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Watch: ESPN getting hammered over the worst-timed commercial break ever

By Joe Setyon April 5, 2018 at 8:07am

ESPN is under fire for what just might be the most poorly timed commercial break in recent memory.

On Wednesday night, the network broadcast a matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. It was an exciting game that came down to the wire, as the teams were knotted at 108 with just seconds to go.

The Lakers had the final possession, and as the game clock winded down, guard Josh Hart drove down the lane and put up a last-second layup right before the buzzer sounded.

The result?

Well, fans watching on ESPN didn’t immediately know what happened, because as Hart’s shot was in the air, the broadcast cut to commercial.

The commercial break lasted maybe a second, but when the game came back, the final buzzer had already sounded.

Hart missed the shot, but fans wouldn’t have known that if the announcer hadn’t said, “We’ll go to overtime.”

Had ESPN not cut to commercial at the most exciting part of the game, here’s what fans would have seen:

If you were watching the final 4 seconds of the Spurs-Lakers tied game on ESPN, you missed the final play due to a commercial cutting in

Here's the final play of regulation 👇pic.twitter.com/fb7UU8TPh8

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 5, 2018

Twitter users had a variety of entertaining reactions to the commercial cut-in. First and foremost, many fans were just plain confused.

DID ANYONE ELSE'S TV JUST GO TO COMMERCIAL FOR A SPLIT SECOND WHEN JOSH HART WAS DRIVING THROUGH THE LANE?!

— Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) April 5, 2018

Was this the worst-timed commercial break you've ever seen?

Did I just hallucinate an ad mid-layup?

— Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) April 5, 2018

Did ESPN flash to commercial at EXACTLY the wrong time for anyone else?

— Alex (@Bballtweets3) April 5, 2018

Did anyone else’s ESPN feed cut to commercial during hat final Lakers possession? Hahahaha someone’s finger slipped

— Will Muoio (@Will_Muoio) April 5, 2018

Most users seemed to be very clear on one thing — ESPN messed up big time.

https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/981757871594455040

ESPN’s new business model with advertising is aggressive

— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) April 5, 2018

ESPN out here acting like a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial sending the game into overtime

— Sports Guy (@Sports_guy16) April 5, 2018

Perhaps the best of all the reactions was a video that inserted the commercial break into some of the more memorable moments in NBA history.

Imagine if some of the best clutch moments in NBA history had a commercial mishap like that Lakers-Spurs game.. (h/t u/kaushalt18) pic.twitter.com/7F4ozlLHQx

— r/NBA (@NBA_Reddit) April 5, 2018

In the end, the Lakers ended up beating the Spurs 122-112 in overtime.

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Tags:

ESPN, Los Angeles Lakers, Media watch, NBA, San Antonio Spurs

Joe Setyon

Deputy Managing Editor, Editorial

SummaryMore Biographical InformationRecent PostsContact

Joe Setyon was a deputy managing editor for The Western Journal who had spent his entire professional career in editing and reporting. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine.

@JoeSetyon

Joe Setyon was deputy managing editor for The Western Journal with several years of copy editing and reporting experience. He graduated with a degree in communication studies from Grove City College, where he served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper. Joe previously worked as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication in Washington, D.C., where he covered politics and wrote about government waste and abuse.

Birthplace

Brooklyn, New York

Topics of Expertise

Sports, Politics