Why America Will Care Less About NBA Finals Than Eastern Conference Finals

After the intrigue of the Eastern Conference finals between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, the actual NBA Finals are going to seem a bit anticlimactic. It's hard to believe, but not as many people will care. 

LeBron James' Game 7 performance gave ESPN a 9.1 overnight rating, and the series has produced the three highest overnight ratings of any NBA game on cable. Moreover, the 21.7 overnight rating in Boston was the highest of any game on cable since the numbers were first tracked in 2003. 

With one of the most passionately followed teams in The Association eliminated from contention for the Larry O'Brien Trophy, a major part of the sport's following is going to be significantly less intrigued by the happenings of the NBA Finals. Boston is undoubtedly a major market and the people their clearly love their Celtics. 

While the Heat will remain the super-media-generating-popularity-exploding-controversy-drumming-up juggernaut that we've come to know, love and hate ever since LeBron decided to take his talents to South Beach, the team they'll be facing can't draw the same type of interest that the C's produced. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder are undoubtedly a popular team with three incredibly intriguing players on the roster. Kevin Durant is the three-time scoring champion hoping to take the unofficial "Best Player in the World" crown away from LeBron. Russell Westbrook is an angry, athletic, exciting point guard with a knack for stirring the pot with his play. James Harden looks awesome. 

However, the Thunder simply aren't the Celtics. They don't possess the historical legacy left behind by the C's. While watching the green jerseys run up and down the court, you can't help but occasionally think of Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dave Cowens and the legions of players I've failed to mention. 

The Thunder legends are the young men currently running up and down the court. They hold appeal, but for an entirely different market. 

Then there's the LeBron problem. No figure in basketball is more polarizing. Not even Kobe Bryant (who is polarizing enough that I might get yelled at for making that statement). 

One of the primary reasons for the divergence of opinion though is LeBron's over-hyped and supposed problems in "clutch" situations. If they every existed—which is a big "if"—they don't anymore. In the word's of Grantland's Chris Ryan, describing the chase-down block of Rajon Rondo: 

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"First of all, LeBron sees where this is going before anyone else does, even before the sixth-sense-having Rondo. He times his run, going from jog to sprint to flight, perfectly, not attacking the ball, but rather the eventual destination of the ball.

Then there's the foul: a possibly intentional (probably not) hip-check-kick of Rondo, sending the Celtics point guard into the front row and underneath a folding chair. LeBron turns and walks away. You know who he is acting like there? Someone who would walk over a burning Cuyahoga River to win. As Rondo lies more or less motionless underneath the folding chair of a condo salesman/party promoter, LeBron could care less. Rondo can get up, he can stay down. Doesn't matter. Rondo doesn't matter. Honestly, right there, LeBron James looks like Kevin Garnett.

For the past few days, for the past few weeks and the past few years, we've been questioning the strength of LeBron's heart. Game 6 and Game 7 are what happens when he plays like he doesn't have one. Save yourselves."

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As sad and disappointing as the following statement may seem, some people just aren't going to care as much if they don't have the same reason to hate LeBron. 

We may be in store for a ridiculously entertaining set of games as the Thunder and Heat vie for the spot as the top dogs in the NBA and supremacy in the weather forecast, but not as many people are going to be properly invested.