So, decided to buy the League Pass for the rest of the season - and these games are a little weird. But maybe thats because it has been years since I saw proper NBA games.
At least they are not as weird as German Bundesliga Football games with no spectators - that is just plain wrong.
Fans are more needed for football
In basketball, there’s a steady, predictable flow to the action
In football, each team moves slowly, probing the opposition for openings to penetrate. That’s when the crowd erupts into a fervor in anticipation of a score.
How do folks watch the playoffs when they don't have cable?
It does get me playoff games, including Finals. I don't know if its a different offering in the States, but I paid 46€ for the whole package here in Germany. Everyone of the seeding games (and their schedule means that I can watch some of the games live - usually everything is in the middle of the night for me), Play-in Games and every Playoff game.
I wouldn't have bought it if Playoffs weren't included.
How do folks watch the playoffs when they don't have cable?
It does get me playoff games, including Finals. I don't know if its a different offering in the States, but I paid 46€ for the whole package here in Germany. Everyone of the seeding games (and their schedule means that I can watch some of the games live - usually everything is in the middle of the night for me), Play-in Games and every Playoff game.
I wouldn't have bought it if Playoffs weren't included.
It is different in the states. Nationally broadcast games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc. are blacked out from League Pass as are all games in your local market. Networks pay a shitload of money for sports exclusivity and they go to great lengths to prevent you from getting around it. If I want to stream ESPN on my FireTV in another room, I have to log in with my active DirecTV account to do so.
Sports exclusivity deals are the main thing keeping cable and satellite TV providers in business anymore. Without them we'd almost all be unpluggers.
That's a good move by Lebron, but honestly, bubble Lebron is looking older than ever. I think he may have finally lost a step. He is really not getting by people at all anymore.
How do folks watch the playoffs when they don't have cable?
It does get me playoff games, including Finals. I don't know if its a different offering in the States, but I paid 46€ for the whole package here in Germany. Everyone of the seeding games (and their schedule means that I can watch some of the games live - usually everything is in the middle of the night for me), Play-in Games and every Playoff game.
I wouldn't have bought it if Playoffs weren't included.
It is different in the states. Nationally broadcast games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc. are blacked out from League Pass as are all games in your local market. Networks pay a shitload of money for sports exclusivity and they go to great lengths to prevent you from getting around it. If I want to stream ESPN on my FireTV in another room, I have to log in with my active DirecTV account to do so.
Sports exclusivity deals are the main thing keeping cable and satellite TV providers in business anymore. Without them we'd almost all be unpluggers.
How did national games in local markets work during the before times? Apparently I'm in the LA local market and I keep having to go to Spectrum Sports instead of ESPN. I didn't mind when it got me out of listening to Van Gundy and Jackson but now I'm missing Doris on the call which is irritating. I haven't had cable in years so this is all new to me.
I was thinking today at work for fun what team winning would create the most drama and I think it might just be OKC.
Potentially eliminates Houston on the way to the finals.
Chris Paul doing what Westbrook couldn't do on OKC as a capstone on his career.
OKC finally winning a championship, after losing all their MVPs, but with an asterisk.
Harden was holding Paul back on Houston!
Lebron can't hack it in the Western Conference playoffs!
Will they trade all those incoming picks to rebuild on the fly??
+1
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
How do folks watch the playoffs when they don't have cable?
It does get me playoff games, including Finals. I don't know if its a different offering in the States, but I paid 46€ for the whole package here in Germany. Everyone of the seeding games (and their schedule means that I can watch some of the games live - usually everything is in the middle of the night for me), Play-in Games and every Playoff game.
I wouldn't have bought it if Playoffs weren't included.
It is different in the states. Nationally broadcast games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc. are blacked out from League Pass as are all games in your local market. Networks pay a shitload of money for sports exclusivity and they go to great lengths to prevent you from getting around it. If I want to stream ESPN on my FireTV in another room, I have to log in with my active DirecTV account to do so.
Sports exclusivity deals are the main thing keeping cable and satellite TV providers in business anymore. Without them we'd almost all be unpluggers.
How did national games in local markets work during the before times? Apparently I'm in the LA local market and I keep having to go to Spectrum Sports instead of ESPN. I didn't mind when it got me out of listening to Van Gundy and Jackson but now I'm missing Doris on the call which is irritating. I haven't had cable in years so this is all new to me.
I've never experienced it with basketball but with NFL, and I think MLB there used to be a local option for nationally televised games. I remember watching a Monday Night Football simulcast with local commentators in the past.
I think it used to be with the big weekend, network games they were blacked out on the local sports channel but otherwise, they were usually on both TNT/ESPN and the local sports channel at the same time. I'm the opposite, I prefer the local commentary so I'm always disappointed when I can't have the wonderful sounds of Boston.
I feel like if the NBA wants to preserve Lebron's health out there then he should get whistled for that move. If Lebron continues to run over guys then defenders are going to decide to body him to prevent the easy score. And the problem there is the older you get the more likely hitting the deck will end your season. The best way to avoid that when you're too slow to get around a defender is to get crafty and deceptive, not just try muscling through them.
I feel like if the NBA wants to preserve Lebron's health out there then he should get whistled for that move. If Lebron continues to run over guys then defenders are going to decide to body him to prevent the easy score. And the problem there is the older you get the more likely hitting the deck will end your season. The best way to avoid that when you're too slow to get around a defender is to get crafty and deceptive, not just try muscling through them.
I mean
Yeah but
Lebron can still just muscle through not just one defender, but a few at once
He’s bald and old but he’s still basically Bo Jackson evolved, if Bo were as big as Karl Malone without sacrificing speed
Absolutely, but it's still a matter of when, not if, Lebron suddenly finds himself on the wrong end of that confrontation and nobody wants to see that. Especially if it is a hard fall that does it and now some poor defender gets shit for "taking Lebron out"
OMG, Pelicans holding Zion out for rest. Give me a fucking break. Pelicans org is very much losing goodwill from me over their handling of this.
What is the point of a player so precious you can never play him? The dude is 20 years old, just had 4 months off, and has played like, 600 minutes his entire career, including like 18 a game since the restart. Now we gotta rest him?
Apparently the Pelicans view him as a Ferrari that's just too valuable to take out of the garage. Much more important to just preserve him. Definitely nothing to learn about the NBA by participating in a tense playoff chase.
Nope, it doesn't. The lottery odds were locked in place before the bubble. The Pelicans are just deciding that their basketball player is too valuable and fragile to allow play basketball.
This stuff just pisses me off because I hate when sports leagues act like the fans desire to watch fun basketball is just a childish whim irrelevant to their cold, business-like risk evaluation, rather than, you know, the entire fucking reason the league exists.
Well, prior to the restart they said he was in great shape with excellent conditioning. If his health is genuinely at risk then, fine, I guess you do what you gotta do. But I wouldn't say that having a 20 year play more his 4th game after averaging like 16 the prior 3 is "pushing it".
From a basketball point of view, the point would be that so that he can play in high pressure games and get better. There is always a philosophical difference between whether people think that getting bounced from the playoffs as an 8 seed helps a player grow or not, but I tend to think playing in games helps guys get better at basketball. I also definitely don't view that series as an automatic sweep. Most 1-8 matchups aren't sweeps, and the Lakers have been looking like shit lately anyway.
But the actual point of view, that I mentioned above, is you have him play because the fans want to see him. That's why you have a league, to get people to watch. There are really few other businesses out there so resistant to giving the fans want they want as the NBA.
I know that the Pelicans incentives are somewhat different than the league as a whole, but it's frustrating when they act like the desires of the fans are just silly distractions from their very important business of dressing up in costumes, naming themselves after animals, bouncing a ball around and throwing it into a cylinder.
Posts
Fans are more needed for football
In basketball, there’s a steady, predictable flow to the action
In football, each team moves slowly, probing the opposition for openings to penetrate. That’s when the crowd erupts into a fervor in anticipation of a score.
It does get me playoff games, including Finals. I don't know if its a different offering in the States, but I paid 46€ for the whole package here in Germany. Everyone of the seeding games (and their schedule means that I can watch some of the games live - usually everything is in the middle of the night for me), Play-in Games and every Playoff game.
I wouldn't have bought it if Playoffs weren't included.
It is different in the states. Nationally broadcast games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc. are blacked out from League Pass as are all games in your local market. Networks pay a shitload of money for sports exclusivity and they go to great lengths to prevent you from getting around it. If I want to stream ESPN on my FireTV in another room, I have to log in with my active DirecTV account to do so.
Sports exclusivity deals are the main thing keeping cable and satellite TV providers in business anymore. Without them we'd almost all be unpluggers.
Obviously they shouldn't be hanging a 'Mission Accomplished' banner, but I think it's impressive that it's going this well so far.
How did national games in local markets work during the before times? Apparently I'm in the LA local market and I keep having to go to Spectrum Sports instead of ESPN. I didn't mind when it got me out of listening to Van Gundy and Jackson but now I'm missing Doris on the call which is irritating. I haven't had cable in years so this is all new to me.
Potentially eliminates Houston on the way to the finals.
Chris Paul doing what Westbrook couldn't do on OKC as a capstone on his career.
OKC finally winning a championship, after losing all their MVPs, but with an asterisk.
Harden was holding Paul back on Houston!
Lebron can't hack it in the Western Conference playoffs!
Will they trade all those incoming picks to rebuild on the fly??
I've never experienced it with basketball but with NFL, and I think MLB there used to be a local option for nationally televised games. I remember watching a Monday Night Football simulcast with local commentators in the past.
My man Booker is UNSTOPPABLE
So
He sucks
But ok
Is Booker still a smaller and less good version of bad Melo
Terminal Kobe brain?
I feel like if the NBA wants to preserve Lebron's health out there then he should get whistled for that move. If Lebron continues to run over guys then defenders are going to decide to body him to prevent the easy score. And the problem there is the older you get the more likely hitting the deck will end your season. The best way to avoid that when you're too slow to get around a defender is to get crafty and deceptive, not just try muscling through them.
I mean
Yeah but
Lebron can still just muscle through not just one defender, but a few at once
Still
FUCKING
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Nice
Absolutely, but it's still a matter of when, not if, Lebron suddenly finds himself on the wrong end of that confrontation and nobody wants to see that. Especially if it is a hard fall that does it and now some poor defender gets shit for "taking Lebron out"
What is the point of a player so precious you can never play him? The dude is 20 years old, just had 4 months off, and has played like, 600 minutes his entire career, including like 18 a game since the restart. Now we gotta rest him?
Apparently the Pelicans view him as a Ferrari that's just too valuable to take out of the garage. Much more important to just preserve him. Definitely nothing to learn about the NBA by participating in a tense playoff chase.
(I don't know if tanking even makes sense in the current setup but all I can think of)
This stuff just pisses me off because I hate when sports leagues act like the fans desire to watch fun basketball is just a childish whim irrelevant to their cold, business-like risk evaluation, rather than, you know, the entire fucking reason the league exists.
From a basketball point of view, the point would be that so that he can play in high pressure games and get better. There is always a philosophical difference between whether people think that getting bounced from the playoffs as an 8 seed helps a player grow or not, but I tend to think playing in games helps guys get better at basketball. I also definitely don't view that series as an automatic sweep. Most 1-8 matchups aren't sweeps, and the Lakers have been looking like shit lately anyway.
But the actual point of view, that I mentioned above, is you have him play because the fans want to see him. That's why you have a league, to get people to watch. There are really few other businesses out there so resistant to giving the fans want they want as the NBA.
I know that the Pelicans incentives are somewhat different than the league as a whole, but it's frustrating when they act like the desires of the fans are just silly distractions from their very important business of dressing up in costumes, naming themselves after animals, bouncing a ball around and throwing it into a cylinder.
Something's up, they've been bad with him on the floor post restart.
Clips Blazers has been real fun, not a defensive stop to be found though.