Kevin Harlan on calling the historic Heat-Celtics Game 7: ‘I’m humbled’

The Athletic has live coverage of Eastern Conference Final game 7 between the Celtics vs Heat.

The moment won’t be too big for Kevin Harlan. This is a broadcaster who has called 13 consecutive Super Bowls for Westwood One Audio, and if you are looking for an iconic Game 7 call in an NBA postseason, look no further than Harlan providing the soundtrack for the closing seconds of Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals. As Kawhi Leonard launched a bounce-bounce-bounce-bounce-in 3-pointer for the ages, Harlan memorably exclaimed, “Is this the dagger? … “OHHHHH! GAME! SERIES! TORONTO HAS WON!”

When reached by The Athletic in his Boston hotel room Sunday night, about 25 hours before the 8:30 p.m. ET Game 7 tipoff between the Celtics and Heat on TNT, Harlan said he was busy prepping for some of the historical overtones of the assignment. He believes he has called five NBA Game 7s, including the Celtics’ Game 7 win over the Bulls in Boston in the first round of the 2009 NBA postseason.

“It’s not just a Game 7; it is a historical Game 7 if Boston comes back and wins it,” Harlan said. “I don’t plan to favor either team or feel like I’m leaning on one team over the other. I don’t think that would be fair to the audience, nor the two teams that have worked hard to get here. I’m just hoping for a good game.

“What’s important is letting the game come to us. That cliche is used in broadcasting a lot, but it is the first thing that enters my mind going into Game 7. If I am calling a Super Bowl, I don’t change my outlook in terms of my own performance. I try to stay with the notes that I’ve taken off my previous game, and I’ll glance at those notes during commercial breaks, making sure that I’m hitting those things. I also want to make sure that I’m doing my part of a three-man crew (alongside analysts Reggie Miller and Stan Van Gundy) to bring the story to people watching.”

During the final moments of Boston’s wild 104-103 Game 6 win over Miami, Harlan said he tried to stay cognizant of the score and time, who was on the floor for both teams, and timeouts. He considers those the fundamentals for every play-by-play basketball caller.

“All those particulars are in your head so if something happens quickly, you can jump on it and get it out there,” Harlan said of Derrick White’s buzzer-beating putback. “I’m not trying to do anything outside of what I’ve been doing except maybe slow down even more. That was kind of the approach I took on the last shot because there was a lot going on.

“I’ve learned in my career to rarely trust my eyes and always trust the outcome. In other words, a shot that may look good isn’t, and a shot that doesn’t look great might be. So the first thing you do with the horn and light is look for a reaction. I try to locate the official to see if he’s called it good. None of the three officials called it good. Because it was so close, I called what I saw. The putback is up after the missed shot by (Marcus) Smart. Buzzer sounded. Light is on. Play will definitely be reviewed, and then the pictures kind of took over. Stan came in and thought that it was not (good), and my role is not to combat that. My role is just to continue to watch the officials.”

“You are certainly susceptible there and pretty exposed,” Harlan continued. “I guess I trusted my instincts. I think every other broadcaster would have probably done the same. Some may have lunged a little bit in one direction or the other, but I just called what I saw. I have learned on split-second, tenth-of-a-second plays like that, guessing is going to be the wrong way to go. I try to use discipline as opposed to emotion. Sure, it would have been great to let one rip and call that historic make, but that would have been the wrong call. If I had called it one way and it would have gone the other way, that wrong call stands out. It would have been an injustice to Miami if the play was no good because they are going to the NBA Finals. So I kind of felt like being disciplined was the better way to go.”

Harlan said he plans to arrive at TD Garden around 6 p.m. on Monday. He likes to check out where he is sitting immediately upon entering the building. He likes to feel the arena come alive. He and Van Gundy will watch pregame warmups before additional TNT colleagues join them for production meetings with Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. It will be the last NBA game Harlan calls this season, as ABC/ESPN has the finals.

“I’m pretty humbled to have the game,” Harlan said. “I never take this stuff for granted, and I feel a great responsibility for it. I still feel like I’m in Marv Albert’s and Dick Stockton’s seat as former lead announcers at TNT and I’m just keeping it warm for who comes after me. I think a lot about those two Hall of Fame broadcasters. They were guys that were good to me when I was a young broadcaster.”

Last year’s six-game NBA Finals between the Warriors and Celtics averaged 12.4 million viewers, the most-watched finals in three years. The 2021 six-game finals between the Bucks and Suns averaged 9.91 million, the fourth-least-watched finals on record.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the Nuggets hurting viewership this year, but the finals should do better than expected. I would not expect a repeat of 2021. First, the earlier start times will help. Games will end before midnight ET. The publicity for the Celtics-Heat series (no matter the winner) will bring some casual fans to the finals who might not have been invested beforehand, especially if Boston makes history. Out-of-home viewership (which has been in existence since 2020) will also add a lift.

ESPN/ABC has released the broadcast schedule for the NBA Finals. Here it is:

Episode 305 of the “Sports Media” podcast features The Athletic senior NBA writer Sam Amick and ESPN WNBA analyst LaChina Robinson. In this episode, Amick discusses his recent piece (“Could LeBron James actually retire? Seems unlikely, but the leverage game may have begun“); what a post-LeBron NBA universe looks like as far as content; the Nuggets in the finals; Mike Malone’s us-against-the-world view; LeBron as the most successful 21st-century athlete given social media; and more. Robinson discusses the increased WNBA coverage in 2023; people in the space who are covering the league; the next steps for the WNBA as a content play; potential cities for expansion; carving out a career covering women’s basketball; being represented by powerhouse agent Nicole Lynn; and more.

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(Photo of Jayson Tatum and Jimmy Butler in Game 6: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)