Game #6 of the NBA Finals Raps@Warriors Thursday June 13th 9pm on TSN

[golden]

Load management will be terrible for the NBA if it becomes usual and customary. Part of it is TV/ad revenue. Broadcasters won't pay top dollar if all the stars are playing 60 games per season. But the bigger issue is long term. You have families paying $500 to go to a game that they need to plan months or at least weeks in advance. Little Jimmy puts on his Kawhi jersey and they go and.... no Kawhi. No Embiid either for Philly. Oh. Is that family going to do that again? Is Little Jimmy going to remember anything about that game other than his favorite player didn't play? What does that do to your fan base long term?

I'm not debating the merits of it from a training/health perspective but there are adverse consequences to it that the league needs to consider. Fans and media won't stand for watching a league built around its stars play games without its stars. The NBA has a real problem on its hands. I would argue a potentially even bigger one than the fact 33% of its teams are intentionally trying to lose every year.

How about saving money for Little Jimmy's education? Or other more important things. There's a perfect life lesson right there... courtesy of the NBA. Jim Sr. should stop being an idiot.

[Bendit]

Oh the waiting!!

[G__Deane]

Raptors are winning this tonight, I know this wont be a popular opinion but I really wish gsw can win tonight. I want so badly for us to win in Toronto. It just sucks because I know 100 percent we wont get our game 7. We are just way to good of a team. In fact I don't think the gsw in the last 5 years would ever have a chance against this team. It's all time great.

I would have preferred to win it at home....but only in game 5. Now we need to win it any time anywhere, no matter what game. Starting with tonight. We can win our 2nd chip (next year) at home.

Look at it this way: think of the airport welcome we would have robbed Canadians of it they won game 5 .....
This will be more like Olympic heroes returning....

[KeonClark]

Load management will be terrible for the NBA if it becomes usual and customary. Part of it is TV/ad revenue. Broadcasters won't pay top dollar if all the stars are playing 60 games per season. But the bigger issue is long term. You have families paying $500 to go to a game that they need to plan months or at least weeks in advance. Little Jimmy puts on his Kawhi jersey and they go and.... no Kawhi. No Embiid either for Philly. Oh. Is that family going to do that again? Is Little Jimmy going to remember anything about that game other than his favorite player didn't play? What does that do to your fan base long term?

I'm not debating the merits of it from a training/health perspective but there are adverse consequences to it that the league needs to consider. Fans and media won't stand for watching a league built around its stars play games without its stars. The NBA has a real problem on its hands. I would argue a potentially even bigger one than the fact 33% of its teams are intentionally trying to lose every year.

both problems have the same root cause. Rings or bust. If you ain't first you're last.

little Jimmy's annual game in February is more irrelevant than it's ever been.

[KeonClark]

Also, ticket sales/gate receipts are less relevant than ever. The league wide media deals are the cash cow. Mlb has a revenue from streaming that dwarfs the fans physically attending games, and it's all revenue sharing, theres very little incentive for blue Jay's to put butts in seats. Keep payroll low and rake in those mlb bucks

[suspenders]

I know that the NBA is a league of stars, but I also care as much about the "team" as I do about our star player.

For example, if I went to a game in February, I wouldn't be upset if a star player didn't play, I'd be upset if the team lost. I do like more than 1 player on the team, and if said star wasn't playing and we still won, I'd be pretty happy.

A win is a win, regardless of how we got there.

[G__Deane]

I feel spoiled as fuck, I think we have one of the greatest teams ever assembled. It's not like I'll be sad when we win tonight I just think the majority of people on this thread are seeing through eyes of a quarter century of disappointing.

Chill it down man
This is a good team, even a great team. It's not a fantastic team, not a dynasty in the making team (it could be with some tweaking).
It's sure not one of the greatest teams "ever" assembled lol

It's a Superstar, a borderline All-Star and a bunch of inconsistent guys who are vets that either peaked or younger guys still with potential.

[G__Deane]

I know that the NBA is a league of stars, but I also care as much about the "team" as I do about our star player.

For example, if I went to a game in February, I wouldn't be upset if a star player didn't play, I'd be upset if the team lost. I do like more than 1 player on the team, and if said star wasn't playing and we still won, I'd be pretty happy.

A win is a win, regardless of how we got there.

That's funny you say that. Whenever I take a little kid to a game, I know he's only there for the home team and his favourite players. So I choose a crappy team as the opposition, where tickets are easy to get and you're faer more likely to see a W which is all the kid remembers; being there and a win!

[saints91]

As an aside, a contributor on another site said there was plenty of cheering in the Oracle crowd when FVV went down after an obvious foul, spat out a chicklet and lay on his back with blood streaming out of his eye requiring 7 stitches but there was no corresponding rending of garments or gnashing of teeth (at least the ones Freddy had left) from US media (or Canadian for that matter).

First they were cheering and then broke into a “let’s go warriors” chant. FVV laying on the ground from a head shot, with blood running down his face. Which could have been very serious.

I don’t condone either action. And the people that were waving at Durant were complete douches. But don’t paint the Canadian fans any different than any other fan base.

[KeonClark]

That's funny you say that. Whenever I take a little kid to a game, I know he's only there for the home team and his favourite players. So I choose a crappy team as the opposition, where tickets are easy to get and you're faer more likely to see a W which is all the kid remembers; being there and a win!

Kids are cheap cause they don't care. Even D League games and junior hockey gets their motor runnin lol

[KeonClark]

Comparable seats in Toronto last game were out, 6 or 7x as much?

[saints91]

Go back and watch the last game.... the Warriors were on fire in the first because Durant was being a top 2 player in the league and the splash brothers got got off of it.

The Warriors got a ton of bounces, loose balls ending up and their hands, offensive rebounds dropping into their laps. Raptors players in foul trouble. And the Raps playing a brutal offensive game. We lost by 1

Game 2 we shit the bed in the third. 18-0 run, we lost by 2

The fact is the Raptors are a better team than the Warriors without Durant. Expect a Raptors win tonight.

[saints91]

I know a home crowd is amazing, but at the levels we are seeing from both fan bases, I think it could also make the home team feel anxious. There is the possibility of being too amped up, overly aggressive, playing out of pace, shooting an air ball over the rim (yes I’m looking at you Danny Green)

[saints91]

I expect the raps to be locked in tonight on the road, ready to play the spoiler

[suspenders]

That's funny you say that. Whenever I take a little kid to a game, I know he's only there for the home team and his favourite players. So I choose a crappy team as the opposition, where tickets are easy to get and you're faer more likely to see a W which is all the kid remembers; being there and a win!

When I was 12, my dad took me to see the Raptors vs. Bulls in 1996 when the Raptors beat them. I knew who Jordan was and it was cool to see him, but I wasn't star struck by him. Then again, I didn't know that much about basketball at the time.

I was just excited that the Raptors won.