Walt Frazier is facing the reality that he might be calling the last NBA Playoff game of his career Tuesday night.
After missing Game 3 of the New York Knicks’ playoff series with the Detroit Pistons for an illness, Frazier will be back behind the mic for Game 5 on MSG. New York’s controversial 94-93 win over Detroit in Game 4 was an ABC exclusive. Now with a commanding 3-1 series lead, the Knicks enter Tuesday night with a chance of advancing to the second round, which is exclusive to national broadcast partners. And with all playoff games becoming exclusive to national TV partners beginning next season as part of the NBA’s new media deals, Frazier knows he might be calling the last playoff game of his career.
“It’s definitely a downer,” Frazier told Newsday’s Neil Best. “It’s going to be devastating. In the playoffs, my palms get sweaty. Memories come back. I get the chill bumps, because I always say, in the regular season you make your name and in the playoffs you gain your fame.
“That’s when you think about the confrontations with Earl [Monroe] and Oscar [Robertson] and [Jerry] West, all the different guys rising to that occasion. Nothing else in my life has given me that challenge, nothing else has gotten me to that point. The playoffs is the thing. Now I won’t be able to experience that.”
For decades, the NBA has allowed playoff teams to broadcast most of their first round games locally. This, however, is the final season where that will be allowed, with new media deals stripping RSNs of that right.
Knicks fans have the luxury of hearing their play-by-play announcer Mike Breen call games nationally for ESPN. Although it is strange for Knicks fans to hear Breen attempt to hide his fandom during those national broadcasts. But for the 80-year-old Frazier, who only calls game for MSG, this series between the Knicks and Pistons is it.
Breen shared a similar sentiment to Frazier last week regarding this being the last season where local broadcasts will carry early round playoff games, calling it a “bad decision” by the NBA.
Frazier, who led the Knicks to two championships after playing his first playoff game in 1968, remains a fan favorite nearly 60 years later as a broadcaster. And although he won’t be behind the microphone for the Knicks again in the playoffs after this series, Frazier will certainly remain a part of their playoff runs. Frazier told Newsday that the Knicks have already invited him to all home and road playoff games and he plans to take them up on the offer.
