NBC Sports California announcer Mark Jones watched the Sacramento Kings blow a 15-point lead against the Dallas Mavericks Friday night, and one could almost sense his frustration when the team made a key turnover in the closing seconds.
Jones got his hopes up when Kings star Harrison Barnes fired up a potential game-tying 3-point attempt with 18 seconds remaining (“For the tie … Barnes!”) but the shot clanged off the rim.
The Kings grabbed the offensive rebound, Barnes got the ball back — then inexplicably threw it into the backcourt for a violation that cost them the game.
Jones whipped out his thesaurus to describe the frustrating turnover.
“Oh, it will go into the backcourt, I’m not sure it was tipped,” Jones said. “And that’s going to be a pejorative, hurtful, deleterious turnover.”
"That's gonna be a pejorative, hurtful, deleterious turnover."
When watching a game Mark Jones is calling, it's good to have a dictionary handy. pic.twitter.com/wOuOpDp0xj
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 30, 2024
So the Kings lost, 107-103, but the good news is Jones aced the language portion of the SAT test Friday night.
Fans seemed to appreciate Jones’ impromptu language lesson.
“The word of the day is hereby brought to you by Mark Jones,” tweeted X user Norman Otterman.
The word of the day is hereby brought to you by Mark Jones https://t.co/cTJELkSvU8 pic.twitter.com/OTKBtKsA3u
— Norman Otterman (@NormanOtterman) March 30, 2024
We need a Mark Jones bingo card
— Classic Banter (@spicycrawdad) March 30, 2024
“And that’s gonna be a pejorative, hurtful, deleterious turnover for the Kings.” -Mark Jones
Somebody stop this man
— Sloan Piva (@SloanPiva) March 30, 2024
Jones has been the primary TV play-by-play announcer for the Kings since 2020, but he’s probably better known to many fans for his work on NBA and college football broadcasts on ESPN and ABC.
[@cjzero]
