As the Warriors close in on an NBA record 73 wins, the have not surprisingly picked up an extra national television appearance.
ESPN has added Saturday’s Warriors/Grizzlies NBA regular season game, which will likely mark Golden State’s 70th or 71st win of the season. The network’s primary NBA broadcast team of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will call the game.
The addition does not affect ABC’s Cavaliers/Bulls NBA Saturday Primetime telecast, which will go on as scheduled. Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown will fill in for Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson on the call. One telecast that will be affected is Saturday’s NCAA Men’s Frozen Four final, which will move down to ESPN2.
ESPN has already gone over the limit on Warriors telecasts this season, having added games against the Nuggets and Suns during the team’s 24-0 start to the season. Any time a team goes over the maximum number of national television appearances, national coverage is blacked out in the home market — meaning that viewers in the Bay Area will only be able to watch on the local Comcast SportsNet RSN.
Prior to this season, ESPN/ABC had not gone over the maximum number of games for an NBA team since the 2012-13 Miami Heat, whose 27-game winning streak resulted in three extra ESPN windows.
ESPN has also expressed interest in adding Sunday’s Warriors/Spurs game, but that remains scheduled for NBA TV.
(Wed. news from ESPN Media Zone)
