OKC Thunder set to play Blazers: Tip times, complete broadcast schedule
By Rylan Stiles
The OKC Thunder finished in the sixth seed and drew the Portland Trail Blazers here are your gamedays, tip-times, and complete broadcast schedule.
Game One:
This first round series will tip-off on Sunday, April 14th in Portland. It will be the second game of the day at 3:30 Eastern Standard Time (EST) on ABC. This matchup will get the A-team treatment on ABC with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Marc Jackson, and Lisa Salters on the call nationally.
Of course, this game will also be on Fox Sports Oklahoma as all first round matchups will be (Note: After the first round, you can only watch the playoffs on the national channels) It is important to note the OKC Thunder will start their series on Sunday, while the NBA Playoffs get underway on Saturday. That is an extra day for guys like Steven Adams to get some rest and get ready to play.
Game Two:
The series stays in Portland for game two, but shifts to TNT with a tip time of 10:30 EST on Tuesday, April 16th (one day off). The OKC Thunder will see TNT’s C-crew as the network will save Marv Albert and Kevin Harlan for the following day (Utah at Houston, and Indiana at Boston). So the Blazers and Thunder matchup will be called with a crew lead by Kevin McHale, Brian Anderson, and Stephanie Ready.
Game Three:
As the series shifts to Oklahoma City, the two teams will enjoy two off days before getting game three started on Friday, April 19th. The series will also shift back to ESPN at 9:30 EST, the announcing crew for this game has yet to be decided.
The ESPN family of networks holds the rights to all three games on the docket that day (Boston at Indiana, Toronto at Orlando, and Portland at Oklahoma City) so ESPN will wait to shell out assignments for game three until we see which series are close, and which are not. My guess is, OKC will get stuck with ESPN’s B-team as the A-team will be assigned to the Pacers vs Celtics game.
Game Four:
Back and forth we go for Game Four on Sunday, April 21st with tip-off slated for 9:30 EST and the same TNT C-crew as game two. Brian Anderson, Kevin McHale, and Stephanie Ready.
After game four, the networks have stopped listing who is calling what games, because we do not know what network has each game. It will depend on the number of series that get past the four game set.
Game Five:
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If necessary the Series shifts back to Portland with only one off day as the two teams clash on April 23rd. The tip time is yet to be determined.
Game six:
Back to Oklahoma City, we go if necessary as the OKC Thunder and Portland Trailblazers will play game six if necessary on Thursday, April 25th. No start time or national broadcasts listed as of now.
Game seven:
Saturday, April 27th in Portland. Again, no tip-time or broadcast.
Again, note every first round game can be seen on Fox Sports Oklahoma and the Fox Sports Go app with Chris Fisher, Michael Cage, and Nick Gallo are on the broadcast each night.
Can’t watch the game? Listen to Matt Pinto on the Sports Animal WWLS-FM 98.1 FM.
OKC Thunder sends social media ablaze by grabbing sixth seed. dark. Next
Huge thanks to Awful-Announcing for their work and publishing the broadcasting info!