NBA on NBC were exceptional at making 90's games and players seem heroic

[Stanley Kobrick]

Bob Costas and NBC could make even perennial losers like the Knicks and Pacers seem like fierce gladiators with long rivalry. Even players like Rik Smits and John Starks were traditionally marketed as legends with lots of history.

As the NBA dumps its archives during worldwide lockdown I look back at game footage and really appreciate the value of broadcasting playoff series were hyped up. What I most was taken by was how I misinterpreted the level of NBA talent as a teenager. The games were incredibly slow and sloppy on offense, lots and lots of open shots missed. Bunny looks from F's and C's outside the paint were passed up. Slow ball movement, walking up and down the court. Not many fast breaks or urgency to score. Your turn, My turn, Your turn, My turn: hoping other team misses shots. Most of these guys in the 2nd rotation and off the bench I can't even name.

I remember back in middle school with such a raw outlook how much I valued the grudge match these games were advertised as. But as I sit back and engage in lots of these older playoff series as a fan, i'm more impressed with how iconic NBC built up teams as historical rivals that realistically never really were. Even mediocre teams with 1 star, little depth and no hardware were given the legacy HOF treatment.

Incredible job by David Stern and his partnership with NBC



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjJVOG0W0s



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dGYafHWFCk

[SouBeachTalents]

You gotta give them props, they really were the best at setting up the drama. Infinitely better than ESPN/ABC


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alYFNnAbpok

[scuzzy]

Yes they were


Ever watch the Olympics? NBC can build up a rivalry between two figure skaters that never even met one another.


Never watched competitive swimming? Bob Costas will have you a lifelong expert in the back stroke and Michael Phelps legacy, memorised the whole US womens gymnast team. And once it's over you'll stop caring for 4 years.


ESPN must have pulled up the brinks to poach Stern off NBC. However it went down, it was a step back imo.

[SouBeachTalents]

Yes they were


Ever watch the Olympics? NBC can build up a rivalry between two figure skaters that never even met one another.


Never watched competitive swimming? Bob Costas will have you fascinated in the back stroke and Michael Phelps, memorised the whole US gymnast team. And once it's over you'll stop caring for 4 years.


ESPN must have pulled up the brinks to poach Stern off NBC. However it went down, it was a step back imo.
For being the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN's game coverage has always been extremely bleh and forgettable to me. Any sport they cover, another network does it better

[ArbitraryWater]

And its had tremendous impact too.

Look at the number its done on some of these people, who legitimately believe MJ or his teams faced good competition...

"Oh back then it was a war!" Lol. These people might be on their death bed, still living these MJ=GOAT delusions.

[Stanley Kobrick]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dGYafHWFCk

Notice the Jurassic Park theme song. nowadays ESPN gives you highlights Lil Boosie and Young Thug. it just doesn't have that emotional do or die feel to connect with games. make them seem meaningful

[STATUTORY]

really gave you that "fate of the world on the line" feeling

nowdays we have ESPN telling everybody "regular season games dont matter"

[ArbitraryWater]

For being the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN's game coverage has always been extremely bleh and forgettable to me. Any sport they cover, another network does it better


You probably dont know this one


http://youtube.com/watch?v=LOugl7FNd9M

Enjoy

[Shogon]

really gave you had that"fate of the world on the line" feeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BDM1oBRJ8&t=26

[scuzzy]

For being the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN's game coverage has always been extremely bleh and forgettable to me. Any sport they cover, another network does it better
ESPN has always been kind of a parody sports channel, it started as NCAA hoops with Dick Vitale then just started outbidding networks for other sports. With Sportscenter's popularity in the 90's their sports broadcasting became even more shock value entertainment to the casual sports fan.

NBC and FOX are much less humor based and make sports seem more competitive.

[Stanley Kobrick]

really gave you that "fate of the world on the line" feeling

nowdays we have ESPN telling everybody "regular season games dont matter"

"is this Reggie Millers last chance"

"1 game"

"will Larry Bird make his first Finals as a coach"

"1 game"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaMZhu24DoY&t=152s

[SouBeachTalents]

Compare that to this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIZ1dn4cvwY

Doesn't hold a candle to an NBC intro. They would've crushed it if they were covering that game

[STATUTORY]

Compare that to this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIZ1dn4cvwY

Doesn't hold a candle to an NBC intro. They would've crushed it if they were covering that game

too much hip hop culture, zero gravitas

yea i said it

[Wally450]

I was always a fan of this intro after team introductions during the Finals.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjIuNsdiYXc

[FireDavidKahn]

Players from older era's are shielded from having their weaknesses exposed. The vast majority of footage is only in the NBA archives and not available to the public.

Nowadays every single second of every game is available

[Stanley Kobrick]

Players from older era's are shielded from having their weaknesses exposed. The vast majority of footage is only in the NBA archives and not available to the public.

Nowadays every single second of every game is available
very true. I doubt someone like Charles Barkley would have survived with his antics today. Kevin Durant gets slammed for tweets and arguing with fans, Charles Barkley had multiple mid-season felony assault convictions for getting into bar fights with fans. he was a sloppy drunk, most were ever revealed until autobiographies of 90's players started coming out

[SATAN]

ESPN is cancer

[StrongLurk]

Great point by OP, of course being really young in the 90s while watching increases this feeling.

[GimmeThat]

imagine if Jordan actually played in the Major instead of Minor when he switched to baseball

[Stanley Kobrick]

Great point by OP, of course being really young in the 90s while watching increases this feeling.


Even in 1st round series it was marketed too seem extremely competitive with lucrative matchup talent. You couldn't keep NBA merch on shelves, Starter Jackets, Upperdeck/Fleer, Champion jerseys. The players weren't better than todays by any mean, but it was branded far superior

[DoctorP]

top tier presentation. man i miss NBC and what they were doing

[dbugz]

LeQuit fans are so jealous and so desperate already that they needed to compare commentators from each companies on each eras to prove their point.

:roll:

How loser can you be?

[DoctorP]

Bernie Stolar I think was the guy that knew how to present sports at an all-time level

a legend in his field

blew up the WWF/E with McMahon too

[Akeem34TheDream]

LeQuit fans are so jealous and so desperate already that they needed to compare commentators from each companies on each eras to prove their point.

:roll:

How loser can you be?

Although this thread is agenda driven, what has been said is mostly true.

[DoctorP]

too bad no one as good as Jordan for NBC to be able to do their thing again after "His Airness" retired

Shaq? nope

Iverson? just a little

Grant Hill? nope

then Kobe raped a bitch

[86Celtics]

And its had tremendous impact too.

Look at the number its done on some of these people, who legitimately believe MJ or his teams faced good competition...

"Oh back then it was a war!" Lol. These people might be on their death bed, still living these MJ=GOAT delusions.

You're just a kid who has no idea of what he's talking about and you do it with so much arrogance that makes you look even more foolish.

[Stanley Kobrick]

You're just a kid who has no idea of what he's talking about and you do it with so much arrogance that makes you look even more foolish.
that's not very kind, were all basketball fans here and most for a long time. otherwise we wouldn't take the time to register.

[Jay-B]

You are right NBC was so great for the NBA if you look back those 93-96 Knicks teams (who I was a huge fan of back then) were actually terrible lol they would get smoked in todays league.

[DoctorP]

You are right NBC was so great for the NBA if you look back those 93-96 Knicks teams (who I was a huge fan of back then) were actually terrible lol they would get smoked in todays league.

they do look trashy but it was about defense back then with little knowledge about spacing.

[FromDowntown]

You are right NBC was so great for the NBA if you look back those 93-96 Knicks teams (who I was a huge fan of back then) were actually terrible lol they would get smoked in todays league.

IMAGINE

Hold steady

IMAGINE a "tough" team whos 2nd option is John Starks.

[DoctorP]

IMAGINE

Hold steady

IMAGINE a "tough" team whos 2nd option is John Starks.

Starks was basically a better version of Pat Beverly GTFOH

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sDOdUc6Glv8/maxresdefault.jpg

[Roundball_Rock]

It is a shame NBC isn't broadcasting the NBA anymore. NBC was far better than ABC and co.

[MiseryCityTexas]

And its had tremendous impact too.

Look at the number its done on some of these people, who legitimately believe MJ or his teams faced good competition...

"Oh back then it was a war!" Lol. These people might be on their death bed, still living these MJ=GOAT delusions.

Lebron James lost in the finals to a washed up Tim Duncan, and a Kawhi Leonard who wasn't even in his prime yet.

[ArbitraryWater]

Starks was basically a better version of Pat Beverly GTFOH

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sDOdUc6Glv8/maxresdefault.jpg


You know you're not doing MJ any favors with this right?

A better version of Patrick Beverly?

Yikes

[ArbitraryWater]

Lebron James lost in the finals to a washed up Tim Duncan, and a Kawhi Leonard who wasn't even in his prime yet.


How did that happen?

[Soundwave]

NBC had nice production, but to think that's the reason the NBA was so popular then is ridiculous.

NBC also had NHL hockey for years during the same time and couldn't make it into a big time sport.

NBC also suffered ratings declines for NBA basketball which coincidentally line up to whenever Jordan was retired.

What a coincidence.

The fact of the matter is Jordan/Bulls were a cultural phenomenon and there's nothing like it in pro sports today. You can't compare anything to it really, Jordan was known and popular even with demographics that aren't really big on the NBA like white women, they would watch if he or Rodman were playing, there was a universal appeal across the board.

Stuff like this was common in the 90s (Seinfeld being the top show of the 90s):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrOAUBardeo

[sportjames23]

You know you're not doing MJ any favors with this right?

A better version of Patrick Beverly?

Yikes


Really, dude? Bev is a defensive hawk, but you think he'd be able to D up the likes of MJ or Reggie Miller?

[BasedTom]

The difference is that back then every single aspect of the production and presentation was geared towards elevating the game

nowadays they have a scrub like ryan hollins tearing down whoever lost, a cap nerd telling us about the implications it'll have on their contract negotiations two summers from now, a vegas guy, and then an interview with a local soundcload rapper to shill his new album

They even got rid of the Playoff court decals:
https://i.imgur.com/MjfYBsk.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/X05UHJR.jpg

and replaced them with this wack ass bullshit:
https://i.imgur.com/vyo0Jxr.png