Grind City Media’s Lang Whitaker and Kelcey Wright Johnson weigh in on the most pertinent news from around the NBA. What’s lit? What’s lame? Find out each week right here.
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Monday, October 5, 2020 9:27:46 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: IMHO
Kelcey:
Hey! Well, we are three games into the NBA Finals, and after two dominant Lakers performances and a couple of key injuries to key Miami Heat players, this series sure looked like it was dunzo. (Which begs a question I’ve never considered: Do the Heat players go to the beach on vacation? I mean, they all live along the water and their arena/practice facility is literally on Biscayne Bay. Maybe they go to, like, the Mountains? But I digress…)
Anyway, the Heat looked like they were ready to be done, when a different Heat team showed up Sunday, with Jimmy Butler dominating offensively and the Heat role players finding that swag they seemed to have temporarily misplaced. Tyler Herro, who is certainly on pace to be the best NBA player ever named Tyler, even blessed us with a snarl after hitting a layup over Rajon Rondo.
So as I write you, the series stands with the Lakers holding a 2-1 lead heading into Game 4. Let’s start this week with this: Can the Heat build on whatever it was they found in Game 3? Or was that the Lakers giving one back before waking up and finally popping the bubble with wins in Games 4 and 5?
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Monday, October 5, 2020 8:18:18 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
Hey Lang!
We’re still watching basketball in October – what!!
Yes – my Heat squad pulled through in Game 3. Well, let’s be real; Jimmy Butler pulled the team through. Although the Heat have had some strong performances by both Tyler Herro and Kelly Olynyk the last two games, it was Butler that willed that team past the Lakers on Sunday night.
So, can the Heat build on that? Of course. Bam has been upgraded to questionable ahead of Game 4 and he’s a big part of this team’s offense, but an even bigger part of their defensive schemes. Plus, if the pieces that surround Jimmy G. Buckets continue to put up numbers — I still truly believe in this Miami team. The way that Butler’s swag and confidence rubs off on his teammates is unreal to watch (i.e. Herro’s snarl while shooting 6-18).
As for the Lakers, I think they just came out flat. We’ve seen this as sports fans time and time again; sometimes teams can go into games a bit cocky and I think that’s what happened to the Lakers. I mean, we saw it this year with the Grizzlies going into their game against the Warriors; they started so flat and then ended up losing to a team that they maybe shouldn’t have. But if LeBron is on AND Anthony Davis can turn it on again, obviously the Lakers are the most dangerous team left in the bubble.
As much as I want this to go to a Game 7, and I’m cheering for the Heat — you would never see me put my money against The King, LeBron James.
Other than LeBron, AD, Jimmy and Herro — who do you think could be a surprise step-up star in the next few games on this series?
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 9:25:07 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: Re: IMHO
Yeah, I’m with you on the Lake Show – I think they came out with too little fizz in their drink for Game 3, if you know what I’m saying.
We talked about this at some point on some platform, I’m pretty sure, but I’ve said all along that for the Heat to have a chance in this series, Jimmy Butler has to be the best player on the court in the series. And in Game Three, he was! That was a Jimmy Butler that, to be frank, we’ve never really seen before. Because Butler has never had to be that good to keep the Heat atop the Eastern Conference – Miami’s team scheme was what made them so tough to defend.
But with Dragic and Adebayo on the chilling list, Butler didn’t have the luxury of being able to defer to capable teammates. Jimmy has to put up damn near a triple-double for the Heat to be great enough to have a shot against this powerful Lakers squad.
To answer your question, the Heat can’t have a surprise step-up star: It has to be Jimmy Butler. Butler was the best player on the court in Game 3. Can he do it three more times in the next four games? He might need a lot of Big Face Coffee to pull that off.
You mentioned the Finals being in October, which is weird because the baseball playoffs are happening, as well as the NFL season, college football, the Stanley Cup just ended (apparently?), and golf is happening… there’s a ton going on. Which brings me to this story from The Hollywood Reporter about how the opening night of the NBA Finals drew pretty poor ratings. My question to you is, should the NBA be worried?
From: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 6:20 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
The NBA isn’t the only league that is facing viewership declines—even the Stanley Cup and US Open were both down a lot this year. I think that is caused a lot by the pandemic, people at work, the league still going on this late into the year, all the other major sports there are right now to watch at the same time, and the decrease in expendable money (for cable; a lot of people aren’t watching on ESPN). But also, I think I read somewhere that this is the very first time in NBA history that a Finals game was played at the same time as Sunday Night Football. Game 3 would have been played at the same time the 49ers took on the Eagles.
So, to answer your question; no, I don’t think the NBA needs to panic quite yet. If I look at the viewership for the three games, it was games 2 and 3 that suffered the most (a Friday night game and a Sunday afternoon game — like, come on!). I think the final factor is the bubble. Although the NBA has been *the safest* sports league in its restart, having no fans really does affect the mood and vibes of games and I think some sports fans just aren’t into it as much as they may have been in the last few years.
Lang, you’re a football guy and a basketball guy. If you’re looking from a fully fan perspective… Would you rather tune into football’s regular season right now, rather than the NBA Finals? Do you think that’s a big factor?
From: Lang Whitaker
Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2020 8:24:07 AM
To: Kelcey Wright Johnson
Subject: Re: IMHO
I’ll be honest with you Kelcey: I feel like we should just consider ourselves lucky to be able to watch any sports at all right now. Considering that the COVID-19 pandemic is still happening, that we still can’t hang with our friends or go out or do pretty much anything we did before all this broke out, I think it’s pretty incredible that we have sports at all. Remember those first few months when we didn’t have any sports on TV? When the NBA 2K League saved the day by providing the very best and most compelling sports programming available?
Well, right now we’ve got the best college football league playing (SEC! SEC!), the NFL regular season, the baseball playoffs, the return of international soccer, the NBA Finals… it’s really kind of ridiculous. If people are hardcore football fans, I can see why they might tune into an NFL game right now, considering we’re still relatively early in the NFL schedule (Week 4) and there was a crazy avalanche of NBA games on TV there for a while.
To me, the biggest factor is the lack of fans. I’ve been to dozens of NBA Finals games in person. That passion, that electricity, that tension—that is what separates a regular season game from an NBA Finals game. I was in Detroit in 2005 for Game 5 when Robert Horry spontaneously combusted and carried the Spurs to a win and sucked every breath of air out of that building. I was there in Miami for Game 6 of the 2013 Finals, and when Ray Allen hit that three-pointer from the corner, I swear it felt like the upper deck started vibrating.
That energy, to me, is what’s missing from these Finals. There’s also a missing connection to the connection. I’ll never forget being in Detroit back in 2004, when the Pistons were starting to break down the mighty Lakers, and on a Finals off night I went to a local movie theater to see The Dark Night. And in line in front of me were a couple of fans buying popcorn casually rocking novelty Ben Wallace afros. We saw it in Memphis this season: When teams get hot and get good, the surrounding communities buy in and it becomes a communal experience. Teams win a title, sure, but communities also win. And I wonder if we’re missing some of that this season?
Either way, this time next week we’ll be talking about a new NBA Champ!