The 2015 NBA Finals begin June 5, with the winner between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers receiving the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the series. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Congratulations Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stephen Curry and LeBron James have accomplished 3/4 of their championship journey, and now, four wins separate them from the Larry O’Brien trophy. The 2015 NBA Finals is just a week away from the opening tip.
Three networks in the Philippines will have the privilege to cover this year’s NBA Finals. One of them will be ABS-CBN Sports, and upon the completion of the Western Conference Finals, the network officially released their coverage schedule for the Finals.
Once again, free TV viewers will have to endure a tortuous routine of delayed telecasts. The NBA Finals on ABS-CBN Channel 2 will air on a 20-minute delay, except for games on Monday with an 80-minute delay, a virtually similar routine as last year’s finals.
For the fifth straight finals, ABS-CBN Sports will be represented by Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc, part of a global media field consisting of over 200 countries that will head to Oakland, California and Cleveland, Ohio to cover the finals. This will be the 19th consective NBA Finals where the Philippines will send a media delegation.
Same-day replays will be aired on ABS-CBN Sports+Action at 8:00 p.m. News coverage of the Finals will be featured on ABS-CBN News programs such as ‘TV Patrol’, and Sports+Action’s flagship program ‘The Score’.
For those with cable subscription, Basketball TV and NBA Premium will air the NBA Finals LIVE, featuring English commentary from ESPN/ABC in the U.S. In addition, both networks will air pregame and postgame shows via the NBA TV program ‘Gametime’.
The Finals will also have same-day replays on the two networks, and if possible, another encore broadcast may be scheduled during non-game days. NBA Gametime will also air media availability and practice sessions on the day prior to each game.
And for internet and mobile subscribers, NBA League Pass on Globe will air the NBA Finals as well, with on-demand replays also available.
The 2015 NBA Finals will begin on June 5 (Manila time), and will conclude between June 12 and 19.
From the Tube 
This year is actually different from what you posted. TJ said on the last game of the ECF that he will be in Oakland and Cleveland as their correspondent while Boom, Benjie and Ronnie will be in Manila to do the commentator work.
You can thank the presidential sister’s show for the unexpected development. What a shame for ABS to go down like this, considering they have just signed an extension before the season started.
It was very surprising that they decided to keep the commentating in Mother Ignacia instead of Oakland and Cleveland, since it is expected for them to fly coast-to-coast every June, which has been the case since 1997 in other networks. But now with the tape-delayed games, it’s no longer possible, thus the cost-cutting move for ABS this year.
Nagtitipid na talaga ang ABS kaya nga they’re not sending their talents to cover the NBA finals. As proof, Boom will host a Magic 89.9 event on Thursday night and the next day, he will go to the studio to commentate the NBA game.
Call it the low point of the NBA on ABS in the five-year run.
I wonder if ABS will still send Boom and TJ to next year’s NBA All-Star Game.
That we’ll never know at this point.
What I heard that TJ will be sent to America to be their correspondent for news, While Boom will be joined by either Benjie Paras o Ronnie Mansanoc and they do the play by play here in Manila.
In any event, ABS’ decision is a truly a low point for the station. This decision stems from the fact that the Finals is now tape-delayed, all because of strict programming conditions.
I rather watch instead on BTV than listen to these commentaries on 2, that usually, sometimes, one-sided. Magpasalamat na lang tayo sa 90 minutes of destruction coming from Kris Aquino’s show. Nakupo.
Dun na lang. Nakakamiss na yung sila Quinito and his partners noong araw. Talagang istrikto sa programming protocol ang ABS nowadays.
Why just pre empt naruto for the games being aired at 9 am. Truly a very stupid move by this station which gain me some huge respect.
hindi pwede, especially sa regional TV stations of ABS-CBN. sa nasabing slot ineere ang NCA replay.
That makes it even more of a problem.
Pwede naman agahan ang Kris TV pati UKG kasi nga mas Important talaga ang NBA Finals kasya sa stupid talk show ni Kris, dapat nga sisihin na lang natin si Kris pati na ang Naruto at N&CA Programs sa mga Regional Stations kung bakit delay ang NBA Finals most especially noong NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Wala na tayong magagawa. Strikto talaga ang ABS, not to mention may loyalty sila sa Aquino family. Sa BTV at Premium ka na lang manood ng Finals.
The NBA Finals was much better off when it was covered by Quinito Henson and Andy Jao. But there were people who criticized Chino Trinidad for the way he covered the NBA finals. He also sacrificed his work as PBL Commissioner back then.
We seriously don’t have enough announcers who practice this profession very seriously. The ones calling PBA games, at least some of them, were one example. Kulang talaga tayo sa mga ganitong announcers sa ngayon.
Bill Velasco wrote about this in one of his columns in The Philippine Star.
Here are the links:
http://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/05/25/1458521/knowing-our-place
http://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/06/01/1460993/starters-manual
This should help for those trying to make announcing games a profession.