In this modern age of NBA basketball, an age now several years removed from the slogfests of the early 00’s, there is no acceptable reason for why a team playing in the ECF Conference Finals should win a game while shooting 36 percent from the field. The NBA has been making gains in viewership, but all it takes is one iffy offensive game for all those gains to be lost, like too much cardio after a heavy lifting sesh. You think the casual fan is going to tune in after seeing the Celtics build a whole new arena out of bricks and get rewarded with the W? Nope. They’re going to watch… Game of Thrones or something. That’s what normal non-basketball-obsessed people watch, I’ve been told.
Jayson Tatum had a great game, which is really sweet and exciting, he really stuffed the stat sheet, maybe he even outplayed LeBron James? Yeah let’s just go ahead and say he outplayed LeBron James. Put it right there on his resume in the “Work Experience” part. His performance saved his team and also saved the NBA from getting their broadcast deal with ESPN terminated right then and there because of how bad this game otherwise would’ve been. You just know those ESPN suits were watching this game on one screen and watching the ratings plummet on another screen and watching porn on a third screen and freaking out.
It probably wasn’t so bad in the end, because people can’t really turn off playoff games with these sort of implications even if everyone on the Cavs not named JaBroni Lames forgot that there was a game tonight and overgorged on delicious food at Fanueil Hall.