BY MATTHEW OSTROW

The pregame show for the NBA TV game on Sunday night was poor.  The crew, Brent Barry and Steve Smith, did the show from the studio. The commentators lacked focus and were subpar in their game analysis.

The pregame coverage of the two teams started about a half an hour before tip-off. The first story about the game was a 10-minute piece where Ahmad Rashad sat down with Brandon Roy.  The story was very well done covering new issues with Roy’s comeback to the NBA.  It featured highlights from his last game as well as highlights from this year’s preseason.

After that story, the guys in the studio talked about the Toronto Raptors and what they did offensively in their first game.  Barry and Smith used a large touch screen to show what the team was trying to do on offense.

After talking of the Raptors and their first game, they focused on the injuries to Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. Barry even did a knuckle push-up in studio to mock Kevin Love’s injury (Love reportedly broke his hand while doing knuckle push-ups).  It was inappropriate and over-the-top for Barry to do. 

The pregame show also did a very poor job introducing the game.  There were no graphics of the starting line-ups or team statistics.  The crews just sent you directly to the game where the players were lining up for tip-off.  The viewer did not know who the starters were or any pre-game statistics.