No Playoffs, No Problems
The NBA playoffs were scheduled to start on April 18th… a little over a week from today. Sadly, there is no shot of those happening this year. No one will know if this season would’ve belonged to LeBron or Giannis or an unexpected underdog. But, what we do know is that the NBA is not going to leave their fans with nothing to watch.
ESPN and the NBA have just announced that they partnered in order to present the NBA HORSE Challenge Presented by State Farm which will be airing exclusively on ESPN on Sunday, April 12th. State Farm is going to follow this event by donating $200,000 to charities that are helping coronavirus relief efforts.
With no postseason games to televise, the NBA jumped on the opportunity to bring nostalgia into the homes of all their fans. I can speak for myself by saying I have countless memories of sometimes winning – but usually losing – in games of H.O.R.S.E while I was growing up. And that is the exact reason why I look forward to watching these top NBA and WNBA players go head-to-head in this battle.
ESPN and the NBA have confirmed quite the lineup for this event. The eight participants include: Chauncey Billups, Tamika Catchings, Mike Conley Jr., Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce and Allie Quigley. On April 12th, ESPN will air the first four games starting at 7 p.m. ET. Then, on Thursday, April 16th, the semifinals and championship games will be aired beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
While dunking is prohibited in order to keep things fair, I think that fans can expect some of the same insanity that they’d see during All-Star Weekend’s Dunk Contest. HORSE is a game of creativity, skill and a whole lot of luck – even for professional players. Therefore, I think this event will bring some much needed, light-hearted fun to fans in this weird time.
Sports by Katie 