The San Francisco 49ers are playing in an enormous playoff game on Sunday, but their local NBA team won’t be around to watch how it ends.
Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News reported this weekend that the Golden State Warriors, who are playing Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets at 5:30 PM PST, had requested that their tip-off time be pushed back. The reason was that the Warriors wanted to accommodate San Francisco fans watching the 49ers-Dallas Cowboys divisional playoff game (which began at 3:30 and was scheduled to go until 6:30) by delaying their tip-off time until after the 49ers game ended.
But the NBA denied the Warriors’ request. Rubin notes that, in order for the request to be granted, the league, the Nets, and all the networks showing the game (NBC Sports Bay Area, YES Network, and NBA TV) would have each had to sign off … and apparently someone along the way did not.
Granted, there was not much reason for the Nets or their local TV network to agree to that. Pushing the tip time back would have meant a 9:30 PM to 12 AM EST game, a big inconvenience for Brooklyn fans on a Sunday night.
But that is still an unlucky break for the Bay Area faithful, who will have to decide which of their teams to watch (though most will obviously choose the second half of the 49ers game). Dallas fans have it a little easier since their NBA team got to properly accommodate the Cowboys game.
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