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[Awful Announcing] The gulf between ESPN and TNT’s NBA coverage has never been greater



[Awful Announcing] The gulf between ESPN and TNT’s NBA coverage has never been greater

by RonnieJamesDionysus

31 Comments

  1. WallStreetDoesntBet

    The Inside Crew is iconic, it’s not even a fair comparison.

  2. Downvotes_inbound_

    Idk i feel like espn has been absolute garbage for a very very long time now

  3. Balls_of_Adamanthium

    ESPN has coverage? I thought it was just commercials with occasional mumbling.

  4. LaZorChicKen04

    ESPN is garbage. I dislike watching the post-season when the games are on ESPN. TNT is by far a way better program.

  5. HogMolly69

    As long as ESPN hires clowns like Kendrick Perkins, they will never be able to touch TNT. TNT isn’t perfect, but ESPN is such a disaster that we don’t even consider the things TNT could do better

  6. Any_Adhesiveness_898

    I muted the game in the first few minutes, just terrible.

  7. Does TNT start their games late like ESPN does? It feels like games on ESPN start 15-20 minutes after the listed start time, while TNT is usually quicker to start games

  8. EarthWarping

    Their halftime shows are so bad. It’s not even about competing with TNT just that it’s ads and ~1 minute of analysis and then more ads

  9. ESPN is basically just guys talking into a zoom meeting from their attic.

    My TV stayed on after the Nuggets game last night and apparently Sports Center is just Scot Van Pelt in a micro set in his basement?

  10. suzukigun4life

    I love ESPN’s halftime show because it gives me 17 minutes to do whatever the fuck I want, whereas I don’t get that option with the Inside guys on TNT.

  11. Blumpkin_Party

    NBA countdown is just a horrific product.

  12. ManInBlack829

    ESPN doesn’t seem to understand it takes time to develop chemistry, nor are they willing to let the type of chemistry the TNT crew has happen on their channels.

    It makes more sense when you think of it as Disney sports.

  13. tigernike1

    This is why we need Turner *and* NBC in the TV rights negotiations next year.

    ESPN just doesn’t know how to broadcast and cover the NBA.

  14. ESPN presentation is just not good. They’re always cutting away from the game for random shit and Doris feels the need to fill the air with every opinion that comes to mind. They don’t let the game breathe at all.

  15. guitarpatch

    The coverage on ESPN is all about what’s the narrative and spewing hot takes in the pregame. That’s on top of the games starting 15 mins later than they should. The broadcast tends to keep focus on narrative talking points they went over in a preproduction meeting instead of just calling the game that’s in front of them. When the game is not lining up with those handful of points, the call gets disjointed and viewers recognize they are pushing something that shouldn’t be getting attention in the moment

    TNT’s pregame isn’t exactly in depth either. The difference is that Shaq and Barkley are busy taking shots at each other. It’s rarely serious. We know they don’t watch games outside of them working. They lean into that and it works. The broadcast itself tends to be better and focuses on the game action

  16. robot2468

    Espn is literally centered around sports and yet TNT is miles ahead. It’s honestly kinda sad. On espn you can watch pardon the interruption before the game whereas on TNT you can watch Star Wars and Tokyo drift.

  17. YoKemosabe

    Move the NBA Finals to TNT and bring back the NBA on NBC old theme music.

  18. srstone71

    Did anyone else notice this last night?

    The pre-game show was ending, and before going from the studio to the in-arena coverage in Philadelphia, Greenie got picks for the Celtics vs Sixers game from Jalen Rose, Wilbon, and Stephen A.

    Then they went to the arena and Doris and Jones talked for a bit. It seemed like the game was just about to start, but they went to one last commercial break. I figured they’d come back from commercial break in the arena for tip-off.

    Instead they went back to the studio after the break and Greenie got his picks from Rose, Wilbon, and Stephen A *again.* I thought I had accidentally rewound on my Comcast remote but it was live coverage. And suddenly we learned that we were still like 7-8 minutes from tip-off.

    I mean, what the hell is that??

  19. MastaMayne

    It’s jarring how much better Inside the NBA is than ESPN’s show. They thought they could just put all of their popular guys on and it would work.

  20. Oventaker

    The only thing TNT is missing is Mike Breen and that’s literally it.

  21. james_randolph

    Ernie and the gang are legit must watch TV. Even halftime, they’re on screen for maybe 6-8min and you have to see it. There are people that don’t watch basketball but tune in just to watch them, even the late times past midnight. Shit you’d really have to pay me to watch Greeny and the others on ESPN. It’s crazy because they don’t do a terrible job on NFL shows they have, including a three hour show every Sunday that has changed with Sam instead of Boomer but they’re still watchable, I still want to watch that over other pregame shows. It is crazy how they just can’t get it.

  22. Danky_Pee

    Name one thing ESPN does better than TNT at covering the NBA playoffs. I’ll wait…

  23. INAC_Kramerica

    TNT has a better studio team than ESPN.

    TNT has better production than ESPN.

    TNT, overall, has better play-by-play guys than ESPN.

    There literally isn’t one thing ESPN does that’s even close to being on par, let alone being better than anything that TNT does.

    Two teams might win their conference finals and go to the Finals, but all of us are losers when TNT’s broadcast season ends at the end of the conference final they broadcast.

  24. whipnutbouy

    Doris Burke sounds like everyone has only given her positive feedback and told her how great she is and now she’s just doing too much. It’s excruciating at times.

  25. sanfranchristo

    ESPN is a Draft Kings show with occasional basketball highlights.

  26. gabek333

    ESPN thought we wanted Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless all the time. We don’t.

    I watched that Shaq video about Kobe again. It makes me cry every time. Inside the NBA is one of the best programs in tv history.

  27. ESPN is the thought experiment of completely corporatizing your coverage: ads during timeouts, ads during FTs, ads on the ticker, talk fast so you can have more ads, rage bait to get clicks and views to sell more ads. They do this because it works. Until the consumer just stops watching altogether, it’ll keep going this direction unfortunately.

  28. UrbanLawProductions

    I’m so sick on ESPN’s basketball coverage. Please give TNT the NBA Finals. ESPN doesn’t deserve it, they’re awful.

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