The ABC feed of the NBA Playoffs between the Rockets and Warriors died and Twitter was angry
The Golden State Warriors were absolutely thrashing the Houston Rockets late in the third quarter of Game 1 in their 2016 NBA Playoffs series as they had been all game. The reigning MVP in Stephen Curry had been bringing down the thunder on James Harden and company and, quite frankly, things were less than pretty. However, no one will ever know what the end of the third quarter looked like for both teams thanks to the ABC broadcast.
During a Warriors offensive possession, the feed for ABC just froze on a still image for a bit and then went to a black screen before cutting to commercial. Rockets fans were probably praising a higher power (or ABC executives) for their mercy in not showing anymore of the game.
Understandably, the general public was livid at ABC dropping the ball during a game in the NBA Playoffs with the 73-win Warriors involved. As such, plenty of people took to Twitter to voice their displeasure:
Damn it ABC :/ #onejob
— Baller Reet (@BalreetIsLife) April 16, 2016
Steph Curry comes back to the bench...ABC stops working!
— Somewhere between COZY and ALIEN SUPERSTAR! (@yanab0015) April 16, 2016
Time Warner Cable took over ABC. Blacked out 70 percent of the country from watching NBA playoff basketball.
— Martin Cruz (@MCruz1988) April 16, 2016
I felt a disturbance, as if a million ABC TV execs cried out in anguish….
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 16, 2016
"ABC blacked out the ass whipping"
If Curry isn't playing, I'm fine if ABC switches to Heidi
— DrewDinkmeyer (@DrewDinkmeyer) April 16, 2016
Same person who sniped Capela sniped the ABC technician at Oracle Arena.
— @MF_Brown (@MF_Brown) April 16, 2016
Good job ABC/ESPN
— Evan Adrian (@evanadrian) April 16, 2016
This isn't 1999, ABC.
— John Ledesma (@JohnnyNBA) April 16, 2016
ABC drunk?
— ??? (@New_VCity) April 16, 2016
This game is so bad ABC had to cut it off #NBAPlayoffs
— Dallas (@Schwittleboy) April 16, 2016
lmao ABC bogus for messin up the broadcast
— J U I C E™ (@LeKwamJames) April 16, 2016
Bruh ABC messing up and then giving me straight commercials. Trash
— Rc1882 (@rc1882) April 16, 2016
Never again abc never again. How do you let this happen during a playoff game
— becca rubin (@beccarubinn) April 16, 2016
Who knows what the actual reason was for the NBA Playoffs coverage on ABC having the broadcast go out, but suffice it to say that fans were less than pleased they had to miss some of the game—even if it came back after a few minutes.
For all you NBA Playoffs coverage, stay in tune with the NBA hub page.