2019 NBA Finals Thread, Part 3: Golden State Warriors vs Toronto Raptors | SERIES TIED AT 1

[SFour]

Nuetralize one of Curry or Klay and there simply isnt enough scorers to supplement KD's absense

if I was the Raptors I'd be trying to get one of Curry or Draymond in foul trouble...Curry specifically has been struggling with foul trouble in this playoff run...averaging 3.4 personal fouls per game, a career high

[Wo1verine]

Raps need to really take advantage with Durant being out every game should be treated as a must win IMO.

[Young Stapler]

Maybe NBA is playing on Sunday because of the Champions League Final? I think that would make sense from a global audience perspective. Just a theory...

[Hero]

It's just 1-0. Still gotta even get the next 2 wins vs a team that was on a 6 game winning streak.

I am not a fan of either team, but I am definitely pulling for the Raptors. Does anybody else feel that even if the Raptors took a 3-0 lead, the Warriors could very well be the first team in history to come back from that series deficit? Especially if Durant comes back.

That is my fear. Raps have always been on the wrong side of history (in the past). I think we'd win if we somehow went up 3-0 but it would no doubt be looming in my head.

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[SFour]

Raps need to really take advantage with Durant being out every game should be treated as a must win IMO.

there's no reason Raps should lose at home with KD sitting out...a 1-1 split would be very disappointing.

[minami]

Just watched game 1 this morning (somehow managed to avoid hearing about the result). And loved it. The Raptors still don´t seem to flow and think this team´s potential is significantly higher, but yet they are looking pretty solid with Gasol, Siakam and Green stepping up. So happy for Marc feeling important also, as we all expected.

[Bankai]

Warriors just don't have the talent to keep up without KD.

Yea Warriors need more help, they need Anthony Davis as well to make it fair. They need 6 All Stars instead of 5.

Wait what? Last thing I would think of the Warriors, is lack of talent.

[SOUL]

Doesn't matter what the Canadian numbers are. They didn't count the Canadian numbers in previous years either.

The fact remains that for US viewers Game 1 ratings were at their lowest point in 10 years.

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It's 2019. Whole bunch of people consume the games differently than 10 years ago. You've got online streams, people watching on phones, tablets, youtube, instagram/twitter highlights etc.

Not sure why people care about these archaic TV ratings anymore. Do you work for cable and get kickbacks? It's a dead technology.

+1

[LKN]

It's only one game - but I do feel that those of us who said that the Raptors/Bucks defense was a level above anything the Warriors had seen in the WC playoffs are at least somewhat validated.

[Guest202]

Doesn't matter what the Canadian numbers are. They didn't count the Canadian numbers in previous years either.

The fact remains that for US viewers Game 1 ratings were at their lowest point in 10 years.

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It's 2019. Whole bunch of people consume the games differently than 10 years ago. You've got online streams, people watching on phones, tablets, youtube, instagram/twitter highlights etc.

Not sure why people care about these archaic TV ratings anymore. Do you work for cable and get kickbacks? It's a dead technology.

What I'd be curious to see is if NBA Finals social media engagements are up or down. I'd bet Drake has made them all time highs. I'm seeing that content on outlets that never cover the NBA Finals.

[LKN]

The main point is if the Warriors were truly responsible for the increase in Finals viewership over the past 5 years....why did US viewership dip to a 10 year low in the United States?

What changed?

No Lebron.

Lebron is the GOAT for a reason

LOL, if TV ratings are some kind of indicator of GOAT status then MJ is the GOAT by a country mile.

The 1998 finals are still by far the highest rated finals ever (and the NBA has never gotten back to the finals ratings it had from 1985 until 1998). I will say I'm interested in how many people stream now (esp in say the last 3-5 years... not sure if that's reflected at all in the numbers).

Interestingly enough the GSW/Cavs finals garnered higher ratings than any of the Miami finals.

[Ugly Duckling]

It's a matchup thing. The Warriors seemed rejuvenated after Durant went down. His ISO game was stifling the free flowing offense needed to put away the Rockets, who play that way as well under D'Antoni. The Raptors are fast, but play more controlled, measured ball. They're also a much better defensive team, which is why the Warriors could use Durant to get them a bucket when the Raptors defense becomes stifling, as it often does. They could also use him on the defensive end to limit Siakam and allow the Kawhi double team. This is why the Raptors need game 2. Durant could be back for game 3 in Golden State. Put FVV on Curry and have him shoot more 3's. FVV is on fire since the birth of his son

[Klayforspicy]

The main point is if the Warriors were truly responsible for the increase in Finals viewership over the past 5 years....why did US viewership dip to a 10 year low in the United States?

What changed?

No Lebron.

Lebron is the GOAT for a reason

LOL, if TV ratings are some kind of indicator of GOAT status then MJ is the GOAT by a country mile.

The 1998 finals are still by far the highest rated finals ever (and the NBA has never gotten back to the finals ratings it had from 1985 until 1998). I will say I'm interested in how many people stream now (esp in say the last 3-5 years... not sure if that's reflected at all in the numbers).

Interestingly enough the GSW/Cavs finals garnered higher ratings than any of the Miami finals.

Most people I know are using IPs or streaming.

All of these dinosaur ratings will soon be obselete. It's like arguing about CD sales in 2019.

[LKN]

Lebron is the GOAT for a reason

LOL, if TV ratings are some kind of indicator of GOAT status then MJ is the GOAT by a country mile.

The 1998 finals are still by far the highest rated finals ever (and the NBA has never gotten back to the finals ratings it had from 1985 until 1998). I will say I'm interested in how many people stream now (esp in say the last 3-5 years... not sure if that's reflected at all in the numbers).

Interestingly enough the GSW/Cavs finals garnered higher ratings than any of the Miami finals.

Most people I know are using IPs or streaming.

All of these dinosaur ratings will soon be obselete. It's like arguing about CD sales in 2019.

That may very well be true. I haven't had cable since 2011 and I'm a bit over 40... I'm sure people younger than me are cutting the cord at higher rates.

[cavs4life03]

I'm 28 and haven't had cable in 5 years. Cable is a useless bill.

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[og15]

Just watched game 1 this morning (somehow managed to avoid hearing about the result). And loved it. The Raptors still don´t seem to flow and think this team´s potential is significantly higher, but yet they are looking pretty solid with Gasol, Siakam and Green stepping up. So happy for Marc feeling important also, as we all expected.

Wow, impressive

[og15]

It's only one game - but I do feel that those of us who said that the Raptors/Bucks defense was a level above anything the Warriors had seen in the WC playoffs are at least somewhat validated.

Raptors were terrific on offense, they had a 126.1 Ortg, but the Warriors still had a 116.5 Ortg and a TS% of 59.5% in the game. The Raptors defense was good enough to win relative to their offensive production, but in a vacuum, that’s not the best defense against the Warriors in a whole game by any means. I won’t cite the Clippers series because the wins had little to do with defense and all to do with just outdoing the Warriors on offense. The Rockets for example though held the Warriors to 108.9 Ortg / 59.9 TS% in game 1, low Ortg was due to forcing 20 turnovers, but their offense wasn’t able to perform enough to get the win. In their game 4 win they held GS to 109.0 Ortg / 53.8 TS%. They lost game 5 giving up 111.4 Ortg / 56 TS%. All those are better whole game defense than what the Raptors did in game 1.

I think there’s some winning bias going on in the analysis that concludes that the Raptors did something defensively to the Warriors that no one else has been able to. Since they won, we then are going back to narrate the game in a specific way, but if the Warriors themselves could have gotten stops here and there and didn’t give up 126.1 Ortg / 64.8 TS%, they win. The Raptors defense only looked fairly good because they were scoring so much.

Now can the Raptors continue that offense? Well since Van Vleet found his shot, that’s a big boost to team offense. Those specific game 1 numbers are very high and unlikely to repeat for a series of course, but they have the capability to still be very good. The Bucks series was a slower pace than game 1, but if we look at the last three games of the Bucks series, Toronto had Game 4: 125.1 Ortg / 60.7 TS%, Game 5: 113.4 Ortg / 53.8 TS%, Game 6: 116.8 Ortg / 59.8 TS%.

So they came into game 1 averaging a 118.4 Ortg in their previous three games vs the Bucks.

[Bankai]

This stat bodes well for the Raptors, the Warriors struggled mightily against the Raptors in the half court, the Raptors need to clean up on the glass for Game 2.

Excluding second-chance plays (on which they scored an absurd 1.87 points per possession), the Warriors managed just an 83.9 offensive rating against the Raptors' set defense, their lowest mark of the postseason and virtually the exact same mark Toronto held Milwaukee to in the Eastern Conference finals, according to Cleaning the Glass.

[Raps in 4]

The main point is if the Warriors were truly responsible for the increase in Finals viewership over the past 5 years....why did US viewership dip to a 10 year low in the United States?

What changed?

No Lebron.

The fact that there isn't 2 US markets in the finals is a big reason why the ratings are low...you have to ask yourself what the ratings would be if it were Warriors vs Bucks....or even Warriors vs Sixers

Then another factor is that a lot of Americans don't watch the Raptors so they just assumed that the Warriors were going to steamroll the Raptors on their way to a 3-peat...now that the Raptors won game 1 more people might tune in.

Also Lebron never had 20-25% of Canada tuning into his game but I guess we can just ignore that since it's all about the USA.

LOL

You keep taking it as a personal slight against Canada when it's really not.

The only reason I keep saying to discount Canadian viewership numbers is because when discussing the historical Finals ratings THEY ONLY USED VIEWERSHIP NUMBERS FROM THE UNITED STATES.

Accounting for Canadian viewership in the 2019 numbers would only skew information.

No it wouldn't? There is only 1 US market in the finals. Obviously viewership will dip. That doesn't need to be explained. It's common sense.

[Raps in 4]

I'm 28 and haven't had cable in 5 years. Cable is a useless bill.

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I didn't have cable from 2011 to 2017. I only went back to it after a reseller gave it to me for basically free. And even then I'll be cancelling it again soon.

It's a complete waste of money. The only thing I watch is sports. And streaming has gotten so sophisticated today that even that is pointless. The day someone creates a streaming app for watching Reddit streams on an Android box/Firestick will seal cable's fate.

If you're not buying through a reseller, it costs $150/month here in Canada to catch all the sports channels. Cable companies did this to themselves. In Canada, we have Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, TSN 1. TSN 2, TSN 3, TSN 4. They spread the games out across all the different channels so you have to buy the most expensive package. They'll routinely put like curling or a minor league hockey game (or even bowling or poker) on the main channel, and then put the Raptors on one of the speciality channels. It's a scam and I'm glad people are pushing back.