ABC’s crew for Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals Game 1 was “amazing” in that the game was “treated like a basketball telecast, no reason to abandon it to press ‘look what we can do!’ buttons,” according to Phil Mushnick of the N.Y. POST. The crew, led by producer Tim Corrigan, “answered all our questions, quickly, concisely, clearly.” When Knicks G Jalen Brunson was “briefly hobbled by collisions, ABC delivered, showing us why and how and even Brunson’s limp to the locker room.” Mushnick: “We missed nothing. Even the chosen replays were pertinent.” ABC succeeded in providing the “best seat in the house.” As for the on-air talent, play-by-play announcer Mike Breen “continues as an unshakable pro.” However, as for the analysts, Tim Legler “speaks too often and for too long” and Richard Jefferson’s “semi-decipherable takes are another example of more is less TV” (N.Y. POST, 6/4).
RADIO, RADIO: On Long Island, Anthony Rieber notes the Knicks’ radio team of Tyler Murray and Monica McNutt are in their second season together in the booth and are “following in the footsteps of legends.” Murray said, “You put yourself in the seat of someone driving around in the car, maybe walking around the city with headphones on, and your priority is to give them as much information as possible as quickly and as clearly as possible.” Monday’s Game 3 will be the first Finals game at MSG in 27 years, and Murray said, “It won’t feel like any other game, obviously, but the nice thing is, we’ve been in some crazy Garden environments already these last couple of years. It’s just going to be heightened that much more” (NEWSDAY, 6/5).