Because I don’t live in S|uth Texas, I can only watch Spurs games on NBA League Pass. The League Pass is actually a great deal, as I pay only $109 for the entire season, and I get every NBA game. Of course,
except for the games on ABC, NBC, CBS, TNT, ESPN, NASA, the NSA, HBO, HBO Max, Hulu, Apple and Prime Video. (I think we subscribe to all of those.) Except for those rare exceptions, I generally get to watch the Spurs home feed – you know, the Sean Elliott channel.
However, on nights where many teams are playing, the only Spurs game available to me is the game handled by the other team’s broadcasting crew. Monday night against the Bulls was one of those nights. I have written about watching the game with the other team’s announcers once before. That night I had watched the Spurs play at Minnesota and got to enjoy life as if I was a Timberwolves fan. (It was very cold.) My post mentioned that the T’Wolves were holding an Ugly Christmas Sweater Night contest for that game. This meant that every commercial break was bracketed by shots of Minnesota fans in the stands wearing all types of sweaters, and led to this line:
“It was ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater Night’ for the game. From what they showed before and after commercials, about 15,000 fans tied for first place.”
Thankfully, the Bulls broadcast did not include an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. However, they did have a strange thing they called a Cheers Cam. The broadcast would pick out fans holding all sorts of alcoholic beverages towards the camera, apparently shouting “Cheers”. Sometimes entire sections of the stadium would hold up their cans or plastic glasses. As I said, very strange.
Also strange was the way the broadcast began. Instead of showing the current Bulls team, they showed a three or four minute montage of the “Jordan Bulls” from the 1990s, with shots of MJ, Pippen, Rodman, Horace Grant, etc. in the Bulls championship runs. All teams live in the past to some extent — I celebrate the Beautiful Game 2014 Spurs as much as anyone. That being said, the Bulls’ celebration – before games in 2025 — of players and teams from thirty years ago is a bit much. Of course, the Bulls have not won, or even been that relevant in those thirty years, which probably explains much. In the last ten seasons, the Bulls have finished higher than 8th only once, and that was a 6th place finish that led to a first round exit in the playoffs. In eight of those ten seasons, the Bulls either did not even make the Play-In Round or didn’t make it out of that round into the actual playoffs.
So far in this season, the Bulls (and the Spurs) have been one of the league’s feel-good stories. Going into Monday night, the Bulls were 6-3, only a game behind the Spurs, who were much more likely to be on everyone’s list of teams expected to improve. The Ringer’s Michael Pina described this year’s Bulls in a manner which would have fit into a description of the 2104 Spurs (see, I did it again):
“Just like we all anticipated, the 6-3 Chicago Bulls are must-see TV, zipping up and down the court, sharing the ball, attacking the rim, and looking like a sum that’s much greater than its individual parts. According to Sportradar, the Bulls lead the league in percentage of possessions that include four or more passes. They keep working possessions until the defense breaks, flowing from action to action, constantly moving, cutting, and screening for one another.“
(Michael’s first five words were sarcastic – no one anticipated that the Bulls would be anything other than boring Play-In candidates again.)
Because of all the player and ball movement, going into the game the Bulls were the first team ever to start the season exceeding 110 points and 25 assists in each of the first nine games. (Spoiler alert – that number became ten straight games before the night was over.)
All in all, it was a good game to tune into the “other team’s” broadcast of a Spurs game. Especially because the announcer filling the Sean Elliott role for the Bulls broadcast was ex-Bulls player Stacey King. Unlike many home-town color men, Stacey is not a homer. While he clearly likes his Bulls, he is also perfectly willing to say that the opposing team’s player got fouled on a play, or that the Bulls’ player just might have stepped on the out-of-bounds line without getting called. He can also be colorful – for instance referring to Bulls red-headed shooting guard Kevin Huerter as “Red Velvet”. Wikipedia says “King’s popularity as an announcer has grown thanks to his great enthusiasm as well as his signature catch-phrases and nicknames.” I think Red Velvet falls into that category, as do these other ones supplied by my buddy Ryan, a long-time Bulls fan who also watched the “out of town” broadcast (as Ryan always does):
Derrick Rose — “too big, too fast, too strong, too good”
Jimmy Butler — “Jimmy G. Buckets”: The G stands for Gets.
Brian Scalabrine — “White Mamba”
Thaddeus Young – “Thagic Johnson”
In the introduction, King and the play-by-play announcer Adam Amin described the game as one between the Bulls and a “very good Spurs team” – so nice to hear those words again. Just as I do, King’s description of Victor Wembanyama focused on his the overall package of athleticism: “He is not just a big guy who blocks shot. He is a complete player.” King also described Victor as the team’s “point center”.
Another great thing about the game was seeing our old friend Tre Jones. Jones has started every game for the Bulls, averaging 13,5 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds. Tre was even better in this one, going 20/7/7 with two steals. King also supplied a fascinating stat about Jones. He had over 1,000 assists as a Spur and did it after being drafted in the second round. Only one other Spur drafted in the second round had ever exceeded 1,000 assists. Any guesses? I will give you a clue. His last name rhymes with Rinobili. Here is another clue:
As much as I enjoyed seeing Tre Jones play, and play so well, that enjoyment was easier to savor because the Spurs erased a fourth quarter double-digit deficit. And we all can agree on the game’s highlight, whichever broadcast Spurs fans were watching. Perhaps upset that John Hollinger of The Athletic had not included him in John’s list of the top four players in the NBA, Victor had one of the best fourth quarters, and best last 60 seconds, in recent memory. A 27-foot three-pointer to tie the game at 114 with one minute left, followed by a second 27-footer (off a cross-over step back) to go ahead 117-114, the ball dropping through as the shot clock wound down with 27.9 seconds left.
While Tre’s 20/7/7 line was impressive, the Spurs’ point center’s line of 38/12/5 — with 5 blocks, was even more so.
But I am sure Victor was too much of a gentlemen to mention that to his old friend after the game.
