Every Thursday, I’ll be taking you through the big story heading into the weekend. Or maybe the weirdest story? Or maybe just something that makes me laugh and I think will make you laugh too. Essentially, if you’re subscribed to The Bounce and reading every day, we’re going to have the same fun here as we do in that space.
On top of that, I’ve culled the weekend schedule for you to know what to pay attention to. Weird bad streaks against teams? Beefs you need to track? Just fun games with matchups you may not have known were happening? We’ve got that for you. On top of that, we’ll have a good old-fashioned Throwback Thursday to hit you with that feel-good nostalgia.
Let’s have fun by starting with a conversation that has really been grinding my gears lately.
Story to Watch: The NBA Product
At this point, I am entirely bored of the NBA TV ratings conversation. It’s just another topic of discussion in NBA circles as Adam Silver addresses this season’s lower ratings leaguewide. There are complaints about the league not having enough defense or shooting too many 3-pointers — or maybe just being too political to keep ratings high. As a result, we have to wonder if the league is hurting because of this and what it all means in the grand scheme of things. Leading up to the NBA Cup final between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Silver said this about the ratings situation for the league:
“If you look at other data points, in terms of our business, for example, we’ve just come off the last two years of the highest attendance in the history of this league,” Silver said Tuesday in an interview with The Athletic and other national outlets before the NBA Cup championship. “We’re at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially. So, it’s not a lack of interest in this game.”
He acknowledged the lower ratings but also started talking about the league embracing the world of streaming. I’ve entertained the ratings discussions in the past and wondered what it would mean for the league. To be honest, if I were Silver, I would have channeled my inner David Stern and asked if anybody had seen that the league recently inked a $76 billion media rights deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime. That would have been my only response, and it’s why I’m so bored with this conversation altogether.
The NBA just signed a ridiculously lucrative rights deal. So, how much am I supposed to worry about the league’s future when teams and players will be making unheard-of dollar amounts because of all this incoming money? I understand why rights for live sports increase as they do and inflation and all that economic/market stuff. Trust me, I get it. The league was never going to end up with less money in this latest deal. But the jump does show the NBA clearly isn’t hurting from these lower ratings.
On the other hand, that’s not to say the league doesn’t have things to address. For the most part, I believe the product is good. It’s not perfect, of course — not close to it. This season’s games and on-court action have been excellent. Anybody telling you otherwise either isn’t paying attention or simply watches too many Washington Wizards games. The league addressed a good chunk of its product issues after last season’s All-Star Game debacle. Increased physicality was allowed back into the game as we saw an uptick in enjoyable basketball, for the most part. If we were going to address one thing with the product to improve, I would not worry about too many 3-pointers. I’d actually be concerned about the defense that is being allowed.
Players have never been this talented at either shooting or dribbling. It seems they’re crazy athletic and taller than ever. Or maybe I’m just watching too much Victor Wembanyama and Zach Edey. Either way, the league should bring back a form of hand-checking to give defenders a chance. Today’s players can handle it, which could lead to more competitive basketball on both ends of the floor. The NBA may have turned its product into too much of a carnival game at times, with teams shooting 40-to-50 3-pointers regularly. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, as long as the opposing team has a chance to take certain things away.
We’re not going to head back to the hard-nosed, physical defense of 20-to-25 years ago, when we routinely had games finish with less than 160 total points. We’re more likely to see adjustments in style and real competition. That’s what makes the NBA and game of basketball so great: that feeling of competitiveness. The league needed to bring more scoring into the game, but now it’s simply too easy. Better basketball will provide a better product (genius thinking, I know), and that will end up affecting what people want to watch over the long haul of a deep season schedule.
The league should also market the game better. Far too often, we’re making a big deal out of things away from the court, rather than the things on the court. In some varying degrees, the league, media and fans are all guilty of this. The NBA struggles to market the great young stars and the teams worthy of your adoration. LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant? They know how to market those names. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder? The Memphis Grizzlies? The Houston Rockets or Orlando Magic? That’s where the NBA has really struggled.
It feels like they just look at what is trending on social media and try to cater to that. “Kids like YouTube and TikTok and Instagram influencers! Let’s bring that in!” Sure, but those platforms also have nothing to do with the NBA. Those entities of entertainment aren’t directly linked with the league, so it makes sense for them not to really be intertwined in the process. Even though social media coverage has been great, the focus can’t just be on trying to bring in young fans. At a certain point, the basketball on the floor has to be the priority. Yes, media consumption habits have changed dramatically over the years and decades, but the league doesn’t catch up in the slightest. Focus on the product. Embrace the media rights deal. And market yourself properly. Problem (potentially) solved.
Games on the Radar
Do you plan out your weekend around your sports-viewing schedule? You’re not alone. Are you the type to want to look like a sports savant by going to your local sports bar, suggesting a game to put on and then reveling in the praise from fellow patrons you’ll get for knowing what to watch? You’re home. Are you the type to just fly by the seat of your pants and wing it last minute when you remember games are on? Bookmark this post and refer to it later! These are the best games to pay attention to this weekend.
(All times Eastern)
Thursday
OKC Thunder at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. on TNT: The Thunder just struggled to score against the Bucks on national TV. Now, they have to prove they can silence the scoring critics by dropping some buckets on this Orlando defense. Regardless, I wouldn’t expect the over to hit in this game.
Golden State Warriors at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m. on League Pass: I could start telling you all of the reasons both of these teams could be excited in this matchup, but I just need to give you two names: Steph Curry and Ja Morant. There you go.
New York Knicks at Minnesota Timberwolves, 9:30 p.m. on TNT: This is the big story of the night, with Karl-Anthony Towns returning to Minneapolis to take on the franchise he called home for the first nine years of his pro career. These are also two good and fascinating teams, but Towns’ NBA homecoming will be the storyline.
Los Angeles Lakers at Sacramento Kings, 10 p.m. on League Pass: This is the first of three battles between these teams in the next 10 days. LeBron James looks healthy again. The Kings are playing great basketball. And it’s kind of a rivalry? Or at least it used to be.
Friday
Milwaukee Bucks at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV: The Bucks are fresh off their NBA Cup win, but with none of the hangover from the celebration. They go right to Cleveland next to test just how mighty this turnaround is. The Cavs have the best record in basketball. Milwaukee has won 12 of its last 15. This will be a great game.
GO DEEPER
Bucks and Thunder intent on avoiding post-NBA Cup decline that bit last year’s finalists
Saturday
Memphis Grizzlies at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. on League Pass: I’m encouraging you to check out this game to watch the Grizzlies, but both Memphis and Atlanta have been very good lately. Not to mention, this will feature two very different point guard styles with Morant and Trae Young.
LA Clippers at Dallas Mavericks, 8:30 p.m. on League Pass: James Harden going up against Luka Dončić? The Clippers and Mavs always seem to have provocative games in some way, and we’re getting a really good defense going against a really good offense. Styles make fights.
Sunday
Denver Nuggets at New Orleans Pelicans, 7 p.m. on League Pass: It’s one of three games on this day, with the other two being Rockets-Raptors and Pacers-Kings. I think the Pelicans trying to get back to form against a Denver team playing pretty well could actually give us a good night.
Throwback Thursday: Don’t poke the bear
As a 42-year-old basketball nerd, I’ll never get enough Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan stories. I can listen to them be retold constantly. I wrap myself in a warm blanket of nostalgia and just get lost in what’s being said. The hyperbole? The shaky facts? The lore of it all? I’m not into the Marvel movies or fantasy stuff like “Lord of the Rings,” even though I can appreciate the latter for being good flicks. But those stories about the greatest players of the ’80’s and ’90’s? Inject all of it into my veins until I overdose on basketball fandom.
For example, I’ll admit I’ve thought Jordan was the greatest player of all time since I was a 9-year old watching games on WGN. I wasn’t a Chicago Bulls fan, but I was a Jordan fanatic. And I’m not sure what could push me off that feeling. LeBron James has put up by far the greatest case to unseat him ever, but I still go with Jordan. As I got into this business, picked the brains of people who played and coached at the NBA level, and have learned far more about the game than I could have ever hoped to know, I’m happy to say I feel confident that I now know basketball far better than I did when I was a child.
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A few years ago, I went to YouTube and started watching all of these full games from the Bulls during the Jordan era. Instead of just watching highlights all the time, I wanted to see if my newfound “expertise” and knowledge about basketball (thanks to my profession) would show me that I’d been wrong and Jordan wasn’t as good as I remember him being. It turns out I was wrong. He was better than I thought he was. It’s the only fair conclusion after watching him control entire games and break down defenses how he did. He could will teams to victories just because he decided to. Game after game after game, Jordan dominated in a way that made me realize I somehow underrated him while saying he’s the greatest.
An unfamiliar Jordan story recently hit my TikTok algorithm. Do you remember Darrick Martin? He was mostly a backup point guard who played 13 years in the league. I remember his days on the Kings because my friends were massive Sacramento fans. Martin is the first player I remember saying he had ice water in his veins after one Kings win in which he hit some clutch free throws. Martin was a trash talker, no matter what the situation was.
During this story, Martin was a reserve for the Vancouver Grizzlies. He played only 24 games for the Grizzlies but still managed to generate a loss to Jordan with his talk. The Bulls were on their second-to-last game of a long road trip that took them to British Columbia. According to the video, Jordan shot just 4-of-16 from the field, and the Bulls were down by nine. With 10 minutes to go, Martin decided to feel courageous talking to Jordan. Martin says that he told Jordan in the fourth quarter, “Told you we were going to whoop your a– tonight.”
Antonio Harvey is also in this edited video, and he recalls Martin saying, “S—‘s not falling tonight, Mike. You’re having an off night tonight, Mike.”
Martin said Phil Jackson looked down the bench at Jordan, who wasn’t in the game, and asked him what he wanted to do. Jordan tied his shoes, took the towel off his shoulders and checked into the game. Jordan apparently told Martin he had already warned him about talking trash that night. We don’t have play-by-play of that game, but we do have a YouTube video of Jordan scoring 19 points in the final six minutes in that game.
At the 2:43 mark of that video, we see the Grizzlies were up six with 6:21 left. Immediately, Jordan drives down the lane and gets a dunk. Bulls broadcast notes the score as only his 11th and 12th points of the night while wondering if “Superman has come out of the phone booth.” Then, Jordan gets a jab-step into a jumper over Byron Scott. After that? He drives for a tough layup. From there, Jordan hits a fadeaway jumper over Greg Anthony in transition to force a timeout. We also see a jumper by Jordan plus the foul by Bryant “Big Country” Reeves.
As Jordan’s flurry continued, there’s another fadeaway (this time to the baseline) over Scott. He’d finish with two transition dunks to put the game away and had 19 in the quarter en route to 29 for the game. The Bulls notched the 94-88 victory. You also see Jordan go over to the Grizzlies bench and have some words with Martin. What did he say to him? Harvey claims Jordan said, “Shut up, you little b—.” Martin says that Jordan said, “I told you about talking trash to me.”
That Grizzlies team won’t exactly dispel the dismissal younger fans have of claiming Jordan played against plumbers. Those guys were 15-67 by season’s end. And this was the Bulls team that went 72-10 on their way to their fourth championship. I still love the story. I still love when I hear about these tales from the legends of my youth, especially now that I’m more equipped to properly appreciate what they did on the court in the way I’m able to watch players today.
I do not fault anybody if they have a different pick for the GOAT. I get it in a few cases and do think it just comes down to what you value. Peak? Longevity? Some mix in between? I get it. I won’t push back on it and will hear anybody out with it. But Jordan is still the greatest to me. I’m not sure what will ever change that.
(Photo: Boston Globe / Getty Images )