Outside the press box during game three Tuesday, the sound coming in was a multilingual cacophony. You could hear sportscasters around the global call plays in Spanish, Chinese, French, and Italian as the Cleveland Cavaliers battled the San Antonio Spurs.
This year's series is host to a record 128 international television operations, broadcasting in 46 languages. And for the first time, Jordan, Albania, Bosnia, Brazil, and Argentina are providing live coverage.
Daniel Jacubovich is a commentator for Argentina public television. In a country where soccer reigns, basketball is getting more attention since Argentina took a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics. It also helps, Jacubovich says, to have native sons Fabricio Oberto and Manu Ginobili playing in the Finals.
Daniel Jacubovich: Of course it's a great influence when you have a very good actor, maybe even a star in the best stage.
Jacubovich says Manu Ginobili is that star - the MVP of the 2004 Argentine Olympic team has spurred "Manu Mania" in his soccer crazed country.
South American fans aren't the only ones with a special interest in the San Antonio Spurs. George Eddy of Canale Plus TV in France says French native Tony Parker has ignited basketball in his home country.
George Eddy: 20 years ago no one knew what the NBA was. Now Tony Parker's on the front page of major newspapers and the major sports paper today for instance.
Meanwhile in the U.S., ratings for the NBA Finals are down considerably. Game two lost nearly one-third of its television audience from last year. And, the "Sopranos" finale beat out that game by more than three million viewers.
Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune says the NBA is making up for apathy at home by savvy marketing abroad.
Sam Smith: I think the American market has become a little satiated or whatever with the NBA. A little bit of ho-hum. We've seen this before. And, actually I think the NBA has done a smart thing. It's almost like you've sort have reached your maximum level and you can't generate more income in a certain place. So, now you take your business somewhere else. And that's what the NBA has done.
The NBA head offices aren't the only ones banking on the global market. Smith says Cleveland Cavaliers Star LeBron James is studying Chinese to prepare for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Tasha Flournoy, 90.3.