ESPN can’t repeat their Stephen A. Smith playoff mistake during NBA Finals
NY Post
Before the Knicks faced the Pacers for Game 7 at Madison Square Garden in their playoff series last month, ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” might as well have been “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
There was a big production of Smith entering Madison Square Garden, giving the Knicks a pep talk as a fan of the team and putting his arm around Spike Lee.
A counterbalance, there was not.
The next day Dan Patrick, the former ESPN legend who had the gravitas to speak on the matter as he once was the network’s top NBA studio host, issued a scathing review.
“How about some impartiality here?” Patrick asked. “I was embarrassed for ESPN.”
As the NBA Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics tips off on Thursday night on ABC, Smith’s commentary should focus on the games — and not himself.