The NBA spent two days fully promoting the Oklahoma City ThunderLosing 129-122 to Cleveland Cavaliers. The historic matchup featured two teams that had won at least 30 games in their first 35 games of the season. The marquee game also featured the top two teams.
To add to the excitement, they both entered with long winning streaks. The Thunder are on a winning streak of 15 straight games and the Cavaliers have won 10 straight. Something had to give as OKC’s historic streak was cut by the narrowest of margins.
The game itself was exciting. Both teams went back and forth in a clash of styles. The Thunder dominated the competition with a historic defense while the Cavaliers overwhelmed their opponents with the best offense in the league.
It’s fair to say that the glitz and glamor of the NBA has paid off.
The Thunder’s close loss to the Cavaliers drew 1.87 million viewers. This represents a 20% increase from a similar window last year. The game peaked at 2.5 million viewers. The Cavaliers were trending Wednesday night on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A lot of noise has been made about the NBA’s declining ratings. Data about the game state is written. Were there a lot of three-pointers? Is it a bad product? Is the frequency of high scores too much for the average fan? Did the league rely too heavily on individual players?
It turns out that all the NBA had to do was promote its best teams — a shocking revelation that essentially bullied them. The Thunder and Cavaliers are off to a historic start and need to be recognized as such on a national stage.
Credit the NBA for eventually catching up to conventional wisdom. The Thunder will host the Cavaliers on Thursday, January 16 on national television in what the league is calling a “rematch.”
