SI.com's Ben Golliver reviewed the virtual reality broadcast of Pacers-Cavaliers Game 2 last week, noting that while the "proximity of Intel's panoramic ... cameras to key plays" was a positive, he "encountered a few technical issues." Golliver: "I enjoyed seeing the game from nontraditional angles and with such flexibility." The players were "easily identifiable, and they were captured by cameras that seemed impossibly close to the court." But he wrote, "My biggest gripe was that the video quality suffered from some pixilation; the crispness didn’t quite measure up to what I am accustomed from a high-definition television or in person." As a "stand-alone proposition," NBA games in VR remain a "tough sell." From a "cost-per-game perspective, buying the headset exclusively for the NBA in VR probably doesn’t pencil out for most people." It is probably "best to think of VR as a complement to the traditional broadcast, rather than as a true replacement." Golliver: "I enjoyed switching back and forth between the headset and the normal TV broadcast, and the VR experience was distinct and refined enough to make it more than a gimmick" (SI.com, 4/20).
