The Lead: With the University of Memphis men’s basketball team starting their season this week, the now-annual topic of attendance disparities between the city’s two professional basketball teams has been getting a lot of attention. The U of M’s exhibition games against local colleges LeMoyne-Owen and Christian Brothers outdrew the Grizzlies’ weeknight game against the Dallas Mavericks, and many wondered if the Tigers’ regular-season opener against Centenary University last night would outdraw tonight’s Grizzlies-Celtics game. It didn’t, but I think the contrast in the two basketball games at FedExForum this weekend is instructive.
The Tigers blew out an overmatched opponent — Centenary has an enrollment of less than 1000 and is apparently about to move down to Division III — by a score of 104-40. It was not technically an exhibition game — the win actually counts on the U of M’s record — but Centenary was paid good money to come be cannon fodder. They weren’t trying to lose, of course, but a loss was assumed. The Tigers’ home schedule is loaded with payoff games against over-matched opponents. And, given the advantages the university’s basketball program has over most other programs in the weak Conference USA, many of the team’s in-conference games aren’t much more competitive. Essentially, the bulk of the team’s schedule — particularly at home — consists of unbalanced games in which the home team’s victory is all but preordained.
The Grizzlies lost tonight, but it was a fiercely competitive game, at least through 48 minutes. And the overtime period wasn’t a dud because the home team lost, but because the Celtics went up by too much too quickly, and the competitiveness dissipated. Not every Grizzlies game is competitive to the end, but as long as the team is decent — which it is now and was last season — most games are going to be competitive. And the outcome is never preordained.
So, what do fans prefer? Competitive games played at a high level by elite players in which the home team may only win 50-70 percent of the time? Or less competitive games played at a lower level by inferior players in which the home team almost always wins?
I fear the answer is the latter. You can’t fill the building with basketball fans. It takes casual fans, and casual fans care most about cheering on the home team and seeing them win. And that’s the uphill battle the Grizzlies are fighting, even more so than against the college program’s long history. Even if the team is very good, they will be less likely to win games at the same rate as the Tigers.
But for basketball fans? This game was magnificent for 48 minutes. The Grizzlies battled a great team that started four future Hall-of-Famers (Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) and one amazing young player who is currently better than them all (Rajon Rondo). The Grizzlies’ own marquee player, Rudy Gay, made huge plays at both ends of the court at the end of regulation. And a rookie — Greivis Vasquez — playing the first meaningful minutes of his NBA career did so with a swagger that captivated the whole building. Would it have been more fun for most in the crowd had the home team pulled it out? Of course. But at some level appreciating the NBA game has to be about more than that. It has to be about appreciating great players and great play. And this game provided that.
