Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) and guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) celebrate after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter in game one of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Indiana TV station issues apology for NBA Finals mishap

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Jun 6, 2025 5:03 PM ET

A local television station in Indiana caused uproar among fans by briefly cutting away from Game 1 of the NBA Finals at a crucial moment, and an executive has now apologized for the mishap.

WPTA, an ABC affiliate that is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, inexplicably cut away from Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. The Pacers were trailing by three at the time and had just come away with a crucial stop.

As Indiana dribbled the ball the other way up to the court, WPTA cut away to a promo for its 11 p.m. local news segment.

WPTA, the ABC affiliate in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cut away from Game 1 coverage to tease the upcoming news.

Incidentally, one of the segments being teased was a Game 1 Watch Party. pic.twitter.com/PXF5xm81VQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 6, 2025

The broadcast returned to the game fairly quickly, though viewers missed a basket from Indiana that cut the Thunder's lead to 110-109. Fans were then able to watch Tyrese Haliburton's game-winning shot, which lifted the Pacers to a 111-110 win.

On Friday, WPTA vice president and general manager Chris Fedele told The Athletic that the station experienced a "technical issue."

"We sincerely apologize for the brief interruption during the NBA game broadcast,” Fedele said “A technical issue in our master control inadvertently triggered the start of our 11:00 PM newscast. The issue was resolved within 24 seconds, and viewers were able to see Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning shot.”

In other words, WPTA got a bit lucky. Had Haliburton's game-winning shot occurred within those 24 seconds, fans would likely have missed one of the biggest moments of the season. It is probably safe to assume that it will not happen again for WPTA going forward in the NBA Finals.

The Pacers trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter and nine points in the final three minutes of the game. The win marked the fifth time this postseason that they have overcome a deficit of 15 or more points to win.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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