Streak Shooter

As I wake up this Saturday morning here in California as I write this, many people here in the Bay Area are still euphoric over this latest NBA title run by the Golden State Warriors. Led by Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, GSW easily rolled over San Antonio and New Orleans in the first two rounds of the Western Conference playoffs before needing its championship experience in overcoming the Houston Rockets in the conference finals. Then in the NBA Finals against old foe Cleveland and LeBron James, the Warriors nearly lost Game 1 and were lucky to escape with an overtime win because of a late-game blunder by JR Smith in the closing seconds of regulation. That eventually demoralized the Cavaliers who hardly put up a fight in the decisive Game 4 which the Warriors won, 108-85, to complete the sweep. Of course, who can't forget Durant's decisive shot late in Game 3 that gave GSW a 3-0 series lead. While the entire Bay Area is celebrating a Warriors dynasty, many pe...

HERE in the United States, the NBA is enjoying tremendous popularity so much that its television coverage has earned millions of dollars. Since the NBA has a lot of teams, the games are spread out evenly among the national TV networks such as ABC and ESPN under Disney and TNT/NBA TV, which are owned by the Turner group. But over there in the Philippines, the NBA TV rights are owned by the Solar Entertainment Group under movie producer Wilson Tieng. The games are shown on NBA Premium and Basketball TV. ABS-CBN, on the other hand, holds the free TV rights and the games are shown on its sports channel S+A although Saturday games are aired on Channel 2 before the noontime show It's Showtime. Some games have also been shown on Fox Sports but only on Thursdays and Saturdays. Although ESPN does air some of the NBA games in the US, it's curious to note that these games aren't shown on ESPN 5 (formerly TV5) for the simple reason that ABS-CBN does hold the free TV right...

AS I am writing this piece, I am listening to veteran sportscaster Mike Breen being interviewed by a sports radio station here in California. Breen is very much well known to NBA fans all over the world whenever he covers selected games for ESPN and ABC here in the United States. In fact, during the NBA Finals, he is the designated anchor while exchanging friendly banter with analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. Breen is mentioned in the same breath as TNT's Marv Albert when it comes to the best NBA anchors when it comes to experience and credibility. Aside from his ESPN/ABC commitments, Breen also covers the games of the New York Knicks for the MSG Network. Some of them have even been aired on NBA TV. In the interview, Breen mentioned that the Golden State Warriors still remain as the heavy favorites to win another NBA title but also noted that the Houston Rockets are slowly closing the gap. He also stresses the need for the Warriors to maintain their consistency ...

LeBron James receives his All-Star Game MVP  MANY NBA fans all over the world are happy over the way this year's All-Star Game in Los Angeles proved to be more competitive compared to previous years. For one, the final score of 148-145 showed how much the players cared about winning and making sure the game was exciting. It was a good move by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to change the All-Star format which saw top vote-getters LeBron James and Stephen Curry choose their players from the list that the fans and coaches voted on. As a result, both teams' rosters consisted of a mixture of Eastern and Western Conference players. James's squad brought him together again with his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kyrie Irving as well as former Oklahoma City teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. James set up Irving for the go-ahead basket then the former joined hands with Durant in preventing Curry from going for a last-second three that would have tied the g...

The presence of former NBA players covering the games is something many fans are embracing now. SINCE last year, the US network TNT has been tapping former NBA players to be sportscasters through its Players Only concept. This features former NBA stars Greg Anthony and Brent Barry doing play-by-play chores while Grant Hill, Derek Fisher, Baron Davis and Rip Hamilton are doing analysis. Even ex-players like Dennis Scott and the recently-retired Caron Butler are dipping their feet into courtside reporting. Although these guys are novices in sportscasting, their long experience as players helps them in their jobs as NBA sportscasters and they cover the games in a conversational style which totally differs from the usual NBA coverage with legit sportscasters like Marv Albert, Mike Breen and Kevin Harlan. I have been particularly impressed with Brent Barry who has a good voice and a great potential to be a good play-by-play anchor. His dad Rick also dabbled in sportscasting afte...

First Take is one of the ESPN US shows that has not yet been aired on its Philippine counterpart. SINCE its launch last October, the Philippine counterpart of the US sports TV network ESPN has been getting mixed reviews from my friends back there. Although ESPN5 has its usual sports coverages like the PBA, UFC, volleyball, NFL football and US NCAA college basketball, its other slots are still occupied by other shows like newscasts, home shopping programs and Tagalog-dubbed American shows and movies. Other ESPN US shows like First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn and NFL Live have yet to be aired on the channel. In fact, I've heard a lot of feedback that ESPN5's programming pales in comparison to that of ABS-CBN S+A, which has more popular sports like the NBA, UAAP, NCAA and even the recently-launched Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League under Manny Pacquiao. The problem with ESPN5 is that the sports coverages that it airs are not that much popular amo...

Benjie Paras' (left) presence in the NBA telecasts on ABS-CBN has been a source of criticism. (Photo courtesy of sports.abs-cbn.com) Many people have been posting on my Facebook page regarding their gripes over the way ABS-CBN covers the NBA games. ABS-CBN currently has the contract to air the NBA games on free TV until 2019 under its agreement with Solar Entertainment, which holds the cable TV rights through its BTV and NBA Premium channels. At present, ABS-CBN airs the NBA on its S+A channel on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays while Saturday games are aired on Channel 2. Daily games will resume come playoff time. Much criticism is geared towards the way the Channel 2 games use Tagalog commentary especially when former PBA star Benjie Paras is on the air. Paras often jokes a lot about what breakfast he ate before the coverage as well as greeting those who watch the games on Twitter. Another criticism is why ABS-CBN doesn't air NBA games on Sundays where there are mo...