The entire NBA season has been a celebration of the return of the NBA on NBC, but the hype will really kick in starting this weekend when the NBA playoffs tip off.
Sunday Night Basketball games averaged 3.4 million viewers this season, according to NBC, while Coast 2 Coast Tuesday doubleheader games averaged 2.6 million viewers, a testament to the power of broadcast television and NBC’s strength in marketing and production. The network emphasized “new-stalgia” throughout the season, coating the classics (“Roundball Rock,” Bob Costas) with new paint,
Both the viewership gains and the game production will be under a brighter spotlight during the playoffs, and NBC has announced its coverage plans for the first week, when it will stick to the Sunday-Monday-Tuesday slots it occupied during the regular season.
The No. 1 team of Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller, and reporter Zora Stephenson will call Spurs vs. Trail Blazers on both Sunday and Tuesday in San Antonio. Jamal Crawford will join them for the first game. NBC clearly sees San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama as a premier draw, even in an early-round series in which the Spurs will be favored.
Noah Eagle will be paired with Grant Hill and reporter Jordan Cornette for the East’s No. 8 seed at Detroit on Sunday, then Hawks-Knicks on Monday.
The rest of the games will feature a mix of announcers.
NBC regular Robbie Hummel will call the Raptors at the Cavaliers on Monday alongside Mark Followill and reporter Chris Mannix. After starting the week with his typical team, Crawford will work the Rockets at the Lakers with Terry Gannon and reporter Ashley ShahAhmadi. And Michael Grady, who is also calling two play-in tournament games for Prime Video this week, will call the Timberwolves at Nuggets for NBC on Monday night alongside Brian Scalabrine, Austin Rivers, and reporter Grant Liffman.
Notably, Hummel will also serve as the analyst for Jason Benetti’s NBA debut on NBC. The pair will call Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the East No. 7 seed on Tuesday night, with Cornette. Benetti joined NBC last month as the lead MLB announcer and the voice of Sunday Night Baseball. Previously at Fox, which did not have NBA rights, Benetti covered many college basketball games.
The usual studio team of Maria Taylor, Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady will handle studio coverage all three days.
This season, NBC will air the Western Conference Finals as part of an alternating arrangement with Prime Video for the semifinal series opposite ESPN.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.