A recurring theme with regional network sports coverage is complaints about the broadcasters\u2019 homerism. That\u2019s a tough line to walk; those broadcasts are primarily for local fans of that team, but they are also watched by others through out-of-market packages, and even some diehard fans want fair criticism when things go wrong, with \u201chomers\u201d a repeated criticism of many local broadcasters in our announcer rankings. Well, Brian Scalabrine (NBC Sports Boston\u2019s primary analyst on their local Celtics\u2019 broadcasts) certainly didn\u2019t provide much homerism on their Postgame Live\u00a0studio show reaction to that team\u2019s 119-81 blowout second-round Game 6 loss to the New York Knicks Friday, which saw them eliminated from the NBA playoffs:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is probably fitting\u2026Because there are probably times where they maybe cheated the game a little bit in the way that they approached this series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brian Scalabrine reacts to the Celtics getting eliminated in a Game 6 blowout against the Knicks. pic.twitter.com\/Wb6fbtiHmL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBefore we get into the Celtics, the Knicks got beat by the Celtics four times, pretty handily. And at the time we thought \u2018All right, let\u2019s see what this team is about. There\u2019s no way you can lose four times.\u2019 The Celtics responded, [Jayson] Tatum was amazing, and they won in the regular season. The playoffs roll around, Celtics clearly the better team in Game 1, but blow a 20-point lead. Clearly the better team in Game 2, but blow another 20-point lead. They also blew another 14-point lead.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the bottom line is, whether you can say it\u2019s maybe bad habits that creep in during the year, one way or another, this is probably fitting, maybe, for the Celtics to go out like this. Because there\u2019s probably times where they maybe cheated the game a little bit, you know, in the way that they approached this series.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cThey maybe cheated the game a little bit\u201d line there is certainly some harsh language. In the context of the comments before that, that seems likely about the inability to close out games, allowing for remarkable Knicks\u2019 comebacks. And that\u2019s certainly a fair criticism, but \u201ccheated the game\u201d feels like stronger language than that perhaps deserves, especially with that being used to describe this elimination as \u201cprobably fitting.\u201d And, at least in this clip, Scalabrine didn\u2019t spotlight any specific preparation deficiencies that might merit a comment like this.<\/p>\n At any rate, it\u2019s interesting to hear that kind of language from anyone, but perhaps especially so from a team\u2019s regular analyst like Scalabrine. He\u2019s been working on their broadcasts since 2012, and has been their main analyst since 2020. (He and play-by-play voice Drew Carter ranked 22nd of 30 teams in our recent local NBA announcer rankings<\/a>.) So it\u2019s certainly notable to have him out here dropping lines like \u201ccheated the game.\u201d<\/p>\n \t