“Crime Against Humanity”: Rattled Fans Call For Relief From Stephen A Smith & Kendrick Perkins’ NBA Finals Show on ESPN

ESPN’s NBA Finals halftime show comes under the scanner again! Ever since Stephen A. Smith & Co. nabbed the opportunity to cover the biggest stage of the tournament, all eyes were on the crew. And from the overarching sentiment, it looks like they’re no match for the Inside the NBA quartet. But since TNT still has one more year left in their media rights deal, loyal fans were furious with the league’s decision to give someone else the preference. And Charles Barkley was one of them.

“Whoever’s doing their programming has got to be the stupidest, most boneheaded people in the world,” said Charles Barkley about ESPN. Considering they’re covering the NBA Finals, you would expect as few lapses as possible. However, they started before Game 1 and haven’t stopped since. As June 6 rolled in, the league caught wind that the Lakers were targeting Dan Hurley to become their new head coach. So, instead of focusing on Game 1, ESPN analysts discussed the whats and the whys of that possible scenario.

Addressing this the following day, Barkley fumed, “I was so mad at ESPN yesterday. I was so p*ssed, with Game 1 of the Finals coming on, for them to spend the first hour talking about ‘What if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers?’” During Game 2 of the Mavericks taking on the Celtics, fans called out JJ Redick for overusing technical terms while he was calling the game. The former NBA star, seemingly the No.1 guy to take over head coach duties for the Lakers before Dan Hurley came in, couldn’t help himself. Fans argued that JJ wanted to spill coaching terms to pose as a basketball genius.

It wasn’t just his. According to the Sports Business Journal, a lot of the criticism ESPN got during Game 2 was because of the limited time its crew got to analyze the game, especially during the halftime show. In fact, Malika Andrews even had to skip introductions to accommodate the analysis that “totaled less than two minutes.” Compared to Inside the NBA, this wasn’t a good look for ESPN. However, with ABC taking over the reins for Game 3 as the Celtics flew to Dallas, ESPN would’ve gotten some respite.

But it all resumed in Game 4, a do-or-die matchup for the Mavericks, who brought out their full force to completely dominate the Celtics. The home team headed into the locker room with a 26-point lead at halftime. Moving into the halftime show after that first half, fans didn’t find ESPN’s coverage up to the mark, much like it was during Game 2. As fans expressed their ire online, their reaction led to one question: Does ESPN deserve the coverage over TNT’s Inside the NBA crew?

Fans push “zero conversation, zero substance” criticism down ESPN’s throat

A fan straight-up listed out labels to describe the coverage. They wrote, “Most unintelligent, internationally untruthful unentertaining halftime program.” With Kendrick Perkins and veteran analyst Stephen A. Smith in the panel, it’s a bold statement! In response, another user wrote, “I’ve been saying the entire playoffs that ESPN should be absolutely embarrassed by their pregame/halftime show.”

This brings us back to the Game 1 debacle. As Charles Barkley suggested, why would ESPN choose to cover Dan Hurley’s potential hiring in LA? Why not focus on something as significant as the Mavericks making their first Finals appearance since 2011? In Game 4, when Dallas had no option but to step up, Luka Doncic rose to the occasion, scoring 25 of his 29 points in the first half of their 122-84 win.

However, one of the fans was happy with Malika Andrews, the show host, as they wrote, “Malika is the only one who is any good at all on that crew.” At the same time, they requested NBA commissioner Adam Silver to use his authority to make the show “watchable.” Remember how fans claimed that Inside the NBA had become unwatchable just a few weeks ago? Well, it wasn’t because of the four originals. It was because of Draymond Green’s appearance on the show. It makes you wonder: would fans choose ESPN coverage or Inside the NBA with Draymond Green?

Another fan went to another extreme to time the show. Showing exactly what the Sports Business Journal reported, they posted a screenshot of the calculated time: a total of 2 minutes and 35 seconds of coverage on the halftime show. To go along with that, they wrote, “Espn half time show is a disaster. This is how long they were actually in at the half. This is ridiculous. Why bother?” Going by the recording, the crew would barely have had the chance to make an opinion on the game. Adding to the criticisms on the duration, another fan found the root cause: the commercials.

“ESPN has completely mailed it in on the halftime report. Zero conversation. Zero substance. At least TRY to deliver a half-decent product. If you want to air commercials the entire time, just say so. Would actually probably be better to just do that,” they commented. Doug Gottlieb, a Fox Sports analyst, has already addressed the drawbacks that ESPN has to face. Since it’s a network, they rely only on advertisements to make money. And the halftime show is the best time for them to make the most. However, in the case of TNT – a cable operator – it earns via commercials and subscriptions.

Taking more shots at the halftime show, one fan brought Stephen A. Smith into the mix. Replying to a video of the analyst entering the American Airlines Center, they wrote, “ESPN/ABC finally realized they paying this man $15 million per year just to fly him out to LA every weekend for a 30 second half time show. 🤣”

With so much hate going around for ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Finals, the network needs to find a solution before it turns into a bigger issue. That said, do you think TNT deserves a spot in the media rights deal? Let us know in the comments.

Stay tuned to this space for more such updates and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in this video.