The NBA on ABC
Encyclopedia
ABC
's coverage of the NBA on ESPN, known as NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC since 2010, is a weekly presentation of National Basketball Association
games on ABC
television network
in the United States, replacing the NBA on NBC. NBA Sunday typically airs on afternoons at 1:00 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. ET
. When not airing games in its usual Sunday afternoon slot, it is known as ESPN's Coverage of the NBA on ABC. During the NBA Finals
, ABC presents games in prime time
, mostly at 9:00 p.m. ET, when it is known as ESPN's Coverage of the NBA Finals on ABC.
Since its return to ABC
in 2002, the show has been produced by sister network ESPN
(a similar arrangement was made when ABC broadcast National Hockey League
games), and since 2006 has transferred all of its operations to ESPN, when ABC Sports became ESPN on ABC
(ABC Sports however, is still a separate legal entity). Since then, it has been an ESPN program, and only has been identified as ABC's coverage of the NBA on ESPN. This is the second time NBA games have aired on ABC; from 1965 to 1973, ABC was the main carrier of the NBA.
It was announced on June 27, 2007 that the NBA on ABC had been renewed through the 2015–2016 season.
was in the midst of putting together a new television deal. At the time, conventional wisdom was that NBC would renew its deal with the NBA and continue airing games. An article by the Sports Business Daily circa October 5, 2001, cited Richard Sandomir of the New York Times as saying:
The negotiations were closely watched by those in the business world, as it was the first time a league crafted a television deal in the new economic environment since 9/11
. Declining television ratings
on NBC had already led many to believe that the NBA's next television rights fee would be lower than previous years, and the economic recession
made that a likely scenario. As predicted, NBC's offer to the league was lower than the previous agreement's amount. Had the NBA agreed to the network's offer, it would have been the first sports league to undergo a decline in rights fees. The NBA rejected NBC's offer and after the network's exclusive negotiating period with the league expired, ABC and ESPN
stepped in. On January 22, 2002, the NBA signed a six-year deal with the Walt Disney Company and (then) AOL Time Warner, which resulted in ABC, ESPN, and TNT
acquiring the rights to air league games. ABC and ESPN will reportedly pay an average of about $
400 million a season. Technically, ESPN pays the NBA for its broadcast rights and "buys" time on ABC to air select games. In all, the contract allowed the NBA to increase its rights fees by 25 percent.
On the deal, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol
had this to say:
the NBA has ever seen.
Each season, ABC begins their NBA coverage with a Christmas Day
doubleheader (with the exception of 2004 and 2006, when they broadcast only one game). For three years (2004–2006) ABC insisted on having a Christmas Day game between the Miami Heat
and the Los Angeles Lakers
. Since 2009, ABC's Christmas Day doubleheader has featured a music video featuring Mariah Carey
singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You." In 2010, Carey was featured singing "Oh Santa!
"
Following this, Sunday afternoon coverage begins in mid-January or early February. The number of Sunday afternoon regular season games that ABC normally covers is significantly lower than its predecessor NBC. In its first season of coverage, ABC aired 14 regular-season games, in comparison to NBC's yearly average of 33 games. That number increased to 18 games in the next two seasons, and 20 games in the season. For , ABC decreased the number of games it aired, offering 19. When asked by Jim Rome
in 2002 about the number of games on ABC, NBA commissioner David Stern
made this comment:
By contrast to Stern's assessment, the media and many fans found that the cable-heavy TV deal made many games unavailable and, in addition, devalued the league. Starting with the second round of the playoffs, TNT's NBA coverage becomes exclusive, meaning that no local broadcasts can compete. Because of this, fans of teams in the playoffs without cable are unable to watch many playoff games unless they have satellite TV. Also, ABC's coverage is always exclusive, including in the regular season. If a game is on the air opposite an ABC televised game, it cannot be televised locally. This results in some games not being aired on television at all. The Sports Business Daily quoted Houston Chronicle
writer Jonathan Feigen as saying:
In addition, unlike NBC or NBC's predecessor CBS, ABC doesn't televise the NBA All-Star Game
(instead, going to TNT
). Also unlike the other networks, ABC rarely televises either of the NBA's Conference Finals series. Each year, TNT will air one Conference Final exclusively (the Western Conference Finals in 2003
, 2004
, 2006
, 2008
and 2010 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005
, 2007
, and 2009), while ESPN will get the other. With the exception of 2004 and 2010 (when they aired no Conference Final games at all), ABC airs only the weekend telecasts ESPN's Conference Final coverage. Due to the every-other-day schedule of the NBA playoffs, this is limited to one game per conference final, as series do not often reach a sixth or seventh game. For example, the network aired only Game 3 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals; it was scheduled to air the Sunday Game 7 of the series but did not because the Los Angeles Lakers
won the series in six games.
Outside of the Conference Finals, ABC generally airs playoff games throughout the first five weeks of the NBA Playoffs, in addition to a number of special prime-time playoff games, usually televised on Thursday or Saturday nights. In 2005, ABC aired the first non-cable
Memorial Day
game in three years, when the Phoenix Suns
and San Antonio Spurs
battled in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Prior to the most recent NBA TV deal, Memorial Day playoff games had become a yearly tradition on network TV.
Unlike previous broadcast partners, ABC has never aired a non-Christmas regular season game after 3:30 p.m. ET. While NBC had several 5:30 p.m. start times for games, ABC has only gone beyond that time on Christmas, and for select playoff games, including the Finals. On March 20, 2005, ABC aired a pair of games regionally (San Antonio Spurs
–Detroit Pistons
and Phoenix Suns
–Memphis Grizzlies
) at 3:30 p.m. When the Spurs–Pistons game ended, the network did not switch the audience to the Suns–Grizzlies game (which was 94–91 late in the fourth quarter). Instead, viewers were sent to their local news. NBC rarely committed this practice, instead sending viewers of the completed game to view the end of the one still in progress.
coverage. However, ABC did have their own graphics (though similar to ESPN's at the time) for college football
and other sports. For the 2003–04 season, ABC established new graphics for the NBA, in an effort to differentiate their telecasts from ESPN's. On February 5, 2006, ABC established an all-new graphics package, including a Monday Night Football
-esque bottomline scoreboard for the NBA. Also that day, ABC periodically placed a "Countdown to Super Bowl XL
" graphic at the top of the screen (on March 5, 2006, ABC also inserted a "Countdown to the Oscars
" graphic).
ESPN, and by proxy ABC, began using the graphics from Monday Night Football
on games starting in 2006
. To distinguish ABC's NBA telecast from ESPN's, the 3-D ABC logo is added near the score bug, but on international markets where ABC-featured NBA games are telecast live, the ABC logo is not present. A new score bug was used in Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Playoffs
. The slanted score board is now rectangular with the background of the two teams colors in the background on the leftside. Next to that is the quarter identification and remaining time in the game. And next to that is the ESPN logo with the 3D ABC logo. The red background for the whole score bug is now a black-white-grey color. In the 2009-10 season, the NBA team logos were replaced with their respective jersey templates in the in-game graphics, except for graphics used following or preceding a timeout. On March 14, 2010, the graphics were slightly modified, with new fonts similar to those used in SportsCenter
and again adopted from MNF. The score banner was modified on Christmas Day 2010, adding a timeout count in adaptation from the current in-game graphics used by the ESPN family of networks.
Some complaints have concerned the promotion, or perceived lack thereof, of NBA telecasts. The 2003 NBA Finals
received very little fanfare on ABC or corporate partner ESPN; while subsequent Finals were promoted more on both networks, NBA related advertisements on ABC were still down significantly from promotions on NBC. NBA promos took up 3 minutes and 55 seconds of airtime on ABC during the week of May 23, 2004
according to the Sports Business Daily, comparable to 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the Indianapolis 500
. Promotions for the Indianapolis 500 outnumbered promotions for the NBA Finals fourteen-to-nine from the hours of 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm during that week.
They were also criticized for focusing coverage on a select few teams, particularly the decision to schedule the Lakers against the Heat
on Christmas Day for three straight years. However, for 2007, ABC has decided to break this tradition by instead having the Heat
, for the fourth straight time, appear on Christmas Day facing the 2007 Eastern Conference
Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2008, the Boston Celtics
replaced the Heat on the Christmas Day schedule and faced the Los Angeles Lakers. And in 2009 the Cleveland Cavaliers
played the Lakers on Christmas Day. However, the Heat-Lakers Christmas Day special would make its return in the 2010-11 NBA season, due to the arrival of LeBron James
to Miami. For the 2011-12 NBA season, the Lakers and Heat will play again on Christmas Day, but against separate opponents. The Lakers will play the Chicago Bulls
, while the Heat play the Dallas Mavericks
in a rematch of the 2011 NBA Finals
; both the Bulls and Mavericks making the ABC Christmas Day debuts. In the case of the latter, ABC will air the pre-game championship ring and banner ceremony for the Mavericks, which will mark the first time in NBA history a national terrestrial television
network aired the championship ring and banner ceremony.
, the pregame show is known as NBA Sunday Countdown. Each season, the show has been sponsored by GMC
, with exception of the Finals, where it is sponsored by Chevrolet
. Mike Tirico
hosted the pregame show from ABC's first season
with the NBA to the middle of the network's fourth
with the league. On March 19, 2006, Tirico was replaced by ESPN
's Dan Patrick
, as Tirico was moved to the number two play-by-play team. On Christmas Day 2007, Stuart Scott became the new studio host, replacing Patrick, who left the network. Other hosts of the pregame show include former regular substitute John Saunders.
and Marv Albert
. After Costas, (who was reportedly offered a generous deal which also included Major League Baseball
play-by-play for ESPN and ABC News
features) elected to remain with NBC, and Albert signed a six year deal with TNT, the network went with veteran broadcaster Brad Nessler
to be the lead NBA play-by-play man. Nessler, who prior to that point had not been the main voice for any professional sport on television, received a call from Marv Albert's agent, soon after getting the job. On the call, the Internet Movie Database
quoted him as saying:
Nessler was joined by Bill Walton
in a two-man booth. Joining them was Michele Tafoya
who served as the lead sideline reporter. The team did two broadcasts together before ABC decided that Walton needed a partner (much like he had at NBC with Steve Jones
) and assigned pregame analyst Tom Tolbert to join the team. Nessler, Walton, and Tolbert broadcast most regular season games, and every network playoff game. Other games were broadcast by the team of Brent Musburger
and Sean Elliott
. After the worst ratings
in NBA Finals
history, low ratings overall, and harsh criticism, ABC decided to retool the team. More to the point, during this particular period, Brad Nessler was accused (among them, the New York Times Richard Sandomir
) of not knowing game strategy well, lacking rhythm and enthusiasm in his game call, not bringing out the best in his partners, too often ignoring the score, and tending to stammer.
This was also the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Finals that involved teams from one city in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets
and the New Jersey Devils
were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs
and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8, Nessler, Tolbert, and Walton said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals
between the Devils and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
the following night. Gary Thorne
, Bill Clement, and John Davidson mentioned this the following night and thanked Nessler, Tolbert, and Walton for promoting ABC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
, ABC decided to completely revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler
was demoted to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott
and Dan Majerle
. Tom Tolbert
was relegated to pregame show duties only, and Bill Walton
was removed from ABC's NBA coverage altogether (he remained with ESPN
). Meanwhile, longtime Monday Night Football
commentator (and unofficial "Voice of ABC Sports") Al Michaels
was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA. Michele Tafoya
remained as its lead sideline reporter.
For the first several weeks of the 2003–2004 season, Michaels had no partner. However, Doc Rivers
, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports, became available after a 1–19 start by his Orlando Magic
. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, the team worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals
, which saw great improvement in television ratings
.
During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired by the Boston Celtics
. Though Rivers continued to work games with Al Michaels throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC would have to find a new lead analyst for the 2004–2005 season. In addition, the network dropped Brad Nessler from all NBA coverage, and did not retain Sean Elliott or Dan Majerle.
, ABC found a new partner for Al Michaels. Memphis Grizzlies
coach Hubie Brown
, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS
, and TNT, was forced into retirement due to health reasons and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers. Michaels and Brown began their partnership on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated Shaquille O'Neal
-Kobe Bryant
game. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. Michaels became sporadic in NBA coverage, doing two games in early March, and then three more games in April. Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen
. Lead sideline reporter Michele Tafoya
was on for all ABC games.
In addition to Hubie Brown
, ABC added other known analysts to its NBA coverage. Jim Durham
and Dr. Jack Ramsay
both worked several games during the regular season, while Brent Musburger
, John Saunders, Len Elmore
, and Mark Jackson
were involved with others. Mike Breen and Dr. Jack Ramsay were the first secondary broadcast team to work a playoff game for ABC. Breen called three playoff games for the network in 2005
, the most notable being Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with Hubie Brown.
Al Michaels was criticized by the New York Post
for not broadcasting the game and seeming uninterested in the NBA in general. Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News said that Michaels was simply “not a basketball guy”. Meanwhile, Bill Simmons
said during the 2005 Finals
that Michaels “shows up for these games, does his job, then drives home thinking, "‘Only five weeks to the [NFL] Hall of Fame Game
, I’m almost there!’" Another criticism that Michaels received was that he too often found himself in tediously long-winded explanations. In return, he would be talking over two or three possessions in a row (which Michaels seemed to be better suited for football
and baseball broadcasts, for which he's better known for). The end result was that he would hardly have time to comment on the action viewers were seeing because he was so hung up on a prior subplot or storyline that he felt the audience just had to know about. Michaels was also accused of apparently lacking the kind of enthusiasm and confidence (for instance, Michaels initially reacted to Amare Stoudemire
's block of Tim Duncan
's shot during the 2005 playoffs
by calling it a "great, great contested shot") expected of a #1 play-by-play voice.
Michaels, who had only broadcast a combined twelve regular season games with ABC (with all but one of those games airing from either Los Angeles
, where he resides when not sportscasting, or Sacramento
), did return for the NBA Finals
, which scored its second lowest rating of all time (despite the fact that it was the first Finals in eleven years to go to a seventh game).
For the 2005-2006 season
, Al Michaels and Hubie Brown were slated to remain as ABC's number one broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers
and Miami Heat
and were expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, that plan did not come to fruition. After Michaels left ABC to cover Sunday Night Football
for NBC
, he was replaced by Mike Breen
, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen worked the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals and 2006 NBA Finals
with Hubie Brown
for both ESPN and ABC, as well as all the main games ABC broadcast that year. The promotion of Breen gave ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler
, as Breen worked games every week. Previously, Breen has worked the Eastern Conference Finals for NBC in 2001 and 2002, as well as the Western Conference Finals for ESPN in 2005.
Also that season Lisa Salters
served as the lead sideline reporter for ABC's coverage of the NBA on ABC and worked the 2006 NBA Finals
on television as that season she filled-in for Michele Tafoya
who was on Maternity Leave. Salters returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role.
Many sports writers and sports television analysts praised Breen, some for his explosive voice and excited calls on game-deciding and game-winning shots and others for the fact that, unlike his predecessor Al Michaels, he was already very familiar with broadcasting basketball games and was essentially a basketball lifer. Despite that, he faced some criticism from those who complained that they would prefer a more established voice, such as Marv Albert
or Kevin Harlan
. Hubie Brown faced criticism from writers (most notably Richard Sandomir of the New York Times) as well as bloggers and viewers.
For the secondary broadcast team, ABC reunited Bill Walton and Steve Jones for game coverage. Walton and Jones worked the Christmas Day 2005 broadcast between the San Antonio Spurs
and Detroit Pistons
for ABC, the first game they called together since Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals
for NBC (NBC's last NBA telecast to date). The pair worked their first broadcast with Mike Breen, and worked the remainder of the season with Brent Musburger
, Jim Durham
, and Mike Tirico
. That team, along with the Breen-Brown duo, now often does games on ESPN's Wednesday or Friday coverage, which the previous ABC announce teams rarely did.
During 2006
, ABC also used several SportsCenter
reporters, including Tom Rinaldi
, Rachel Nichols
and Jeremy Schaap
, for pregame and halftime features.
. From March 7, 2004 to April 17, 2005, including playoff games, each game Michaels called involved either the Lakers
or Kings
(a total of 21 consecutive games).
, ABC's sports operations were fully integrated into ESPN and as a result, Mark Jackson
replaced Hubie Brown
as ABC's lead analyst (Brown would still pair with Mike Breen
on ESPN's number one team and Mike Tirico
on ABC's number two team). ABC's pregame show, which Jackson was a part of, will air from the site of the main game each week (much like ABC's first season in 2003
).
Additionally, Michele Tafoya
returned as a sideline reporter, after sitting out the 2005-06
season on maternity leave. Lisa Salters
returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role.
that he would be leaving ESPN after 18 years with the network. Stuart Scott
hosts ABC's pregame show for the 2007-08 season along with analysts Bill Walton
and Michael Wilbon
. Jeff Van Gundy also joined Mike Breen and Mark Jackson full-time, starting Christmas Day. After Walton had back problems in February, Jon Barry
replaced him for the rest of the season. That season marked the final season for Michele Tafoya
as she left her spot in order to spend more time with her family.
left her spot to spend more time with her family as she still continued to work ESPN primarily working the sidelines for Monday Night Football
before leaving for NBC
and to Sunday Night Football
in 2011. Taking her spot is Doris Burke
, who is also an analyst for the NBA on ESPN.
When Burke is on-assignment or working as an analyst on NBA games for ESPN, Lisa Salters
its secondary Sideline Reporter, is also its lead sideline reporter whenever Burke isn't there. When Salters isn't working the No. 2 announce team Heather Cox
is usually their to fill-in for Salters when she is working the No. 1 announce team.
Currently the main broadcast team consists of Mike Breen
and Jeff Van Gundy
, while the second broadcast team consists of Mike Tirico
and Hubie Brown
, with either Dan Shulman
or Dave Pasch
filling in when Tirico has other commitments. The studio team consists of Stuart Scott
, Jon Barry
, Michael Wilbon
and Magic Johnson
. Mark Jackson
left the broadcast booth to take the head coaching position with the Golden State Warriors
in June 2011.
ABC
's ratings for the NBA Playoffs
and Finals
have been lower than NBC's ratings. In its last year televising the NBA, 2002, NBC experienced a growth in playoff ratings, leading to the highest rated Western Conference Final
in league history, and a 14.2 rating for Game 7 of that series, which featured the Los Angeles Lakers
and Sacramento Kings
. ABC's highest rating overall is an 18.2 which came in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics
; being watched by 28.2 million viewers, it is the highest-rated and most-watched NBA game since Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals
, which had a 22.3 rating and drew 72 million viewers. Regular season ratings fell to 2.2 in 2005
and then again in 2006
; that rating is less than half of what NBC averaged in the 1999 lockout-shortened regular season
. The 2007 Finals, a series featuring the San Antonio Spurs
and Cleveland Cavaliers
, was the lowest rated Finals in league history, with a 6.2 rating and 11 share. This is perhaps attributed to the small-market representation and the four game series, in which San Antonio easily defeated Cleveland. Ratings have rebounded somewhat in 2008, with the Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 drawing a 3.5 rating, the highest rating since 2003.
. Whereas NBC used Roundball Rock for all twelve years of its coverage, ABC has used at least nine themes in its first four years. Three of the themes were traditional sports themes, while six of them (We Got Hoops by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Can't Get Enough by Justin Timberlake
, Let's Get It Started
by The Black Eyed Peas
, Lose My Breath
by Destiny's Child
, This Is How A Heart Breaks
by Rob Thomas
and Runnin' Down a Dream
by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
) were contemporary pieces by known artists.
For the 2006-07 NBA season
, ESPN began using "Fast Break", ABC's NBA theme since 2004
, as its theme. Because of the move to ESPN on ABC
(which calls for all sporting events on ABC to have the same production elements as games on ESPN), this means that games on ABC will have the same theme music from previous years.
In addition, ABC selected all female pop group The Pussycat Dolls to perform "Right Now" as the new introduction for NBA games.
For the 2008 season, "Nine Lives" by Def Leppard
and Tim McGraw
was used as ABC's new introductory song on their games. During the playoffs, ESPN also used the song prior to the start of the game.
on ABC is primarily male, with a fairly even distribution of people aged 25–44 (approximately 20 percent of 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 year old people surveyed said they watched the games). The statistics showed that 64.3 percent of the audience were white
and 23.7 percent were African American
. A combined 20.5 percent of those polled with income from $100,000 to $249,999 said they watched games, and Democrats
watching outnumbered Republicans
49% to 34%. This research likely corresponds to the 2005 NBA Finals
, as it was published in fall of that year.
For the 2005 NBA Finals
, the Nielsen
local people meter found sharp increases in the percentage of those watching the NBA on ABC when isolating the African American audience. In Chicago, New York, Los Angeles
, Philadelphia
, San Francisco
and Washington, D.C.
, the percentage of African Americans watching the NBA Finals was larger than that of the entire population by 15 to 30 percentage points. In San Francisco, the disparity was largest; the percentage of African Americans was 56%, while the general population percentage was 27%. Most notably, "More than half of all African Americans adults in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco watched at least part of the NBA Finals. This was about twice as high as the overall viewing by the total population in those two markets." Nielsen's local people meter also found that "In every LPM market, the ratings for the NBA Finals were twice as high for Men as for Women."
The 2006 NBA Finals
scored ratings of 20.4, 22.3, 20.6, 21.9, 23.8 and 24.6 among African Americans. African Americans accounted for 30 percent of ABC's audience for Game 6 of the series. Among Hispanics, the numbers for Games 3-5 were 6.0, 7.6, and 8.2, and nationally, the ratings were 8.0, 7.8 and 9.0.
alone. The San Antonio Spurs
have appeared on ABC thirty-six times, the most of any other team. The Charlotte Bobcats
and Los Angeles Clippers
have not appeared on ABC during the length of the current contract, whereas the San Antonio Spurs
, Detroit Pistons
, Los Angeles Lakers
, and Dallas Mavericks
have appeared on the network every year since 2002. The Atlanta Hawks
did appear on ABC during the network's coverage in the 1960s and 1970s, including a Christmas Day game against the Phoenix Suns
in 1970
. They didn't appear until Game 7 of the 2008 1st Round Playoffs
against the Boston Celtics
.The Utah Jazz
appearances have all come during the playoffs.
The Clippers in fact did have an appearance scheduled on ABC, for an April 15, 2007 home game versus the Sacramento Kings. However, due to the lackluster performances by both teams during the course of the season, ABC instead pulled the game from its schedule, and inserted a game between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs (which was already part of that day's regional doubleheader schedule), and that Kings-Clippers matchup was instead aired locally on each team's regional sports carrier, thus waiving ABC's exclusivity rule for that 3:30pm Eastern time slot.
The Los Angeles Lakers
have appeared in ABC's featured Christmas Day game every season (against the Sacramento Kings
in 2002, the Houston Rockets
in 2003, the Miami Heat
in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010, the Phoenix Suns
in 2007, the Boston Celtics
in 2008, and the Cleveland Cavaliers
in 2009). After the Miami Heat, who have three Christmas Day appearances on ABC, the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics are the only other teams to have repeat appearances on the holiday.
. During the 2005 NBA Playoffs, games were sponsored by XXX: State of the Union
and, during the Finals, Fantastic Four
. From 2002 to 2005, ABC's halftime report was sponsored by Verizon Wireless
. Starting with the 2005-06 season
, it was sponsored by T-Mobile
. From 2002 to 2005, ABC had a GMC
sponsored feature known as the GMC Professional Grade Plays of the Week, which was later changed to the GMC Professional Grade Matchup during the 2005 NBA Playoffs. During the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC adopted one of ESPN's SportsCenter
features, The Budweiser
Hot Seat, which was hosted by Jim Gray
. Other ESPN features that ABC has used include the Sprite
Mad Skillz, and GameTrack or Storyline, which was sponsored by varied brands, including KFC and Volkswagen
, ABC's telecast of the Miami Heat
–Los Angeles Lakers
game on Christmas Day 2004, was sponsored by American Express
, also the NBA Sunday package after the All-Star break in 2007 became sponsored by Hertz
.
As official sponsors of the NBA, T-Mobile
, Sprite/Coca-Cola
, Budweiser/Bud Light
, American Express
and Toyota each sponsor segments and/or have commercials aired during telecasts.
has delivered weekly interviews with NBA players in a segment known as Access Ahmad. In addition, Rashad hosts NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad, a weekly show about the lives of NBA personalities. From 2003 to 2005, ABC's pregame show had a feature known as The NBA Minute, where celebrities (including Ice Cube
, Samuel L. Jackson
, and Ron Howard
) would have a minute to talk about the NBA.
, ABC did televise Game 7 of the Los Angeles Lakers
–Boston Celtics
series in prime time on a weeknight. The following season, ABC aired the 1970 NBA Finals
in full, making it the first NBA Final to have all games televised nationally.
Commentators for the original NBA on ABC included play-by-play men Keith Jackson
and Chris Schenkel
and analysts
Jack Twyman
, Bob Cousy
, and Bill Russell. On April 8, 1967, an AFTRA
strike
forced ABC Sports producer Chuck Howard
and director Chet Forte
to call Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between Boston Celtics
and Philadelphia 76ers
. Curt Gowdy
also was the play-by-play for half of the season in 1967.
The first nationally televised Christmas Day NBA broadcast occurred in , when ABC broadcast a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Diego Rockets
from San Diego. Jerry Gross and Jack Twyman called that particular broadcast for ABC. ABC would continue to televise Christmas Day games on through . The remainder of these broadcasts, emulated from Phoenix
. Chris Schenkel did play-by-play for ABC during this period with the exception of , when Keith Jackson had the honors. Jack Twyman remained in the color commentating position up until , when Bill Russell took over.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's coverage of the NBA on ESPN, known as NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC since 2010, is a weekly presentation of National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
games on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
in the United States, replacing the NBA on NBC. NBA Sunday typically airs on afternoons at 1:00 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. ET
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. When not airing games in its usual Sunday afternoon slot, it is known as ESPN's Coverage of the NBA on ABC. During the NBA Finals
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
, ABC presents games in prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
, mostly at 9:00 p.m. ET, when it is known as ESPN's Coverage of the NBA Finals on ABC.
Since its return to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 2002, the show has been produced by sister network ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
(a similar arrangement was made when ABC broadcast National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
games), and since 2006 has transferred all of its operations to ESPN, when ABC Sports became ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports division has been merged with ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...
(ABC Sports however, is still a separate legal entity). Since then, it has been an ESPN program, and only has been identified as ABC's coverage of the NBA on ESPN. This is the second time NBA games have aired on ABC; from 1965 to 1973, ABC was the main carrier of the NBA.
It was announced on June 27, 2007 that the NBA on ABC had been renewed through the 2015–2016 season.
Backstory
In late 2001, the National Basketball AssociationNational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
was in the midst of putting together a new television deal. At the time, conventional wisdom was that NBC would renew its deal with the NBA and continue airing games. An article by the Sports Business Daily circa October 5, 2001, cited Richard Sandomir of the New York Times as saying:
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. Declining television ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
on NBC had already led many to believe that the NBA's next television rights fee would be lower than previous years, and the economic recession
Early 2000s recession
The early 2000s recession was a decline in economic activity which occurred mainly in developed countries. The recession affected the European Union mostly during 2000 and 2001 and the United States mostly in 2002 and 2003. The UK, Canada and Australia avoided the recession for the most part, while...
made that a likely scenario. As predicted, NBC's offer to the league was lower than the previous agreement's amount. Had the NBA agreed to the network's offer, it would have been the first sports league to undergo a decline in rights fees. The NBA rejected NBC's offer and after the network's exclusive negotiating period with the league expired, ABC and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
stepped in. On January 22, 2002, the NBA signed a six-year deal with the Walt Disney Company and (then) AOL Time Warner, which resulted in ABC, ESPN, and TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
acquiring the rights to air league games. ABC and ESPN will reportedly pay an average of about $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
400 million a season. Technically, ESPN pays the NBA for its broadcast rights and "buys" time on ABC to air select games. In all, the contract allowed the NBA to increase its rights fees by 25 percent.
On the deal, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol is an American television executive and a senior adviser for . He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts....
had this to say:
Overview
In its first five years of covering the NBA, ABC has had three lead play-by-play announcers, six lead announcing teams, an anticipated six theme songs, five graphics packages, five pregame shows, six sets of studio teams, and the lowest Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
the NBA has ever seen.
Each season, ABC begins their NBA coverage with a Christmas Day
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
doubleheader (with the exception of 2004 and 2006, when they broadcast only one game). For three years (2004–2006) ABC insisted on having a Christmas Day game between the Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
and the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. Since 2009, ABC's Christmas Day doubleheader has featured a music video featuring Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You." In 2010, Carey was featured singing "Oh Santa!
Oh Santa!
"Oh Santa!" is a pop song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released by Island Records on October 11, 2010 as the lead single from her second Christmas album, Merry Christmas II You . The song was co-written and co-produced by Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox...
"
Following this, Sunday afternoon coverage begins in mid-January or early February. The number of Sunday afternoon regular season games that ABC normally covers is significantly lower than its predecessor NBC. In its first season of coverage, ABC aired 14 regular-season games, in comparison to NBC's yearly average of 33 games. That number increased to 18 games in the next two seasons, and 20 games in the season. For , ABC decreased the number of games it aired, offering 19. When asked by Jim Rome
Jim Rome
Jim Rome is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications....
in 2002 about the number of games on ABC, NBA commissioner David Stern
David Stern
David Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...
made this comment:
By contrast to Stern's assessment, the media and many fans found that the cable-heavy TV deal made many games unavailable and, in addition, devalued the league. Starting with the second round of the playoffs, TNT's NBA coverage becomes exclusive, meaning that no local broadcasts can compete. Because of this, fans of teams in the playoffs without cable are unable to watch many playoff games unless they have satellite TV. Also, ABC's coverage is always exclusive, including in the regular season. If a game is on the air opposite an ABC televised game, it cannot be televised locally. This results in some games not being aired on television at all. The Sports Business Daily quoted Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
writer Jonathan Feigen as saying:
In addition, unlike NBC or NBC's predecessor CBS, ABC doesn't televise the NBA All-Star Game
National Basketball Association All-Star Game
The National Basketball Association staged its first All-Star Game in the Boston Garden on March 2, 1951. From that year on, the game has matched the best players in the Eastern Conference with the best players in the Western Conference....
(instead, going to TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
). Also unlike the other networks, ABC rarely televises either of the NBA's Conference Finals series. Each year, TNT will air one Conference Final exclusively (the Western Conference Finals in 2003
2002-03 NBA season
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4-2 in the 2003 NBA Finals.-Notable occurrences:...
, 2004
2003-04 NBA season
-Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves*Rookie of the Year: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers*Defensive Player of the Year: Ron Artest, Indiana Pacers...
, 2006
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
, 2008
2007-08 NBA season
The 2007–08 NBA season was the 62nd season of the National Basketball Association. The 1,230-game regular season began on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, and ended on Wednesday, April 16, 2008...
and 2010 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005
2004-05 NBA season
The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals....
, 2007
2006-07 NBA season
The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...
, and 2009), while ESPN will get the other. With the exception of 2004 and 2010 (when they aired no Conference Final games at all), ABC airs only the weekend telecasts ESPN's Conference Final coverage. Due to the every-other-day schedule of the NBA playoffs, this is limited to one game per conference final, as series do not often reach a sixth or seventh game. For example, the network aired only Game 3 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals; it was scheduled to air the Sunday Game 7 of the series but did not because the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
won the series in six games.
Outside of the Conference Finals, ABC generally airs playoff games throughout the first five weeks of the NBA Playoffs, in addition to a number of special prime-time playoff games, usually televised on Thursday or Saturday nights. In 2005, ABC aired the first non-cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
game in three years, when the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
and San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
battled in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Prior to the most recent NBA TV deal, Memorial Day playoff games had become a yearly tradition on network TV.
Unlike previous broadcast partners, ABC has never aired a non-Christmas regular season game after 3:30 p.m. ET. While NBC had several 5:30 p.m. start times for games, ABC has only gone beyond that time on Christmas, and for select playoff games, including the Finals. On March 20, 2005, ABC aired a pair of games regionally (San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
–Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
and Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
–Memphis Grizzlies
Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The team is part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Along with the Toronto Raptors, the Grizzlies were established in 1995 as part of the NBA's...
) at 3:30 p.m. When the Spurs–Pistons game ended, the network did not switch the audience to the Suns–Grizzlies game (which was 94–91 late in the fourth quarter). Instead, viewers were sent to their local news. NBC rarely committed this practice, instead sending viewers of the completed game to view the end of the one still in progress.
Graphics
In its first year of coverage, ABC used exactly the same graphics as partner ESPN; only the "score bug" was different. This habit had already been put into practice by the network in regards to their NHL and college basketballCollege basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coverage. However, ABC did have their own graphics (though similar to ESPN's at the time) for college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and other sports. For the 2003–04 season, ABC established new graphics for the NBA, in an effort to differentiate their telecasts from ESPN's. On February 5, 2006, ABC established an all-new graphics package, including a Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
-esque bottomline scoreboard for the NBA. Also that day, ABC periodically placed a "Countdown to Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League champion for the 2005 season...
" graphic at the top of the screen (on March 5, 2006, ABC also inserted a "Countdown to the Oscars
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
" graphic).
ESPN, and by proxy ABC, began using the graphics from Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
on games starting in 2006
2006-07 NBA season
The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...
. To distinguish ABC's NBA telecast from ESPN's, the 3-D ABC logo is added near the score bug, but on international markets where ABC-featured NBA games are telecast live, the ABC logo is not present. A new score bug was used in Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Playoffs
2009 NBA Playoffs
The 2009 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball Association's 2008–09 season. The playoffs started on April 18, 2009 with ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV broadcasting the games in the United States...
. The slanted score board is now rectangular with the background of the two teams colors in the background on the leftside. Next to that is the quarter identification and remaining time in the game. And next to that is the ESPN logo with the 3D ABC logo. The red background for the whole score bug is now a black-white-grey color. In the 2009-10 season, the NBA team logos were replaced with their respective jersey templates in the in-game graphics, except for graphics used following or preceding a timeout. On March 14, 2010, the graphics were slightly modified, with new fonts similar to those used in SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
and again adopted from MNF. The score banner was modified on Christmas Day 2010, adding a timeout count in adaptation from the current in-game graphics used by the ESPN family of networks.
Criticisms
One common complaint about NBA coverage on ABC is of strange camera angles, including the Floorcam and Skycam angles used by ABC throughout its coverage. Other complaints are of camera angles that appear too far away, colors that seem faded and dull, and the quieting of crowd noise so that announcers can be heard clearly (by contrast to NBC, which allowed crowd noise to sometimes drown out their announcers).Some complaints have concerned the promotion, or perceived lack thereof, of NBA telecasts. The 2003 NBA Finals
2003 NBA Finals
The 2003 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2002–03 NBA season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference took on the New Jersey Nets of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a best-of-seven format. The Spurs...
received very little fanfare on ABC or corporate partner ESPN; while subsequent Finals were promoted more on both networks, NBA related advertisements on ABC were still down significantly from promotions on NBC. NBA promos took up 3 minutes and 55 seconds of airtime on ABC during the week of May 23, 2004
2003-04 NBA season
-Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves*Rookie of the Year: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers*Defensive Player of the Year: Ron Artest, Indiana Pacers...
according to the Sports Business Daily, comparable to 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
. Promotions for the Indianapolis 500 outnumbered promotions for the NBA Finals fourteen-to-nine from the hours of 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm during that week.
They were also criticized for focusing coverage on a select few teams, particularly the decision to schedule the Lakers against the Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
on Christmas Day for three straight years. However, for 2007, ABC has decided to break this tradition by instead having the Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
, for the fourth straight time, appear on Christmas Day facing the 2007 Eastern Conference
Eastern Conference (NBA)
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of fifteen teams, organized in three divisions of five teams each.The three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all...
Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2008, the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
replaced the Heat on the Christmas Day schedule and faced the Los Angeles Lakers. And in 2009 the Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
played the Lakers on Christmas Day. However, the Heat-Lakers Christmas Day special would make its return in the 2010-11 NBA season, due to the arrival of LeBron James
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association . Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a...
to Miami. For the 2011-12 NBA season, the Lakers and Heat will play again on Christmas Day, but against separate opponents. The Lakers will play the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
, while the Heat play the Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
in a rematch of the 2011 NBA Finals
2011 NBA Finals
The 2011 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2010–11 season of the National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, 4–2, to win their first NBA title...
; both the Bulls and Mavericks making the ABC Christmas Day debuts. In the case of the latter, ABC will air the pre-game championship ring and banner ceremony for the Mavericks, which will mark the first time in NBA history a national terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
network aired the championship ring and banner ceremony.
Pregame show
ABC has changed the name its pregame show five times in five seasons, and has rotated several analysts in each season. For the 2006-2007 season2006-07 NBA season
The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...
, the pregame show is known as NBA Sunday Countdown. Each season, the show has been sponsored by GMC
GMC (General Motors division)
GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and SUVs marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors Company. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac....
, with exception of the Finals, where it is sponsored by Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
. Mike Tirico
Mike Tirico
Michael Todd Tirico is an announcer for ESPN's presentation of Monday Night Football, and second lead broadcaster for ESPN's presentation of the NBA. In addition, Tirico hosts a multitude of programming on ESPN/ABC. He was the host of ABC's golf coverage from 1996 to 2007, and continues in that...
hosted the pregame show from ABC's first season
2002-03 NBA season
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4-2 in the 2003 NBA Finals.-Notable occurrences:...
with the NBA to the middle of the network's fourth
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
with the league. On March 19, 2006, Tirico was replaced by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's Dan Patrick
Dan Patrick
Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
, as Tirico was moved to the number two play-by-play team. On Christmas Day 2007, Stuart Scott became the new studio host, replacing Patrick, who left the network. Other hosts of the pregame show include former regular substitute John Saunders.
Announcers
2002–03
After getting NBA rights, ABC courted two main announcers from the NBA on NBC, Bob CostasBob Costas
Robert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...
and Marv Albert
Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
. After Costas, (who was reportedly offered a generous deal which also included Major League Baseball
ESPN Major League Baseball
ESPN Major League Baseball is a promotion of Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN2, with simulcasts on ESPNHD or ESPN2HD. ESPN's MLB coverage debuted on April 9, 1990 with three Opening Day telecasts. ESPN Major League Baseball is guaranteed to remain on air until 2013.The title is derived from...
play-by-play for ESPN and ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
features) elected to remain with NBC, and Albert signed a six year deal with TNT, the network went with veteran broadcaster Brad Nessler
Brad Nessler
Bradley "Brad" Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college basketball and college football games for ESPN with occasional appearances on ESPN on ABC. He will also call Thursday Night Football on NFL Network beginning in 2011, and appears annually as a commentator in EA Sports'...
to be the lead NBA play-by-play man. Nessler, who prior to that point had not been the main voice for any professional sport on television, received a call from Marv Albert's agent, soon after getting the job. On the call, the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
quoted him as saying:
Nessler was joined by Bill Walton
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...
in a two-man booth. Joining them was Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
who served as the lead sideline reporter. The team did two broadcasts together before ABC decided that Walton needed a partner (much like he had at NBC with Steve Jones
Steve Jones (basketball)
Stephen Howard "Snapper" Jones is one of the most esteemed and watched National Basketball Association television analysts.-Basketball career:...
) and assigned pregame analyst Tom Tolbert to join the team. Nessler, Walton, and Tolbert broadcast most regular season games, and every network playoff game. Other games were broadcast by the team of Brent Musburger
Brent Musburger
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their legendary program The NFL Today, Musburger has covered NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball games. Musburger has also served as a...
and Sean Elliott
Sean Elliott
Sean Michael Elliott is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.-Early life:Elliott was born in Tucson, Arizona and was youngest of three boys. He was a very intelligent boy growing up and attended the G.A.T.E. program at Toleson Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona...
. After the worst ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
in NBA Finals
2003 NBA Finals
The 2003 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2002–03 NBA season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference took on the New Jersey Nets of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a best-of-seven format. The Spurs...
history, low ratings overall, and harsh criticism, ABC decided to retool the team. More to the point, during this particular period, Brad Nessler was accused (among them, the New York Times Richard Sandomir
Richard Sandomir
Richard Sandomir is an award-winning sports and television columnist for the New York Times and author of several books including Bald Like Me: The Hair-Raising Adventures of Baldman and The Englightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything....
) of not knowing game strategy well, lacking rhythm and enthusiasm in his game call, not bringing out the best in his partners, too often ignoring the score, and tending to stammer.
This was also the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Finals that involved teams from one city in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8, Nessler, Tolbert, and Walton said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals
2003 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the champion of the National Hockey League for the 2002–03 season...
between the Devils and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
the following night. Gary Thorne
Gary Thorne
Gary Thorne is a play-by-play announcer for ESPN and ABC, working Major League Baseball, College football and Frozen Four hockey contests. He is also the television play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles...
, Bill Clement, and John Davidson mentioned this the following night and thanked Nessler, Tolbert, and Walton for promoting ABC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
2003–04
After disastrous ratings in the 2003 NBA Finals2003 NBA Finals
The 2003 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2002–03 NBA season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference took on the New Jersey Nets of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a best-of-seven format. The Spurs...
, ABC decided to completely revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler
Brad Nessler
Bradley "Brad" Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college basketball and college football games for ESPN with occasional appearances on ESPN on ABC. He will also call Thursday Night Football on NFL Network beginning in 2011, and appears annually as a commentator in EA Sports'...
was demoted to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott
Sean Elliott
Sean Michael Elliott is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.-Early life:Elliott was born in Tucson, Arizona and was youngest of three boys. He was a very intelligent boy growing up and attended the G.A.T.E. program at Toleson Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona...
and Dan Majerle
Dan Majerle
Daniel Lewis Majerle is a retired American professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. Known by his fans as "Downtown Dan," "Thunder Dan," and "Dan the Man," he played 14 years in the NBA, primarily with the Phoenix Suns, also with the Miami...
. Tom Tolbert
Tom Tolbert
Byron Thomas "Tom" Tolbert is an American retired professional basketball player and sports broadcaster. He played a total of seven seasons in the National Basketball Association...
was relegated to pregame show duties only, and Bill Walton
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...
was removed from ABC's NBA coverage altogether (he remained with ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
). Meanwhile, longtime Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
commentator (and unofficial "Voice of ABC Sports") Al Michaels
Al Michaels
Alan Richard "Al" Michaels is an American television sportscaster. Now employed by NBC Sports after nearly three decades with ABC Sports, Michaels is one of the most prominent members of his profession...
was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA. Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
remained as its lead sideline reporter.
For the first several weeks of the 2003–2004 season, Michaels had no partner. However, Doc Rivers
Doc Rivers
Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers is a former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics. Rivers was known for his defense while playing in the NBA...
, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports, became available after a 1–19 start by his Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association and are currently coached by Stan Van Gundy...
. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, the team worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals
2004 NBA Finals
The 2004 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2003–04 National Basketball Association season. The Finals were between the Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference and the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference; the Lakers held home court advantage...
, which saw great improvement in television ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
.
During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired by the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
. Though Rivers continued to work games with Al Michaels throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC would have to find a new lead analyst for the 2004–2005 season. In addition, the network dropped Brad Nessler from all NBA coverage, and did not retain Sean Elliott or Dan Majerle.
2004–05
Early in the 2004-2005 season2004-05 NBA season
The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals....
, ABC found a new partner for Al Michaels. Memphis Grizzlies
Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The team is part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Along with the Toronto Raptors, the Grizzlies were established in 1995 as part of the NBA's...
coach Hubie Brown
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS
NBA on TBS
The NBA on TBS debuted in the 1984-1985 season under a four year contract, where they shared the NBA package along with CBS.-Coverage:...
, and TNT, was forced into retirement due to health reasons and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers. Michaels and Brown began their partnership on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
-Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school...
game. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. Michaels became sporadic in NBA coverage, doing two games in early March, and then three more games in April. Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen
Mike Breen
Michael "Mike" Breen is a play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network...
. Lead sideline reporter Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
was on for all ABC games.
In addition to Hubie Brown
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
, ABC added other known analysts to its NBA coverage. Jim Durham
Jim Durham
Jim Durham is an American sportscaster.Since 1995, he has called numerous National Basketball Association games for ESPN and ESPN Radio. Durham has spent more than 32 years calling NBA games on TV and radio; his previous assignments were with the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks, TNT and TBS...
and Dr. Jack Ramsay
Jack Ramsay
Jack T. Ramsay is an American former basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" . He is best known for coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA Title, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio...
both worked several games during the regular season, while Brent Musburger
Brent Musburger
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their legendary program The NFL Today, Musburger has covered NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball games. Musburger has also served as a...
, John Saunders, Len Elmore
Len Elmore
Leonard J. "Len" Elmore is an American sportscaster, lawyer and former National Basketball Association player....
, and Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson (basketball)
Mark A. Jackson is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He played point guard for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in the NBA in a career...
were involved with others. Mike Breen and Dr. Jack Ramsay were the first secondary broadcast team to work a playoff game for ABC. Breen called three playoff games for the network in 2005
2004-05 NBA season
The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals....
, the most notable being Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with Hubie Brown.
Al Michaels was criticized by the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
for not broadcasting the game and seeming uninterested in the NBA in general. Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News said that Michaels was simply “not a basketball guy”. Meanwhile, Bill Simmons
Bill Simmons
William J. "Bill" Simmons III is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!...
said during the 2005 Finals
2005 NBA Finals
The 2005 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2004-05 National Basketball Association season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference faced the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a...
that Michaels “shows up for these games, does his job, then drives home thinking, "‘Only five weeks to the [NFL] Hall of Fame Game
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
The Pro Football Hall of Game is an annual National Football League exhibition game that is held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Fawcett Stadium, which is located next door to the Hall of Fame building in Canton, Ohio...
, I’m almost there!’" Another criticism that Michaels received was that he too often found himself in tediously long-winded explanations. In return, he would be talking over two or three possessions in a row (which Michaels seemed to be better suited for football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
and baseball broadcasts, for which he's better known for). The end result was that he would hardly have time to comment on the action viewers were seeing because he was so hung up on a prior subplot or storyline that he felt the audience just had to know about. Michaels was also accused of apparently lacking the kind of enthusiasm and confidence (for instance, Michaels initially reacted to Amare Stoudemire
Amare Stoudemire
Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire is an American professional basketball player who plays as a power forward and center for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association....
's block of Tim Duncan
Tim Duncan
Timothy Theodore "Tim" Duncan is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association . The 6-foot 11-inch , 255-pound power forward/center is a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and NBA Rookie of the Year...
's shot during the 2005 playoffs
2005 NBA Playoffs
The 2005 NBA Playoffs was the postseason of the National Basketball Association's 2004–05 season.The San Antonio Spurs, the number two ranked team in the Western Conference, won the 2005 NBA Playoffs by defeating the defending champions, the Detroit Pistons, 4-3 in the NBA Finals...
by calling it a "great, great contested shot") expected of a #1 play-by-play voice.
Michaels, who had only broadcast a combined twelve regular season games with ABC (with all but one of those games airing from either Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, where he resides when not sportscasting, or Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
), did return for the NBA Finals
2005 NBA Finals
The 2005 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2004-05 National Basketball Association season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference faced the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a...
, which scored its second lowest rating of all time (despite the fact that it was the first Finals in eleven years to go to a seventh game).
2005–06
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
, Al Michaels and Hubie Brown were slated to remain as ABC's number one broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
and were expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, that plan did not come to fruition. After Michaels left ABC to cover Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
for NBC
NFL on NBC
NFL on NBC is the brand given to NBC Sports coverage of National Football League games until 1998, when NBC lost the NFL American Football Conference rights to CBS...
, he was replaced by Mike Breen
Mike Breen
Michael "Mike" Breen is a play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network...
, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen worked the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals and 2006 NBA Finals
2006 NBA Finals
The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in six games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship...
with Hubie Brown
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
for both ESPN and ABC, as well as all the main games ABC broadcast that year. The promotion of Breen gave ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler
Brad Nessler
Bradley "Brad" Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college basketball and college football games for ESPN with occasional appearances on ESPN on ABC. He will also call Thursday Night Football on NFL Network beginning in 2011, and appears annually as a commentator in EA Sports'...
, as Breen worked games every week. Previously, Breen has worked the Eastern Conference Finals for NBC in 2001 and 2002, as well as the Western Conference Finals for ESPN in 2005.
Also that season Lisa Salters
Lisa Salters
Alisia Salters is a journalist and former collegiate women's basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O.J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland....
served as the lead sideline reporter for ABC's coverage of the NBA on ABC and worked the 2006 NBA Finals
2006 NBA Finals
The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in six games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship...
on television as that season she filled-in for Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
who was on Maternity Leave. Salters returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role.
Many sports writers and sports television analysts praised Breen, some for his explosive voice and excited calls on game-deciding and game-winning shots and others for the fact that, unlike his predecessor Al Michaels, he was already very familiar with broadcasting basketball games and was essentially a basketball lifer. Despite that, he faced some criticism from those who complained that they would prefer a more established voice, such as Marv Albert
Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
or Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan is an American television sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he currently broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS. Harlan is also a play-by-play announcer for the NBA on TNT...
. Hubie Brown faced criticism from writers (most notably Richard Sandomir of the New York Times) as well as bloggers and viewers.
For the secondary broadcast team, ABC reunited Bill Walton and Steve Jones for game coverage. Walton and Jones worked the Christmas Day 2005 broadcast between the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
and Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
for ABC, the first game they called together since Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals
2002 NBA Finals
The 2002 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association championship series for the 2001–02 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and two-time defending NBA champions, and the New Jersey Nets, champions of the...
for NBC (NBC's last NBA telecast to date). The pair worked their first broadcast with Mike Breen, and worked the remainder of the season with Brent Musburger
Brent Musburger
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their legendary program The NFL Today, Musburger has covered NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball games. Musburger has also served as a...
, Jim Durham
Jim Durham
Jim Durham is an American sportscaster.Since 1995, he has called numerous National Basketball Association games for ESPN and ESPN Radio. Durham has spent more than 32 years calling NBA games on TV and radio; his previous assignments were with the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks, TNT and TBS...
, and Mike Tirico
Mike Tirico
Michael Todd Tirico is an announcer for ESPN's presentation of Monday Night Football, and second lead broadcaster for ESPN's presentation of the NBA. In addition, Tirico hosts a multitude of programming on ESPN/ABC. He was the host of ABC's golf coverage from 1996 to 2007, and continues in that...
. That team, along with the Breen-Brown duo, now often does games on ESPN's Wednesday or Friday coverage, which the previous ABC announce teams rarely did.
During 2006
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
, ABC also used several SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
reporters, including Tom Rinaldi
Tom Rinaldi
Tom Rinaldi is a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC based in New York. He has contributed to SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, College GameDay, Sunday NFL Countdown, and is also a fill in host on ESPN First Take ....
, Rachel Nichols
Rachel Nichols (reporter)
Rachel Michele Nichols is an ESPN reporter. A regular part of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown shows, as well as a regular on ESPN's NBA coverage, Nichols is also a correspondent for E:60. She worked for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and Washington Post...
and Jeremy Schaap
Jeremy Schaap
Jeremy Schaap is an American sportswriter, television reporter, and author. Schaap is a six-time Emmy Award winner for his work on ESPN's E:60, SportsCenter, and Outside the Lines.-Biography:...
, for pregame and halftime features.
The Michaels era
Al Michaels called a total of 37 games for the NBA on ABC, his last being Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals. Michaels finished his NBA on ABC career with a grand total of thirteen broadcast regular season games, and only two outside of CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. From March 7, 2004 to April 17, 2005, including playoff games, each game Michaels called involved either the Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
or Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
(a total of 21 consecutive games).
2006–07
For the 2006-07 NBA season2006-07 NBA season
The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...
, ABC's sports operations were fully integrated into ESPN and as a result, Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson (basketball)
Mark A. Jackson is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He played point guard for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in the NBA in a career...
replaced Hubie Brown
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
as ABC's lead analyst (Brown would still pair with Mike Breen
Mike Breen
Michael "Mike" Breen is a play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network...
on ESPN's number one team and Mike Tirico
Mike Tirico
Michael Todd Tirico is an announcer for ESPN's presentation of Monday Night Football, and second lead broadcaster for ESPN's presentation of the NBA. In addition, Tirico hosts a multitude of programming on ESPN/ABC. He was the host of ABC's golf coverage from 1996 to 2007, and continues in that...
on ABC's number two team). ABC's pregame show, which Jackson was a part of, will air from the site of the main game each week (much like ABC's first season in 2003
2002-03 NBA season
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4-2 in the 2003 NBA Finals.-Notable occurrences:...
).
Additionally, Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
returned as a sideline reporter, after sitting out the 2005-06
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
season on maternity leave. Lisa Salters
Lisa Salters
Alisia Salters is a journalist and former collegiate women's basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O.J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland....
returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role.
2007–08
On July 9, 2007, it was announced by Dan PatrickDan Patrick
Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
that he would be leaving ESPN after 18 years with the network. Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
hosts ABC's pregame show for the 2007-08 season along with analysts Bill Walton
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...
and Michael Wilbon
Michael Wilbon
Michael Ray Wilbon is a former sportswriter and columnist for the Washington Post and current ESPN commentator. He serves as an analyst for ESPN and co-hosts Pardon the Interruption on ESPN with former Post writer Tony Kornheiser, and has been doing so since 2001.-Career:Wilbon began working for...
. Jeff Van Gundy also joined Mike Breen and Mark Jackson full-time, starting Christmas Day. After Walton had back problems in February, Jon Barry
Jon Barry
Jon Alan Barry is an American former basketball player and current television analyst for ABC and ESPN.-Biography:Barry is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, and has three brothers: Scooter, Drew, and Brent, all of whom are also basketball players. Jon played his high school basketball at De La...
replaced him for the rest of the season. That season marked the final season for Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
as she left her spot in order to spend more time with her family.
2008–present
Lead Sideline Reporter Michele TafoyaMichele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Tafoya received a B.A...
left her spot to spend more time with her family as she still continued to work ESPN primarily working the sidelines for Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
before leaving for NBC
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
and to Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
in 2011. Taking her spot is Doris Burke
Doris Burke
Doris Burke is a sideline reporter and color analyst for ESPN college basketball, as well as NBA on ESPN and NBA on ABC games. Burke handles both men's and women's basketball at the college and pro level. She is primarily an analyst on Big East games for men's college basketball, often teaming...
, who is also an analyst for the NBA on ESPN.
When Burke is on-assignment or working as an analyst on NBA games for ESPN, Lisa Salters
Lisa Salters
Alisia Salters is a journalist and former collegiate women's basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O.J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland....
its secondary Sideline Reporter, is also its lead sideline reporter whenever Burke isn't there. When Salters isn't working the No. 2 announce team Heather Cox
Heather Cox
Heather Cox is an American Sportscaster who is a sideline reporter for WNBA, NBA, college basketball and college football games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports. As Heather Schoeny, she played college volleyball at University of the Pacific...
is usually their to fill-in for Salters when she is working the No. 1 announce team.
Currently the main broadcast team consists of Mike Breen
Mike Breen
Michael "Mike" Breen is a play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network...
and Jeff Van Gundy
Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William "Jeff" Van Gundy is a former American basketball head coach. He coached most recently with the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets...
, while the second broadcast team consists of Mike Tirico
Mike Tirico
Michael Todd Tirico is an announcer for ESPN's presentation of Monday Night Football, and second lead broadcaster for ESPN's presentation of the NBA. In addition, Tirico hosts a multitude of programming on ESPN/ABC. He was the host of ABC's golf coverage from 1996 to 2007, and continues in that...
and Hubie Brown
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
, with either Dan Shulman
Dan Shulman
Daniel "Dan" Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster, currently employed with the American network ESPN as well as Canadian network TSN....
or Dave Pasch
Dave Pasch
Dave Pasch is an American sportscaster. Pasch works for ESPN, for which he calls play-by-play of college football, college basketball, NBA, WNBA, and Arena football games. He has also been the radio voice for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL since 2002, teaming with Ron Wolfley. In 2007, Pasch...
filling in when Tirico has other commitments. The studio team consists of Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
, Jon Barry
Jon Barry
Jon Alan Barry is an American former basketball player and current television analyst for ABC and ESPN.-Biography:Barry is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, and has three brothers: Scooter, Drew, and Brent, all of whom are also basketball players. Jon played his high school basketball at De La...
, Michael Wilbon
Michael Wilbon
Michael Ray Wilbon is a former sportswriter and columnist for the Washington Post and current ESPN commentator. He serves as an analyst for ESPN and co-hosts Pardon the Interruption on ESPN with former Post writer Tony Kornheiser, and has been doing so since 2001.-Career:Wilbon began working for...
and Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
. Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson (basketball)
Mark A. Jackson is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He played point guard for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in the NBA in a career...
left the broadcast booth to take the head coaching position with the Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
in June 2011.
TV ratings
| Year | | Season | |Playoff | | Finals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-03 2002-03 NBA season The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4-2 in the 2003 NBA Finals.-Notable occurrences:... |
2.6 | 4.8 | 6.5 |
| 2003-04 2003-04 NBA season -Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves*Rookie of the Year: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers*Defensive Player of the Year: Ron Artest, Indiana Pacers... |
2.4 | 4.5 | 11.5 |
| 2004-05 2004-05 NBA season The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals.... |
2.2 | 3.3 | 8.2 |
| 2005-06 2005-06 NBA season The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006... |
2.2 | 3.8 | 8.5 |
| 2006-07 2006-07 NBA season The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA... |
2.0 | 2.9 | 6.2 |
| 2007-08 2007-08 NBA season The 2007–08 NBA season was the 62nd season of the National Basketball Association. The 1,230-game regular season began on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, and ended on Wednesday, April 16, 2008... |
2.2 | 9.3 | |
| 2008-09 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 8.4 |
| 2009-10 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 10.6 |
ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's ratings for the NBA Playoffs
NBA Playoffs
The National Basketball Association Playoffs is a best-of-seven elimination tournament among sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference , ultimately deciding the final four teams who will play in the NBA Conference Finals.-Format:Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in...
and Finals
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
have been lower than NBC's ratings. In its last year televising the NBA, 2002, NBC experienced a growth in playoff ratings, leading to the highest rated Western Conference Final
NBA Conference Finals
The National Basketball Association Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Championship series of the National Basketball Association , a major professional basketball league in North America. The NBA was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America...
in league history, and a 14.2 rating for Game 7 of that series, which featured the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
. ABC's highest rating overall is an 18.2 which came in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
; being watched by 28.2 million viewers, it is the highest-rated and most-watched NBA game since Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals
Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals
Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals took place on June 14, 1998 in Salt Lake City between the visiting Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center, now known as EnergySolutions Arena, in Salt Lake City. The Bulls won 87–86, clinching their sixth NBA title in eight years...
, which had a 22.3 rating and drew 72 million viewers. Regular season ratings fell to 2.2 in 2005
2004-05 NBA season
The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals....
and then again in 2006
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
; that rating is less than half of what NBC averaged in the 1999 lockout-shortened regular season
1998-99 NBA season
The 1999 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association . Due to a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999 after a new six year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association...
. The 2007 Finals, a series featuring the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
and Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
, was the lowest rated Finals in league history, with a 6.2 rating and 11 share. This is perhaps attributed to the small-market representation and the four game series, in which San Antonio easily defeated Cleveland. Ratings have rebounded somewhat in 2008, with the Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 drawing a 3.5 rating, the highest rating since 2003.
Music
After the 1990s (when the NBA arguably reached its highest point in terms of popularity) many hardcore and casual fans began to associate the league with NBC, and more accurately, the network's theme music, Roundball RockRoundball Rock
"Roundball Rock" is a theme song composed by John Tesh and used for The NBA on NBC from 1990-2002. NBC played the song 12,000 times during their run...
. Whereas NBC used Roundball Rock for all twelve years of its coverage, ABC has used at least nine themes in its first four years. Three of the themes were traditional sports themes, while six of them (We Got Hoops by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Can't Get Enough by Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
, Let's Get It Started
Let's Get It Started
"Let's Get It Started", , appears on The Black Eyed Peas' 2003 album Elephunk. It is the fourth single from the album...
by The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
, Lose My Breath
Lose My Breath
"Lose My Breath" is an R&B song performed by the American group Destiny's Child. It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Sean Garrett, and Shawn Corey "Jay-Z" Carter for Destiny's Child's fourth studio album, Destiny...
by Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...
, This Is How A Heart Breaks
This Is How a Heart Breaks
"This Is How a Heart Breaks" is the second single from Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas's debut album, …Something to Be. Released in 2005 the single peaked at #52 in the USA becoming Thomas's 3rd Top Hot 100 entry.-Song information:...
by Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas (musician)
Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas is an American rock recording artist and songwriter. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist...
and Runnin' Down a Dream
Runnin' Down a Dream
"Runnin' Down a Dream" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by Tom Petty. It was released in July 1989 as the second single from his first solo album Full Moon Fever. "Runnin' Down a Dream" achieved reasonable chart success, reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the top of...
by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
) were contemporary pieces by known artists.
For the 2006-07 NBA season
2006-07 NBA season
The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 31, 2006 and ran through April 18, 2007. The league fielded 30 teams, each playing an 82 game regular season schedule. The top eight seeds from each conference reached the NBA...
, ESPN began using "Fast Break", ABC's NBA theme since 2004
2004-05 NBA season
The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association . It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating defending champion Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the NBA Finals....
, as its theme. Because of the move to ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports division has been merged with ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...
(which calls for all sporting events on ABC to have the same production elements as games on ESPN), this means that games on ABC will have the same theme music from previous years.
In addition, ABC selected all female pop group The Pussycat Dolls to perform "Right Now" as the new introduction for NBA games.
For the 2008 season, "Nine Lives" by Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
and Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
was used as ABC's new introductory song on their games. During the playoffs, ESPN also used the song prior to the start of the game.
Audience
According to a study by Simmons research, which involved a survey of an indeterminate number of American adults, the primary audience for the NBA FinalsNBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
on ABC is primarily male, with a fairly even distribution of people aged 25–44 (approximately 20 percent of 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 year old people surveyed said they watched the games). The statistics showed that 64.3 percent of the audience were white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
and 23.7 percent were African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. A combined 20.5 percent of those polled with income from $100,000 to $249,999 said they watched games, and Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
watching outnumbered Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
49% to 34%. This research likely corresponds to the 2005 NBA Finals
2005 NBA Finals
The 2005 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2004-05 National Basketball Association season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference faced the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a...
, as it was published in fall of that year.
For the 2005 NBA Finals
2005 NBA Finals
The 2005 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2004-05 National Basketball Association season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference faced the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage. The series was played under a...
, the Nielsen
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
local people meter found sharp increases in the percentage of those watching the NBA on ABC when isolating the African American audience. In Chicago, New York, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the percentage of African Americans watching the NBA Finals was larger than that of the entire population by 15 to 30 percentage points. In San Francisco, the disparity was largest; the percentage of African Americans was 56%, while the general population percentage was 27%. Most notably, "More than half of all African Americans adults in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco watched at least part of the NBA Finals. This was about twice as high as the overall viewing by the total population in those two markets." Nielsen's local people meter also found that "In every LPM market, the ratings for the NBA Finals were twice as high for Men as for Women."
The 2006 NBA Finals
2006 NBA Finals
The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in six games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship...
scored ratings of 20.4, 22.3, 20.6, 21.9, 23.8 and 24.6 among African Americans. African Americans accounted for 30 percent of ABC's audience for Game 6 of the series. Among Hispanics, the numbers for Games 3-5 were 6.0, 7.6, and 8.2, and nationally, the ratings were 8.0, 7.8 and 9.0.
Team appearances
In its first three years of coverage, ABC televised 40 playoff games, whereas NBC aired 35 in 20022001-02 NBA season
-Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs*Rookie of the Year: Pau Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies*Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons...
alone. The San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
have appeared on ABC thirty-six times, the most of any other team. The Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats is a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA...
and Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
have not appeared on ABC during the length of the current contract, whereas the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
, Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
, Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, and Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
have appeared on the network every year since 2002. The Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
did appear on ABC during the network's coverage in the 1960s and 1970s, including a Christmas Day game against the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
in 1970
1970-71 NBA season
The 1970–71 NBA season was the 25th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA Championship, beating the Baltimore Bullets 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals.- Notable occurrences :...
. They didn't appear until Game 7 of the 2008 1st Round Playoffs
2008 NBA Playoffs
The 2008 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball Association's 2007–08 season which ended with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers 4–2....
against the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
.The Utah Jazz
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
appearances have all come during the playoffs.
The Clippers in fact did have an appearance scheduled on ABC, for an April 15, 2007 home game versus the Sacramento Kings. However, due to the lackluster performances by both teams during the course of the season, ABC instead pulled the game from its schedule, and inserted a game between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs (which was already part of that day's regional doubleheader schedule), and that Kings-Clippers matchup was instead aired locally on each team's regional sports carrier, thus waiving ABC's exclusivity rule for that 3:30pm Eastern time slot.
The Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
have appeared in ABC's featured Christmas Day game every season (against the Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
in 2002, the Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
in 2003, the Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010, the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
in 2007, the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
in 2008, and the Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
in 2009). After the Miami Heat, who have three Christmas Day appearances on ABC, the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics are the only other teams to have repeat appearances on the holiday.
Sponsorships
During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, ABC and ESPN's telecasts were heavily sponsored by the feature film, The Day After TomorrowThe Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American science-fiction disaster film that depicts the catastrophic effects of global warming in a series of extreme weather events that usher in global cooling which leads to a new ice age. The film did well at the box office, grossing $542,771,772 internationally...
. During the 2005 NBA Playoffs, games were sponsored by XXX: State of the Union
XXX: State of the Union
xXx: State of the Union, mainly released as xXx²: The Next Level outside the United States and Canada, is a 2005 action-adventure film directed by Lee Tamahori. It is a sequel to the 2002 film xXx...
and, during the Finals, Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four (film)
Fantastic Four is a 2005 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics comic Fantastic Four. It was directed by Tim Story, and released by 20th Century Fox. It is the second live-action Fantastic Four film to be filmed. The previous attempt, a B-movie produced by Roger Corman only for the...
. From 2002 to 2005, ABC's halftime report was sponsored by Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
. Starting with the 2005-06 season
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
, it was sponsored by T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
. From 2002 to 2005, ABC had a GMC
GMC (General Motors division)
GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and SUVs marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors Company. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac....
sponsored feature known as the GMC Professional Grade Plays of the Week, which was later changed to the GMC Professional Grade Matchup during the 2005 NBA Playoffs. During the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC adopted one of ESPN's SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
features, The Budweiser
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
Hot Seat, which was hosted by Jim Gray
Jim Gray (sportscaster)
Jim Gray is an American sportscaster. He has previously worked as a reporter with NBC Sports and CBS Sports. He is currently with Westwood One radio network, Showtime, Golf Channel, the Sacramento Kings, and ESPN/ESPN on ABC...
. Other ESPN features that ABC has used include the Sprite
Sprite (soft drink)
Sprite is a transparent, lemon-lime flavored , caffeine free soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in the United States in 1961. This was Coke's response to the popularity of 7 Up, which had begun as "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" in 1929...
Mad Skillz, and GameTrack or Storyline, which was sponsored by varied brands, including KFC and Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, ABC's telecast of the Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
–Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
game on Christmas Day 2004, was sponsored by American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
, also the NBA Sunday package after the All-Star break in 2007 became sponsored by Hertz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
.
As official sponsors of the NBA, T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, Sprite/Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Budweiser/Bud Light
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
, American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
and Toyota each sponsor segments and/or have commercials aired during telecasts.
Features
Since the beginning of the NBA on ABC, Ahmad RashadAhmad Rashad
Ahmad Rashād is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. An All-American running back and wide receiver from Oregon known as Bobby Moore, Rashad was the fourth overall pick in the 1972 NFL Draft, drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals...
has delivered weekly interviews with NBA players in a segment known as Access Ahmad. In addition, Rashad hosts NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad, a weekly show about the lives of NBA personalities. From 2003 to 2005, ABC's pregame show had a feature known as The NBA Minute, where celebrities (including Ice Cube
Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...
, Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
, and Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
) would have a minute to talk about the NBA.
Previous history
From January 3, 1965 up until May 10, 1973, ABC was the primary television partner of the NBA. For much of the 1960s, ABC only televised Sunday afternoon games, including the playoffs. This meant that ABC did not have to televise a potential NBA Finals deciding game if it was played on a weeknight. In 19691969 NBA Finals
The 1969 NBA World Championship Series to determine the champion of the 1968-69 NBA season was played between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, the Lakers being heavily favored due to the presence of three formidable stars: Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Jerry West...
, ABC did televise Game 7 of the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
–Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
series in prime time on a weeknight. The following season, ABC aired the 1970 NBA Finals
1970 NBA Finals
The 1970 NBA Finals was a best-of-7 series for the world championship of the National Basketball Association. It featured the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks and the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers...
in full, making it the first NBA Final to have all games televised nationally.
Commentators for the original NBA on ABC included play-by-play men Keith Jackson
Keith Jackson
Keith Jackson is an American sportscaster, known for his long career with ABC Sports , his coverage of college football , his style of folksy, down-to-earth commentary, and his distinctive voice, with its deep cadence, and operatic tone considered "like Edward R...
and Chris Schenkel
Chris Schenkel
Christopher Eugene "Chris" Schenkel was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and baritone voice.-Early life and career:Schenkel began his broadcasting career at radio...
and analysts
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
Jack Twyman
Jack Twyman
John Kennedy "Jack" Twyman is an American former professional basketball player and sports broadcaster.-Playing career:...
, Bob Cousy
Bob Cousy
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy is a retired American professional basketball player. The 6'1" , 175-pound Cousy played point guard with the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics from 1951 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season...
, and Bill Russell. On April 8, 1967, an AFTRA
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
forced ABC Sports producer Chuck Howard
Chuck Howard
Charles Howard was an American television executive, and a pioneer in television sports broadcasting.-Early life and career:Howard was born in 1933. He graduated from Duke University in 1955, where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity....
and director Chet Forte
Chet Forte
Fulvio Chester "Chet" Forte, Jr. was an American television director and sports radio talk show host.-Early life:...
to call Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
and Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
. Curt Gowdy
Curt Gowdy
Curtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
also was the play-by-play for half of the season in 1967.
The first nationally televised Christmas Day NBA broadcast occurred in , when ABC broadcast a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Diego Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
from San Diego. Jerry Gross and Jack Twyman called that particular broadcast for ABC. ABC would continue to televise Christmas Day games on through . The remainder of these broadcasts, emulated from Phoenix
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, located on the grounds of the Arizona State Fair...
. Chris Schenkel did play-by-play for ABC during this period with the exception of , when Keith Jackson had the honors. Jack Twyman remained in the color commentating position up until , when Bill Russell took over.
Playback machines
- 2 tape machines - 1" tape was used:
- One machine dedicated to one of the Center Court cameras
- The other was switched between basket cameras- this developed backside replays (by accident)
Production/Tech crew
- 1 Producer; 1 Director; 1 Associate Director; 1 Production Asst; 1 Statistician/Spotter; 1 tech director; 4 Cameramen; 2 tape operators; 1 audio rep