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As one of the major sports leagues in North America, theNational Basketball Association has a long history of partnership withtelevision networks in theUS. The League signed a contract withDuMont in its8th season (1953–54), marking the first year the NBA had a national television broadcaster. Similar toNFL, the lack oftelevision stations led to NBC taking over the rights beginning thevery next season until April 7, 1962 - NBC's first tenure with the NBA. After the deal expired,Sports Network Incorporated (later known as the Hughes Television Network) signed up for two-year coverage in the1962–63,1963–64 season.ABC gained the NBA in1964, the network aired its first NBA game on January 3, 1965, but lost the broadcast rights to CBS after the1972–73 season with the initial tenure ending on May 10, 1973.
As previously mentioned, NBC Sports first broadcast the NBA from the1954–55 through1961–62 seasons. The announcers during this period[1] included:
For1962–63, SNI did two games. The first one being theAll-Star Game atLos Angeles withChick Hearn andBud Blattner on the call. The second game was the sixth and deciding game of theNBA Finals between theBoston Celtics andLos Angeles Lakers withBob Wolff on the call.
For1963–64, SNI broadcast a series of Thursday night games starting January 2.[2] The broadcast teams during the regular season wereMarty Glickman andCarl Braun for games in theEastern Division andBud Blattner andEd Macauley for games in theWestern Division.
They also broadcast theAll-Star Game fromBoston with Marty Glickman and Bud Blattner sharing play-by-play duties and with Carl Braun and Ed Macauley doing analysis.
SNI broadcast at least fourplayoff games starting on March 28 withSt. Louis atLos Angeles with Jerry Gross on play-by-play and Ed Macauley on color commentary. The other games (all involving Marty Glickman on play-by-play) included:
Carl Braun,Alex Hannum, andFred Schaus were the respective analysts for the April 9, April 16, and April 24 playoff broadcasts.
ABC first signed a deal with the National Basketball Association to become the league's primary television partner in 1964; the network's first game telecast aired on January 3,1965 (a game between theBoston Celtics andCincinnati Royals).[3] For much of the 1960s, ABC only televised Sunday afternoon games, including during the NBA Playoffs. This meant that ABC did not have to televise a potential NBA Finals deciding game if it were played on a weeknight. In1969, ABC did televise Game 7 of theLos Angeles Lakers–Boston Celtics series in prime time on a weeknight. The following season, ABC aired the1970 NBA Finals in its entirety, making it the first Finals series to have all games televised nationally.
Commentators for the originalNBA on ABC includedplay-by-play announcersKeith Jackson[4] andChris Schenkel,[5][6][7][8][9][10] andanalystsJack Twyman,Bob Cousy andBill Russell. On April 8, 1967, astrike by theAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) forced ABC Sports producerChuck Howard and directorChet Forte to call Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals betweenBoston Celtics andPhiladelphia 76ers, as its regular announcing team were members of the union.Curt Gowdy also served on play-by-play for half of the1967–68 season.
The first nationally televised Christmas Day NBA broadcast occurred in1967, when ABC broadcast a game between theLos Angeles Lakers andSan Diego Rockets from the then-San Diego Sports Arena inSan Diego. Jerry Gross and Jack Twyman called that particular broadcast for the network. ABC would continue to televise Christmas games through1972. The remainder of these broadcasts were based fromArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum inPhoenix. Chris Schenkel did play-by-play for ABC during this period with the exception of1970, when Keith Jackson held that responsibility. Jack Twyman remained as color commentator for the broadcasts up until1971, when the position was assumed by Bill Russell. ABC lost the broadcast rights to the NBA toCBS[11] after the1972–73 season,[12] with the network's initial tenure with the league ending with its lastNBA Finals game on May 10, 1973.
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