DENVER — A national sports media personality said the Denver Nuggets do not make for "exciting" television, hours before the team is set to appear in its first-ever NBA Finals championship series.
"Denver's not exciting. We're attracted to a story, a player: exciting. Golden State fit all of that," Patrick said Wednesday on "The Dan Patrick Show."
"Denver has a great team. From start to finish, the best team, but they're not tune-in factor-worthy. If you're a casual basketball fan, and you know the Nuggets are playing, you're going to breeze right by," he said.
"And if I said, 'Oh my god, the Joker's playing, Jamal Murray's playing, Aaron Gordon's playing, Michael Porter Jr. the third,' you're not stopping.
"Golden State you're stopping. Jimmy Butler you're probably stopping. The Celtics you might because they're the Celtics," Patrick continued. "I mean there's certain teams and players you're going to watch. That's just the fact.
"If you ask a TV executive, 'What do you think of Denver in the Finals?' If they were honest they'd go, 'Ew, well, we hope for a seven-game series.'
"Joker is not exciting to a casual fan," Patrick said. "I love the science of his approach every time down, it's a chess game for him. I love it, but it doesn't render ratings. How many times did we say during the entire year — the last couple of years — 'Did you see Joker last night?' Exactly, it didn't happen.
"But we'd talk about Steph, or we'd talk about LeBron, or Giannis, or Embiid, Luka. There'd be certain players you'd talk about individually.
"Now, I'm going to watch it and I hope others do," Patrick said. "I said when the playoffs started, when the Nuggets played the Lakers, I said 'I hope people get a chance to see the Joker in action.' Because you're going to watch because you have to, because you're tuning in to watch the Lakers. And by proxy, you're going to see the best player in the game right now, and he proved that. And will probably continue to prove that in the NBA Finals.
"The Joker's playing at a really, really high level. It's just not an exciting high level," Patrick added.
"It's not a knock on [the Nuggets], because I'm going to watch because I love good quality, pure basketball. They run, they got scorers, they bang the boards, they do the right thing. They make the extra pass. It's just not exciting.
"Lakers-Celtics would've been more exciting, and more eyeballs on it, that's all. That's the reality of it," Patrick concluded.
After completing an historic sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers last week, the Nuggets face the Miami Heat for the NBA championship.
The best-of-seven NBA Finals begins Thursday night when the Nuggets will host Game 1 at Ball Arena in Denver.
The eighth-seeded Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 103-84 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals Monday night. Miami recovered from blowing a 3-0 lead in the series to earn its second trip to the NBA Finals in the last four seasons.
2023 NBA Finals Schedule
- Thursday, June 1: Game 1, 6:30 p.m. MT
- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
- Sunday, June 4: Game 2, 6 p.m. MT
- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
- Wednesday, June 7: Game 3, 6:30 p.m. MT
- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
- Friday, June 9: Game 4, 6:30 p.m. MT
- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
- Monday, June 12: Game 5, 6:30 p.m. MT *
- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
- Thursday, June 15: Game 6, 6:30 p.m. MT *
- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
- Sunday, June 18: Game 7, 6 p.m. MT *
- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
* if necessary
All of the NBA Finals will be broadcast nationally on ABC.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: NBA Finals 2023
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