ABC Is Already Booking Cavs-Knicks Before Game 7

So with Game 7 still on the schedule and Detroit very much alive, you'd think the networks would be hedging. Nope. ABC apparently couldn't help themselves and ran a Cavs vs Knicks Eastern Conference Finals promo, the kind of thing that usually shows up AFTER the matchup is set, not before.

Barstool Sports

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ABC ran a Cavs vs Knicks conference finals promo iiiiiiinteresting

Now, is it tinfoil hat hour? Probably not — ad ops cuts these promos for every possible bracket scenario and somebody almost certainly hit the wrong button on the wrong night. But the optics are bad when Pistons fans are watching a national network skip over their team like they're already eliminated. Detroit's whole identity this series has been nobody-believes-in-us energy, and now they get to point at an actual TV graphic doing exactly that.

Barstool Sports

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Kenny Atkinson says the Cavs will close it out in Game 7

Cleveland's head coach is publicly saying the Cavs handle business in 7, ABC is essentially saying the same thing through a promo department, and the Knicks are sitting back hoping all of it ages well. If Detroit pulls the upset Tuesday, that promo clip becomes one of the great network bloopers of the spring. If the Cavs close it out, nobody remembers any of this by tipoff of Game 1.