The NBA “has ramped up its Internet presence during the 2012 playoffs, launching league accounts on Pinterest and Tumblr and taking its Twitter game to another level,” according to Zach McCann of ESPN.com. The NBA's Pinterest page “features shoes, jerseys and apparel, in hopes the coolest products will get pinned and re-pinned to help the league’s merchandise sales.” The Tumblr blog “is a tribute to classic NBA playoff moments.” Pinterest and Tumblr give the league “the ability to provide a more visual-based look to users, something Facebook and especially Twitter can’t provide as fluidly.” However, the league is "still putting effort into its Twitter presence.” It created “two pages on its website -- the Playoffs Pulse page and the Social Spotlight page -- that document and highlight what’s being said about the NBA on Twitter.” Playoffs Pulse “lists the NBA’s trending players by hour throughout the playoffs.” McCann: “It’s pretty cool. For example, you can see people were talking about Chris Paul on Monday night during the Clippers’ victory over the Grizzlies" (ESPN.com, 5/8).
THUNDER STRUCK: In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht noted the Thunder-Mavericks Western Conference First Round series averaged a combined 20.5 local rating in the Oklahoma City market, a 28% increase "over the Thunder's first-round series last season against the Denver Nuggets, which averaged 16.0 in five games” (NEWSOK.com, 5/8)....In Dallas, Barry Horn reported the Mavericks season-ending Game Four loss to the Thunder “scored a four-game worst 6.4 rating in Dallas-Fort Worth.” Horn: “And here's the craziest numbers: Friday night's Rangers-Indians game on KTXA-CBS topped Saturday night's Mavericks-Thunder game: 6.6 to 6.4” (DALLASNEWS.com, 5/7).
