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The NBA wants eyeballs on the games — even if they are bloodshot.
As fans basked in the euphoria of the Nuggets’ Game 3 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, the league provided a buzz kill, and a reminder that money matters more than anything.
Game 5 is now scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Mountain time and can be seen on TNT. Or is it ZZz? What are we doing here?
It is the latest start time for the biggest game of the playoffs. What’s next? Taking a cue from Major League Baseball and holding the Western Conference Finals in Korea with a 4 a.m. tip?
It makes cents for the NBA and its TV partners. It makes no sense for the fans. This series features the two best players in the postseason — Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards — and the start begs half the country to check its phone in the morning for results.
It is a 10:30 p.m. start Eastern time as a bookend to the Knicks-Pacers game. That means the Nuggets will finish around 1 a.m. And we wonder why the New York media so easily dismisses the Nuggets this time of year. They form their opinions based on highlights and Twitter timelines. Because, let’s be honest, the only folks on the East Coast staying up for the entire game are diehards, transplants or gambling degenerates.
And what about the Timberwolves’ faithful? Is it right to hold a 9:30 p.m. start for those in Minnesota? The answer is simple: no. This is a franchise that won its first playoff series in 20 years this postseason. So, this Game 5 is arguably one of the biggest in Timberwolves history and it requires Red Bull and coffee to make it to the conclusion? That we are even talking about needing caffeine to watch a basketball game is asinine.
It is not much better in Denver. The 8:30 p.m. tip is perfectly fine for those flocking to Ball Arena. Those folks are fully invested, if not lubricated. But what about the 10-year-old who wears the Jokic or Jamal Murray jersey to school? Is he going to make it to the final buzzer? It’s bad enough we have lost a generation of fans because of the Nuggets’ dispute with Comcast. Now this?
And there is this weird thing about people who have jobs and, you know, have to get up in the morning.
I understand it’s not changing. But it does not mean we should stop complaining. The NFL can do whatever it wants because it is the most popular sport in the United States. It will feature games on every day of the week this season, other than Tuesday, including contests on Christmas Wednesday. To watch all the games you need more subscriptions than a pharmacist has prescriptions.
Does the NBA have to gouge with inconvenience as well? Wouldn’t it be nice to sit down with the remote at 7 p.m. and watch the full game without needing passwords, multiple screens and bottles of 5-Hour Energy?
The game time is an insult. It shows a lack of respect for the audience. Watching Jokic vs. Ant-Man should be fun, not an experience that feels like cramming for a final college exam.
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