fanbase. Gary Bettman is the worst commissioner in pro sports right now. He is obsessed with trying to make the NHL an American league, even though the history of the league is very Canadian and is fueled by the awesome hockey fans North of our border. Nashville almost moved to Hamilton a year ago, and all of a sudden, miraculously, all these fans wanted to keep hockey in Nashville. Now, isn't that a little fishy? Meanwhile, the people of Winnipeg are screaming for a team, yet we continue to shove hockey into places like Atlanta. Why in the hell wouldn't you want to add more teams in CANADA where hockey is 10 times more popular? If the NHL is going to grow, then you need to start with the hardcore fans and branch out. Expansion isn't the answer, because there are already signs of the talent being spread too thin across 30 teams, let alone 32.

Here's a link to the NHL attendance figures:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendanc ... &year=2008

Here's the NBA attendance figures:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendanc ... asonType=2

As you can see, there is virtually no difference. Both leagues have 30 teams and play 41 home games each. BUT, there are three NBA teams with lower home attendance averages than the last-placed NHL club, the Islanders.

Of the top 9 teams in the NHL home-attendance category, 5 of them are Canadian teams. Why is this important? Because there are only SIX Canadian teams in total. Edmonton ranks 17th.

I couldn't find attendance figures from the 95 season (Nordiques to Colorado), the 96 season (Jets to Phoenix), or the 97 season (Whalers to Carolina) but as you can see in that chart, none of those new cities are setting any attendance records. They are all in the lower half of the league in attendance, with Phoenix 2nd to last behind the Isles.

Both leagues have about the same number of teams who are playing to 100% capacity or BETTER during each home game.

So basically... to say that the NBA is way more popular than the NHL is obviously a miscalculation on your part. Keep in mind also that the NHL had a recent lockout and is trying to gain back it's fanbase. I'd say from the numbers that the NHL is doing fine.

If you look at the teams in the NHL who are at full home capacity, here is what you see over the past 5 years:

2004: 6 teams
2005: no season
2006: 10 teams
2007: 10 teams
2008: 11 teams

How about NBA?

2004: 2 teams
2005: 4 teams (maybe keep in mind there is no hockey)
2006: 6 teams
2007: 5 teams
2008: 8 teams

I don't see much difference. I think both leagues are run by idiots, and both could be doing way, way better right now under a different captain.