Credit: NBC
By Matt Clapp on

NBC returned to televising NBA games this season for the first time since 2002, and Sunday night’s Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder marks NBC’s final broadcast of the 2025-26 campaign.

To open the NBA on NBC broadcast, Game 7 play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico — and recent Emmy winner — narrated a video highlight montage before the sounds of John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” led NBC viewers into the scene at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

“For eight months and nearly 100 nights, they do the same. They show up to play a game. But tonight is not like the other nights. This is the night you work for when no one else is watching. Tonight, the basketball world is watching to see the next Game Seven moment. So, whose night is it? The back-to-back MVP, stifled in this series, but one last chance to carry his championship club. Or, the one-of-a-kind star from France. At 22, heralded as the future face of the league. But is it his time yet? Someone walks out tonight with their mark on NBA history. This is your one night. You have one shot at Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals.”

That surely reminds plenty of viewers of Bob Costas and “Roundball Rock” opening NBA playoff broadcasts in the 1990s and early 2000s.

And speaking of Costas, he also narrated a montage for NBC’s coverage of the game.

“Game Seven. The game that is always decisive. And nearly always dramatic. Throughout the long season, it’s been clear that the two best teams in the NBA’s Western Conference are the Thunder and the Spurs. The two best teams, led by two of the game’s best and most distinctive stars. The back-to-back MVP intent on leading his team to back-to-back titles. And the otherworldly talent intent on taking the storied franchise back to the Finals for the first time in more than a decade. Between them, the Thunder and Spurs have played nearly 200 games this season. And now, it comes down to just one game. One game, Game Seven, on NBC.”

NBC has long been praised for making big events feel even bigger, and the network delivered again for this one.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.

He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp