List of NBA Finals broadcasters
The following is a list of the television networks and announcers that have broadcast NBA Finals games over the years.
2000s
Notes
- 2007: The Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers was the lowest rated NBA Finals ever (6.2 percent rating over four games).
- 2006: Lisa Salters was the main sideline reporter alongside Stuart Scott with Michele Tafoya on maternity leave. She was the main ABC sideline reporter for that season before sliding back to secondary reporter with Tafoya's return.
- 2003: The series between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets was the lowest rated NBA Final (6.5 percent over six games) until 2007.
- During the 2002 NBA Finals, Ahmad Rashad had told The Los Angeles Times before the 2002 NBA Finals began that he would be ending his 20-year run on NBC Sports with Game 3 of the NBA Finals on the pregame show. A feature in which he interviewed Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Byrant would be his last assignment for the network. He and Hannah Storm were replaced by Bob Costas as host of the pregame show for the Finals, and Rashad declined to join Hannah Storm on the post-game show carried by CNBC.[1]
- 2001: NBC studio host Hannah Storm did not anchor the NBA Finals due to her being on maternity leave, so Ahmad Rashad replaced her.
1990s
Notes
- 1998: The Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz was the highest rated NBA finals ever (18.7 percent rating over six games).
- During the 1997 NBA Finals, Hannah Storm became the first woman to serve as pre-game host of the NBA Finals after serving as a sideline reporter for NBC in the past four years. But she wasn't the first female broadcaster to cover the NBA Finals (that honor goes to Lesley Visser).
- 1994: During Game 5 (June 17, 1994) most NBC affiliates (with the noted exception being WNBC-TV out of New York) split the coverage of the game between NFL Hall of Famer O. J. Simpson's low speed freeway chase with the LAPD.
- 1993: Magic Johnson was unavailable for Game 6 (the series clincher) because he was attending his brother Larry's wedding.
- 1992: Magic Johnson helped call Games 1, 4, and 5
1980s
Notes
- 1989: Pat O'Brien was the pre-game and halftime host for Game 2 because Brent Musburger was on assignment (Musburger was covering the College World Series for CBS). This was also in the case in 1988.
- 1987: James Brown was the sideline reporter for Games 3 and 4 (the latter being the Magic junior skyhook game) because Pat O'Brien attended the birth of son Sean Patrick. O'Brien called Games 1, 2, 5 and 6.
- 1984: Lesley Visser became the first woman to cover the NBA Finals.
- 1981: The series between the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets was the lowest rated NBA Final in history (6.7 rating over six games), until the 2003 NBA Finals drew only 6.5 percent of American television households. Four games of the 1981 series were telecast on tape delay.
- From 1979-1981, CBS aired weekday NBA Finals games on tape delay. Games were televised after the late local news (11:30 p.m.) in the CBS Late Movie time slot.
1970s
| Year | Network | Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst(s) | Sideline reporter(s) | Studio host | Studio analyst(s) | Trophy presentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | CBS | Brent Musburger | Rick Barry and Rod Hundley | Stu Lantz | Pat Summerall | Pat Summerall | |
| 1978 | CBS | Brent Musburger | Rick Barry and John Havlicek | Rick Barry | |||
| 1977 | CBS | Brent Musburger | Rick Barry and Steve Jones | Mendy Rudolph | |||
| 1976 | CBS | Brent Musburger | Rick Barry and Mendy Rudolph | Sonny Hill | Mendy Rudolph | ||
| 1975 | CBS | Brent Musburger | Oscar Robertson | Gary Bender | Frank Glieber | Frank Glieber | |
| 1974 | CBS | Pat Summerall | Rick Barry and Rod Hundley | Gary Bender | Gary Bender | ||
| 1973 | ABC | Keith Jackson | Bill Russell | Howard Cosell | |||
| 1972 | ABC | Keith Jackson | Bill Russell | Howard Cosell | Howard Cosell | ||
| 1971 | ABC | Chris Schenkel | Jack Twyman | Keith Jackson | Keith Jackson | ||
| 1970 | ABC | Chris Schenkel | Jack Twyman | Howard Cosell | Howard Cosell |
Notes
- 1970: The first NBA Finals to be nationally televised in full.
1960s
| Year | Network | Games | Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | ABC | 3, 5-7 | Chris Schenkel | Jack Twyman |
| Synd. | 4 | Bob Wolff | Ed Macauley | |
| 1968 | ABC | 1, 4 | Chris Schenkel | Jack Twyman |
| 1967 | ABC | 2, 5 | Chris Schenkel | Jack Twyman |
| 1966 | ABC | 1, 5 | Chris Schenkel | Bob Cousy |
| Synd. | 7 | Bob Wolff | Jack Twyman | |
| 1965 | ABC | 1, 5 | Chris Schenkel | Bob Cousy |
| 1964 | No National Coverage | |||
| 1963 | No National Coverage | |||
| 1962 | NBC | 1, 2 | Bob Wolff | Bud Palmer |
| 1961 | NBC | 1, 3, 4 | Lindsey Nelson | Bud Palmer |
| 1960 | NBC | 1, 3-4, 7 | Lindsey Nelson | Curt Gowdy |
Notes
- 1969 - Game 7 was televised by ABC in prime time.
- For the majority of the 1960s, ABC only televised Sunday afternoon games, including the playoffs. ABC was not did not have to televise a potential NBA Finals deciding game if it occurred on a weeknight.
- 1962 - All of the games from Boston were televised in Los Angeles on Channel 9 (then called KHJ-TV) with Chick Hearn on play-by-play. For Game 7, Jack Drees joined the broadcast team. In addition, Chick Hearn indicated that Game 7 was being syndicated around the nation to a variety of cities.
1950s
| Year | Network | Games | Play-by-play announcer | Color analyst(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | NBC | 1, 2 | Lindsey Nelson | Curt Gowdy |
| 1958 | NBC | 1 | Lindsey Nelson | Curt Gowdy |
| 1957 | NBC | 1, 7 | Lindsey Nelson | Curt Gowdy |
| 1956 | NBC | 1 | Lindsey Nelson | Curt Gowdy |
| 1955 | NBC | 2, 6 | Marty Glickman | Lindsey Nelson |
| 1954 | DuMont | 2, 5 | Marty Glickman | Lindsey Nelson |
Radio
 | This article is missing information about Error: you must specify what information is missing.. (February 2009) |
2000s
- Expected announcer, subject to change.
1990s
1980s
References
| 1940s |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | ||
| 1960s | ||
| 1970s | ||
| 1980s | ||
| 1990s | ||
| 2000s | ||
| 2010s | ||
| 2020s | ||