ESPN has scored a "major coup" in landing the national broadcast rights to Wednesday's Grizzlies-Warriors game in which the Warriors will try to win an NBA-record 73rd regular-season game, according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. The net was "originally scheduled to air Lakers-Jazz, which is Kobe Bryant's last NBA game," but that game has been "moved to ESPN2." The broadcast of Grizzlies-Warriors "will be blacked out in the Golden State area," as CSN Bay Area will air it locally. ESPN is sending its top announcer team of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy to the Warriors' game, meaning Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown "will get Kobe's last game." ESPN added Saturday's Warriors-Grizzlies game as well, and network VP/League Sports Programming Julie Sobieski said that the NBA "has been excellent about getting the Golden State product to the biggest possible audience." She said that had the Warriors lost on Saturday, ESPN "would have waited until the conclusion of Warriors-Spurs on Sunday night to make a decision on Wednesday's game." If there was no record at stake, ESPN "would not have picked up" the game and would have "aired Kobe's finale on ESPN." Deitsch noted ESPN has "added four Warriors games beyond the maximum 10 it is allowed under the NBA's current television deal." Meanwhile, the league last night "granted a one-day free preview of NBATV, so anyone with a cable subscription to a provider that offers NBATV" could watch Warriors-Spurs (SI.com, 4/10).
FINAL MAMBO FOR THE MAMBA: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth noted ESPN and Time Warner Cable SportsNet have "daylong programming planned leading into the side-by-side game coverage" of Bryant's final game. ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Tim Corrigan said the net picked up NBA broadcast rights as Bryant was "in his sweet spot of his career." Corrigan: "People love superstars in the NBA, and it's hard to find anybody who was more representative of that period of time than Kobe Bryant." Hoffarth noted Game 7 of the '10 Lakers-Celtics Finals "remains the highest-rated contest in this ABC/ESPN run." Despite setting a "franchise record for losses this season," the Lakers will "end up with 10 ESPN appearances, seven on TNT and one on ABC," in large part to Bryant's presence (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 4/8).
