This Week's Newsmakers: NBA Playoffs Go Beyond "Amazing"
THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week’s newsmakers:
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NBA Playoffs Earning Record Ratings
On TNT And ESPN |
WIN: NBA CONFERENCE FINALS -- Even DAVID STERN could not have dreamed up this outstanding of a postseason. Buoyed by its two most dynamic stars -- LEBRON JAMES and KOBE BRYANT -- the league continues to top itself seemingly on a nightly basis with thrilling games and record TV ratings on TNT and ESPN. Many in the media are calling this the most memorable playoff season in recent history, and the late-game theatrics in both series are going a long way in helping form that mindset.
LOSE: WARRIORS -- May has not been kind to the Warriors. First, it was the backlash for not renewing the contract of CHRIS MULLIN, a fan favorite during his time playing for the team. Then the team fails to move up in the NBA Draft Lottery. The latest -- club exec RAYMOND RIDDER is called out for posting positive messages on the WarriorWorld.com chat board. The S.F. Chronicle’s RAY RATTO notes the move makes the team look “petty, paranoid, manipulative and dishonest on top of already looking ignorant, irrelevant and self-aggrandizing.” Ouch!
DRAW: INDIANAPOLIS 500 -- The Grandest Spectacle in Racing lives up to the billing this year, as a crowd estimated at near 300,000 watches HELIO CASTRONEVES finish a storybook month by winning his third Indy 500. Columnists immediately claim the race is back to the levels it was at prior to the infamous split in the mid '90s. However, the ratings from ABC remind us that RICK MEARS and MARIO ANDRETTI are not walking through that door -- the race earns its lowest marks since all 500 miles starting airing live in '86.
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