Bill Walton loves bridges

Bill Walton welcomed NBA fans to the second edition of his Throw It Down alternate broadcast Monday night and graced the audience with his love of bridges.

Last week, the NBA announced the launch of Throw it Down with Bill Walton, an alternate cast that streams exclusively on NBA League Pass via the NBA App on select Mondays throughout the rest of the regular season. Walton hosts the alternate cast with play-by-play voice Jason Benetti.

During this week’s edition, Walton and Benetti were joined by a star-studded cast that included John Mayer and Charles Barkley. But it was Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges who prompted the night’s best moment.

“I love bridges. Golden Gate Bridge. Coronado Bridge. The Natural Bridges. The George Washington Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge. It’s all right there. The bridge, the ultimate metaphor for life… oh come on! What great defense!”- Bill Walton 🏀🌉🎙️ https://t.co/zHcVZciyeA

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 31, 2023

“Bridges! I love bridges!” Walton said before rattling off a few of his favorite overpasses in the United States. “Golden Gate Bridge, Coronado Bridge, the Natural Bridges, the George Washington Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s all right there. The bridge, the ultimate metaphor for life.”

The George Washington Bridge certainly isn’t the longest overpass on the list, but thanks to New York traffic, you’re almost guaranteed to spend on hour driving across it, a great opportunity for Walton to sit and ponder other metaphors for life.

Before he could even finish sharing his affinity for bridges, Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam committed a turnover. “Oh come on! What great defense! Poked that ball away,” Walton said.” Where’s the transition? Double V getting the job done,” he added, referring to Raptors guard Fred VanVleet’s ability to stop a potential fast break.

But even more impressive than VanVleet’s transition defense was Walton’s ability to move from bridge talk to real basketball analysis, like Vin Scully artistically weaving stories into his play-by-play without missing an ounce of the action. And that’s probably the first and only time Bill Walton will be compared to Vin Scully.

Perfecting the moment, Mikal Bridges completed Walton’s bridge tangent by draining a three-pointer.

[Throw It Down with Bill Walton]