ESPN suffers from serious technical difficulties late in WNBA Finals Game 4… but fixes it just before Las Vegas Aces win their second-straight crown
- The same part of the broadcast began to loop at a crucial moment
- ESPN acknowledged that they had a problem, which they resolved just in time
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Hearts must have jumped into the mouths of people working in the ESPN broadcast control room in the final seconds of Game Four of the WNBA Finals.
There were 20.9 seconds left in the game, with the Las Vegas Aces leading the New York Liberty 70-69. Vegas also held a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five series, with a win in Wednesday’s match giving them a title.
But after Aces coach Becky Hammon called a timeout, the ESPN broadcast appeared to glitch, with the same five seconds of a break in the action repeated over and over.
The problem persisted for about 50 seconds and stopped just before the Aces prepared to inbound the ball.
Speaking to the New York Post, an ESPN spokesperson confirmed that the broadcast was experiencing technical difficulties.
A glitch in ESPN’s broadcast showed this scene over and over again at a crucial moment in the game
The broadcast was resolved before the Aces entered and A’Ja Wilson (22) had her shot blocked
But the Aces held on to win Game Four and the team’s second straight WNBA title
“We had a technical problem during a timeout and we were able to resolve it before the teams got back to work,” the spokesperson said.
Coming out of that timeout, the Aces inbounded the ball to star forward A’Ja Wilson — who saw her shot blocked from behind by New York’s Breanna Stewart with 18.1 seconds left and the clock running.
But unfortunately for the Liberty, Courtney Vandersloot missed a game-winning three-point attempt and the Aces won their second straight WNBA title.
“That would have been nice to go into Game 5 and put everything on the table. But you know what, thanks to Vegas. They were in trouble and they found a way,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello told reporters after the loss. “We fought, but it wasn’t our best game today and so it will be difficult to learn from.”
“We just didn’t have it tonight. Vegas really exploited us,” Brondello added.