WatchESPN is an amazing product that allows fans and viewers to stream a wide array of sporting events and ESPN programming on their computers, tablets or phones. But everybody can have a bad night.
Those tuning in for Saturday night’s NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers viewed a memorable — or infuriating — example of that during the third quarter of the telecast. Instead of seeing the Clippers cut a 15-point deficit to five, and an overall quarter in which L.A. outscored Golden State 31-30, WatchESPN users got this on their screens.
And this.
As you might imagine, WatchESPN viewers weren’t thrilled about watching a producer apparently setting up camera marks in an empty studio rather than highlight dunks from DeAndre Jordan and typically great play from Steph Curry and Draymond Green.
The WatchESPN feed has cut from the Warriors v. Clippers game to this guy for the past 5min. Where amazing happens. pic.twitter.com/ZkW7r2nm7w
— Tyler Hansen (@t3hansen) February 21, 2016
@espn this is being shown on all WatchESPN apps. #fail pic.twitter.com/PESA5CASoA
— Blake Hogen (@BlakeHogen) February 21, 2016
This went on for approximately 10 minutes before either something was fixed or someone realized what was going on. The feed did come back in time to watch the Warriors eventually built their lead back up to 14 points, then eventually a 17-point margin. Golden State eventually won the game 115-112, led by Klay Thompson’s 32 points and another 23 from Curry. The Clippers got 25 points off the bench from Jamal Crawford, with 24 scored by Chris Paul.
The ESPN boxscore didn’t count the number of yawns from the producer on-screen, but we tallied one in our decidedly unscientific analysis of the footage in question.
