You're not going to hear an argument from me about the quality of the Lakers' broadcasting team (the Clippers are top notch as well; they've got "losing banter" down to a science). Bill has gotten really bad ever since Drexler started; I think it's because with Calvin, he could always be the voice of reason, while with Clyde, he has to be both the voice of reason and the crazy homer, since Clyde has no idea what he's talking about when he's not imitating Mutombo. Still, it's better to have homers than robots; that Sacramento announcing squad was just brutal; absolutely no passion, and it would be hard to tell which team they were rooting for. One other thing I noticed for both of the games the Rockets have played against the Lakers this year (I've been streaming the games, so I got the Lakers broadcast for both); Stu Lantz and Joel Meyers just LOVE Ariza, and I think it carries over to when they talk about the rest of the team. You can just hear it whenever they talk about his contributions, about whenever he makes a good play; even when he was throwing up bricks, they defended his bad game as if he were still one of their own.
this call was prophetic. it was as if the announcers had given up on behalf of the Lakers. the Rockets were swarming LA on defense at the time, and the moment after the commentator said that, the Rockets caused a turnover and it led to a fast break bucket off of the steal. it's like he had sealed their fate with that comment. I noticed the same accolades coming from most of the announcers this year from opposing teams...
I find a lot of the bigger cities are less homer and more willing to compliment the other team. I think it says more about their city and the announcers than us...but hey, we take what we can get.
i personally cant stand joel myers or stu lantz they are absolutely terrible. myers voice annoys me and lantz is horrible with his "insights" and imaginary conversations man i wish chick hearn was still alive
I wish our commentators were like the Lakers'. They have great basketball knowledge and are not biased at all. Bill is starting to get old and lose his 'touch', while Clyde... well Clyde, and Bull repeats a lot of the same and is corny.
Joel Myers's lottery hitting voice after every made 3 by the Lakers drives me crazy. Miss Chick Hearns.
You know who is the worst? PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS. I heard their crew last night in Atlanta - constantly complaining about officiating. It wouldn't stop, worst homers in the league by far.
can not disagree with you more.. in my previous reply in this thread, i also cried out my disdain for stu lantz commentaries. he thinks he knows it all and views basketball only in a narrow window as small as his brain. chick hearn was the best..
I've mostly only listened to announcing crews from the Western teams, but I'd probably agree with you, Portland's crew is among the most homer in the league. I had a very hard time listening to them when the Rockets played Portland recently. They felt that the game was an extreme injustice; it took the fun out of listening.
I don't know if you caught it, but David Stern showed up to a Portland game and was on the air with the local TV team. Right when he went on air, Stern half-jokingly said "I know you are alwasy complaining about the officials, you homers." The broadcast team laughed nervously. Man, you know you are homers when even the Commish calls you out for it.
Haha nice. Last night when they played the hawks, atlanta went on like a 12-0 run. The commentators blamed it entirely on the officials missing traveling violations on atlanta.
Joel always gives the Rockets credit. He's a good broadcaster and does a good job in the pre-season games for the Texans too.
You can love and hate teams because of players/stars/style but it's hard not to love the way the Rockets play - win or lose. Even getting beat makes you appreciate what the Rockets are accomplishing and how they are doing it. It's refreshing to see this in the NBA. A lot of people love college hoops because of the same style play but hate the NBA because of the star style play.
