For those of us who grew up watching the NBA on NBC in the 90’s, Tuesday’s broadcast for the Philadelphia 76ers’ home game against San Antonio will be a shot of nostalgia straight to the heart. NBC announced they are doing a ‘Throwback Tuesday’ telecast to recreate the experience of a 1995-96 broadcast.
Just when you thought Doug Collins was out of our lives (timely given Shamus Clancy just wrote about how the Sixers didn’t shoot threes during Collins’ coaching tenure), he’ll be on the mic alongside Bob Costas, Mike Fratello and Jim Gray. As much as I don’t look back on him as a coach overly fondly, I’ve never minded Collins’ work as a TV analyst, and that’s a tremendous broadcast group. Having all those graphics and score bugs back for one night will be a fun trip down memory lane, and obviously, everyone knows the place of Roundball Rock in NBA history.
Although the Sixers’ 1995-96 season was only memorable because their 18-64 record allowed them to draft Allen Iverson first overall in the NBA draft, it will be a blast seeing footage from across the league from that season. That year was also the final one for Philadelphia in the Spectrum; I’ll always remember being a kid running around those sparsely-populated aisles chasing down coupons from the Lay’s blimp. The Sixers’ game against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs (currently riding an 11-game winning streak) was already going to be must-see TV, but this new broadcast twist is an exciting cherry on the top.