2024/25 nba season

[Andrew]

Denver's getting smoked right now, which I expected.

Just looked in on the game. If OKC blows this one, change their name to the Blunder. Utter domination so far.

[mp3]

The knicks game was just brutal and the effort on defence just was flat, even the energy in the Garden wasn't there because they priced out the average joe knicks fan with tickets no cheaper than $700 but give Boston there credit they hit there shots and we just didn't do enough on offence, OG played solid D on JT but he was missed on offence and we need to get him going.

I also feel sorry for Mitch and his free throws he's struggling and making himself unplayable at this point late in games

[Andrew]

I think that's a huge issue with the league at the moment, pricing the hardcore fans out of seats that are going to rich casual fans and celebrities who are there for appearances and clout. That's not to say that rich people and celebrities can't be hardcore fans of basketball and specific teams, and I'm no fan of gatekeeping who should be allowed to take in an NBA game live (or any kind of gatekeeping for that matter), but "status symbol" pricing is definitely going to prevent a lot of passionate fans from attending.

[mp3]

I've also heard so many fans that live in the US talk about tv blackouts for certain nba games where they live, even on league pass which as a fan living outside of the US I've never had an issue watching any game on league pass live but il be honest nowadays I watch 95% of my nba the day after due to start times but I've seen many a video on X and youtube about how the nba isn't helping the viewership by making it harder yo watch games In the US, I could be wrong there but maybe some of our American friends could give us some more insight into this.

[Andrew]

I've heard about that as well. It's certainly ironic how it's become easier for those of us in international markets, at least in some respects.

[mp3]

Yeah you would think it would easier in the US, back in 1991 I used to have to check nba scores on telly text lol it was later that year we got sky tv but I was a huge WWF wrestling fan back then so me finding sky had nba games was a happy accident as I was searching through the old analog channels looking for the royal rumble when I came across the Bulls vs Magic from the United centre, I recorded it and no joke must of watched that VHS tape 200 times minimal

[Andrew]

That's why Channel Ten here in Australia was my channel of choice back in 1998. NBA, WWF, and golden era Simpsons!

[mp3]

Yeah that's right, we had sky sports 1,2 and 3 plus eurosport showed European basketball I'd often watch but I'd mainly stick to sky sports but back then we didn't used have tv listing's you had to buy a magazine each month that had the listing's in it but at 10 years old I wasn't planning my months records like that so it was hit and miss till I found a German channel called DSF and they love there basketball there so until the UK caught up with the basketball trend in 96 I watched 2 full games a week and 2 shorted games in German a language I don't speak lol plus I found Pontel Videos which as you know mate were a dream come true to non US nba fans in the 90/early 2000s!

[Andrew]

I waited too long to make the switch to Pontel DVDs! Treated myself to a few last year for my 40th, though.

[mp3]

Are they still going yeah? It was nearly 30 years ago I got my first Pontel video as a birthday gift, it was the knicks and Vancover Grizzlies, knicks on the road then knicks vs Boston from msg ironically with game 4 looming tonight!

The one thing I remember back then about pontel is it was advertised as £9.99 per video which as you know is one full game and one "game in progress" as it advertised with a 30 minute nba action I believe it was at the end of the video, you had to use a credit card to order so my mum did that for me for my birthday and when she saw her credit card bill it turned out that they charged £26 instead, turns out the shipping was 16... nearly double the cost of video lol
They must of made changes in there company because the next week I 8 months later was only charged at 9.99 and forever on that's the price I always paid... sorry for rabbling on off topic!