The lunchtime production meeting for ESPN’s Nuggets-Mavericks broadcast March 11 began with a faint hope that that evening’s telecast would be normal.
Typically, a postseason chase featuring a clash of international superstars would be excellent pregame discussion points. But the meeting, which included announcers Doris Burke, Ryan Ruocco, Tom Rinaldi, producer Ian Gruca and director Jeff Evers, quickly shifted to address the implications of COVID-19.
“Within three minutes of the conversation, we were like, ‘This doesn’t feel right,’” recalled Evers. “’We can’t talk about this.’ You could kind of feel that something was in the air.”
No one knew that their broadcast would be the last time anyone saw NBA basketball for the foreseeable future.