The most boring NBA Finals ever?
Many claimed that Denver vs. Miami would be the lowest watched NBA Finals in a long time, let's take a look at if they were right.
When the Conference Finals (Nuggets vs. Lakers & Heat vs. Celtics) were taking place, many thought that the “script had been leaked” and we were on course for a rebirth of the historic LA vs. Boston rivalry as the Lakers & Celtics would be led by LeBron James & Jayson Tatum into a battle for an 18th championship banner.. however that’s not quite how it unfolded.
The 8 seed (play-in) Miami Heat continued to defy the odds by reaching the NBA Finals in 7 games, meanwhile the Denver Nuggets swept the Lakers to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in their franchise’s history.
Both teams have fascinating storylines: the scrappy underdog Heat up against a Nuggets side oozing with chemistry, led by a 2x MVP.. so why wouldn’t fans want to watch? Some looked at the lack of star power on both sides. There are just two 2023 NBA All Stars in the Finals this year, the fewest All Stars in an NBA Finals in at least 10 years.
However when you look at the reality, being selected as an All-Star means well, not that much anymore. Bam Adebayo represented the Miami Heat at All Star Weekend, but there’s no question that Jimmy Butler ranks far higher in terms of superstar status despite not making the All-Star roster back in February. Jamal Murray has never been an All-Star due to injuries and the depth of guard talent in the Western Conference (Curry, Doncic, Morant, Lillard, Fox etc) but there’s no question that in the Playoffs, Murray rises to a level on par with the best guards in the league.
The data so far proves that point perfectly: have a look at how Game 1 of this series compares to previous years.
NBA finals Game 1 Total TV viewership numbers in the last 4 Finals (via. data found on twitter that seems accurate but need to find a 100% legit source)
2020 Lakers vs Heat - 7.69 million
2021 Bucks vs Suns - 8.70 Million
2022 Warriors vs Celtics - 11.90 million 2023
2023 Nuggets vs Heat - 11.58 million
In 2020, viewership was low due to the bubble - a conversation for another day - but this year’s Game 1 towers over the Giannis Anteotokounmpo vs. rising star Devin Booker and household name Chris Paul in 2021. Moreover, this year’s Game 1 is surprisingly close to Stephen Curry’s Warriors vs. Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics who were in the Finals last season - two of the franchises who have the biggest % of NBA fans.
Now if you were wondering whether the high viewership for Game 1 was just people checking out the Finals to see if it was worth watching, Game 2 did not disappoint. According to ESPN PR: Game 2 of the NBA Finals on ABC matched last year's average audience for Game 2 - Golden State vs. Boston - with 11,910,000 viewers. The broadcast peaked at 10:15 p.m. ET with 15,256,000 viewers, and the game was easily the highest viewed program that night across all of TV.
With the thrilling ending to Game 2, and Miami becoming the first team to win a game in Denver all post-season long, expect even more people to tune-in for the rest of the series. It all goes to show that the sceptics who predicted that this would be the most boring NBA Finals of all-time were completely wrong.
There is a larger conversation to be had about the trend of ‘fans’ caring more about storylines, gossip and drama than they do about the actual game; but we’ll save that for another day. For now, I want to thank each and every one of you who has subscribed to this newsletter. It’s completely free to do so, and if you want to support me please consider a paid membership for just £1 a month via this special offer. Much love. Mo.