While the Dallas Mavericks are getting ready for Thursday’s matchup against the LA Clippers, a lot of attention has been on their most recent game, a 143-133 win over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. That game set the record for most made three-pointers in an NBA game with 48, with the Warriors becoming the first team to hit 27 threes in a game and lose.
A lot of talk in recent weeks has revolved around the declining viewership in the NBA and some of the causes behind it. NBA legend and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley feels games like the ones the Mavericks played in on Sunday night are one of those causes.
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“Any time old guys like us says something, we’re hating on the young guys,” Barkley started saying on a recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. “I watched the Warriors play the Mavericks. It was one of the worst games I’ve seen. I think it was 140-130. They just went up and down the court and shot threes, and I was like, “Man, this is awful to watch if you’re just gonna have a three-point shooting contest every night.’ So, I think we’ve gotta figure something out. The most important thing of the game is the fans. If they’re not watching, you can’t keep your head in the sand, you’ve gotta say, ‘What are we doing wrong?’… I don’t want to go see a three-point shooting contest every night, that ain’t no fun.”
Of all the games to gripe about, this isn’t the best example. Both teams worked to get open shots, with the Mavericks having 36 assists on 52 made field goals while the Warriors had 39 assists on 49 field goals. It’s one thing to complain about three-point attempts, but that game was electric with back-and-forth runs in a tight, important game, and each team was above 50% from deep.
If Barkley is going to call out too many three-point attempts, he should’ve called out the game between the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls, where the teams combined to shoot 22/97 from deep. THAT is too many three-point attempts since no one is making them.
The real answer for the declining viewership in the United States is the combination of a few things, like the lack of rising American-born stars (as much fun as it is to watch Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic for the local fanbases, they don’t resonate with the national fanbase for whatever reason), how difficult it can be to watch games between blackouts and different streaming options, late start times, and more. Three-point shooting can be exciting, as the Mavericks and Warriors displayed on Sunday night.
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