ESPN has more than 50 cameras set up around the arena during NBA Finals broadcasts, but only one of those angles is unofficially named after a New York Knicks legend. And moments after OG Anunoby tipped in a rebound to put the Knicks up 1 with 1.2 seconds left on the clock Wednesday, that was the shot ESPN director Mike Schwab wanted ready.
During New York’s Finals run before this one, at the end of the last century, Larry Johnson’s four-point play in the waning seconds of Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals similarly put his team up by one. Broadcasting that day, NBC cut to an ultrawide shot of the crowd erupting in jubilation.
ESPN had the clip of Johnson’s play ready to show during Game 4, though for most of the contest it didn’t seem relevant. Still, as the Spurs held a 27-point lead at halftime, the broadcast crew wisely reminded itself that no lead is safe in today’s NBA. The Knicks themselves had mounted multiple improbable comebacks over the last two playoffs.
While the broadcast spent the first half focused on the Spurs’ record-setting start, when the Knicks cut the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter, the story being told changed, and the faces of some of New York’s A-list fans came to life. An Anunoby three that cut the lead to four points with 4:32 remaining was followed by shots of Larry David, Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Swift celebrating. Fat Joe, Jimmy Fallon and Adam Sandler clips welcomed viewers back from break with 38 seconds left, this time with the Knicks up one.
ESPN also used its roving skycam to keep the 19,000+ other Knicks fans in the picture.
“It’s the balance of what’s the arena feel like, what does every fan feel like who’s experiencing this and, Oh, by the way, you have the biggest stars in the world, like Taylor Swift,” ESPN SVP of sports production Tim Corrigan said Thursday after overseeing the game’s presentation from a truck outside Madison Square Garden the night before. “To see the enthusiasm, the excitement of what she’s doing in that moment, and the other a-list stars … they’re like everybody else in the building. They’re not too cool for the moment. They are all about living in the moment, and so that’s when it’s the right time to bring them in.”
Then came the game’s dramatic conclusion.
ESPN and the NBA have leaned into the historical perspective on the Finals this year, with the Larry O’Brien Trophy painted at midcourt and custom montages at the start of each broadcast highlighting iconic moments from past series.
After Anunoby’s “right hand of God” tap-in went down, ESPN producer Phil Dean and Schwab had less than two minutes to prepare and deliver a new piece of eternal video.
The skycam came back on the broadcast to pick up MSG’s pandemonium, followed by closeups of John Calipari and Sandler—and then an instantly meme’d clip of Jerry Seinfeld’s shock followed by Swift and more celebrities. Meanwhile, a cameraman sprinted on the court to capture Anunoby’s (relatively measured) reaction.
As the replay got rolling, Schwab and Dean cued up the next series of cutaways. First, a “slash” cam from the opposite end of the court that captured fan emotions along with the play and the time ticking down above the glass. Second, a behind-the-backboard angle to show every player’s mid-air extension, Anunoby’s palm just above multiple Spurs hands. Third, a floor-based close-up of Anunoby getting up from the ground.
ESPN’s philosophy in big moments, Corrigan explained, is “being wide before you get tight.” Each shot grows nearer and nearer to the person at the center of the action.
Then came what’s known inside ESPN’s production truck as the Larry Johnson framing.
“Our camera crew and our tape crew and audio and video, they all love the league,” Corrigan said. “They know what it means because they remember that’s one of the great NBA moments.”
In other words: the full picture, in all its raucous glory.
“Here’s the play and here’s the emotion of the Garden,” Corrigan said. “You try to get it all in one shot.”
ESPN then cut to the only image that could follow it, of thousands more fans going crazy in New York City’s Central Park.
Just like the players, ESPN’s work isn’t done. Show leaders will meet to dissect every frame of Game 4’s broadcast, eyeing improvements for Game 5 on Saturday. But they’ll do so knowing that they captured a moment—and a crowd—that will live forever.
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