Because there haven’t been a lot of games in the NBA with the NBA Cup going on, there has been a lot of time to talk about the issues going on with the game. The ratings have been a big topic of discussion and it seems like everyone has an opinion on that. Everyone is trying to figure out what the issue with that is.

One theory that has been floated out is that people aren’t watching as much because the scoring is down. There are still plenty of teams that score the ball, but it is down across the league. Scoring is fun, so it’s a decent theory for one of the reasons why ratings are down.

Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has something to say about that. When he was asked about the scoring issues and how they relate to more threes being shot than ever before, he gave a thoughtful answer comparing the NBA to the king of TV ratings, the NFL.

“In the NFL, people aren’t like, ‘I want to see less scoring.’ … Scoring is up across other sports. My question would be: Why in basketball is scoring being up an issue, as opposed to other sports?”

Mazzulla is defending the number of threes being put up per game because his team shoots by far the most threes per game in the NBA. The Celtics shoot a whopping 51 threes per game. That’s far and away the most in the league. It has helped them be the second-best team in the East.

There definitely is something to be said for the fact that every team in the NBA jacks up a bunch of threes every game. Still, Mazzulla’s point is valid. Scoring is usually what gets fans excited to watch games. Making more threes does that, so why wouldn’t fans be more excited?

Don’t expect the Celtics to change the way they play anytime soon. Their starting lineup is built around the fact that everyone can shoot threes. That’s part of what makes them so dangerous. Also, comparing the NBA to the NFL is a dangerous game because they have been at the top of the ratings for years.

Mazzulla’s primary concern is with winning as many games as he possibly can. He doesn’t really care if the way he does that is aesthetically pleasing to casual NBA fans.

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