OKLAHOMA CITY — The email hit my inbox with the subject line “Will viewers watch Pacers-Thunder?”
The headline in the newsletter from Front Office Sports: “History shows Pacers vs. Thunder may draw record-low ratings.”
It’s not the first time and won’t be the last time that TV ratings accompany a discussion of this season’s NBA Finals between Indiana and Oklahoma City.
The small-market matchup has generated this idea that there isn’t or won’t be interest. The NBA biosphere seems to thrive on debate and criticism with an emphasis on how some aspect of the game isn’t good enough and can be better.
The reflexive contempt for teams not from the coasts or bigger markets is odd. It’s not my job to sell this series. That’s on the NBA and its TV partner, Disney’s ABC, which is televising the Finals, with Game 1 on Thursday, June 5, at 8:30 p.m. ET.
