I was much more of a basketball fan than hockey and still am.........I was 8 when both the Braves and Sabres started and attended tons of games for both.
I would always argue for the Braves with my friends, who tended to be more Sabres fans. But, when we'd be at the game, and the Aud would be half full, it never compared to the Sabres, which were so solidly sold out it was ridiculous.............They would release tickets six games ahead and people would stand in line for hours to get I think Orange level seats. And, there weren't many they'd put up for sale.
There were some barnburners vs. the Celtics both in playoffs and in the regular season. You would always know it was a huge Braves game if they put seats on the floor behind the baskets. Then you know it was more fans than at a Sabres game. But, it didn't happen often enough.
And, then once Snyder decided to sell off his assets (McAdoo being the #1 asset), it was all over.............A freind of mine my freshman year in high school had season tickets, so I did go to a number of games that last year and it was depressing. The team stunk, everybody knew they had one foot out the door, etc. Nobody cared about the NBA around the country.
But, if they had just been able to weather 2-3 more years, all of a sudden the NBA became very cool again, with Bird, Magic and Dr. J. No telling what would have happened to the Braves then.