ABC broadcast mistakenly stays at commercial during  Game 7 of New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers

There aren’t two words that NBA fans love more than Game 7, and on Sunday the association has two of them. With the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers first squaring off followed by the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves, all four teams that will look to advance to their respective conference finals games in win-or-go-home showdowns.

Fans unfortunately missed some of the Knicks and Pacers matchup airing on ABC as the game transitioned from the first quarter to the second. With a commercial break accidentally eating away at some precious game time which included a made shot by Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith to help extend their first-half lead over New York.

The second quarter’s action had clearly already begun when the commercial break ended in a rare network blunder that can be seen below.

The ESPN on ABC broadcast was still at commercial as the second quarter of Game 7 between the Pacers and Knicks began.

That included a basket from Indiana's Aaron Nesmith. pic.twitter.com/mcD9wbGsji

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 19, 2024

The mistake is a crucial one given the stakes of Sunday’s game in Madison Square Garden, but thankfully for ESPN and ABC, the limited amount of action that was missed did not play a pivotal role in the moment of the game. With Nesmith’s one-foot shot pushing Indiana’s lead to 41-27 in a first half that was dominated by the Pacers.

Everything is going Indiana’s way as the Pacers enter the locker room at halftime with an impressive 70-55 lead over the Knicks on the road in a hostile environment. Shooting 76.3% from the field with eight three-pointers in the first half compared to the Knicks’ 46.5% field goal percentage.

Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton spoke with ESPN’s Lisa Slaters at the break, who led all players with 16 points in the first half and opened up about what was working for Indiana.

“Just showing our hands, not fouling, and getting out and running,” Haliburton said. “We know if we don’t give up second-chance points and don’t foul, we can defend these guys well. So we we just gotta be able to do that and get on the run.”

Indiana was also able to make things tough for Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who entered Game 7 averaging 31.8 points per game for the series but made just four of his 13 shot attempts in the first half. As Haliburton also spoke on how the Pacers were able to play effective defense on a player who placed fifth in MVP voting this season.

“Yeah just giving him a lot of different looks, showing him a lot of different bodies, showing our hands. We’ve got another 24 minutes and he’s unbelievable so we’ve gotta keep showing our hands to get stops,” Haliburton said.

Indiana will look to protect their lead in the second half, and ABC will look to make sure its audience doesn’t miss a second of the action moving forward in the high stakes Game 7 matchup.