Given that LeBron James had just had a massive game against the Pacers, helping his Cavaliers win Wednesday’s Game 2 of their playoff series, TNT viewers could not have been surprised that he was picked for the postgame interview.
What stunned — and angered — many viewers was that TNT’s Allie LaForce used the opportunity to ask the Cleveland star for his immediate reaction to the death of the wife of Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich.
The news of the death of Erin Popovich, at age 67, broke while the Cavs-Pacers game was being played. Several NBA players who were not active Wednesday offered their condolences to the 69-year-old Spurs coach and San Antonio’s organization.
As many noted, James responded to the question gracefully. He expressed his “love” for Popovich, called the news “devastating” and told LaForce, “The NBA family, we stick together. I know we compete every night, but something like this happens, and it just puts everything in perspective.”
If James handled the moment well, many thought the same could not be said of TNT. The network’s own tweeted clip of the interview was met with a torrent of critical replies, while more than a few looked for LaForce’s most recent tweet, which was unrelated, and used it to express their displeasure with her.
Some defended TNT and LaForce, pointing out that if she didn’t ask James about Erin Popovich’s death, someone else in the media surely would have soon after, in the postgame news conference. “Allie is working for TNT and on-court was when TNT was going to get its questions in to LeBron, not the presser. Producer might have been in her ear telling her to ask,” Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports said on Twitter, adding that it was a “difficult spot” that James handled “with consummate class.”
Calling it a “legit” question, veteran sports-media journalist Richard Deitsch said that LaForce “asked it directly and with compassion.” In his opinion, “Both people were pros here.”
Deitsch subsequently tweeted that, according to a Turner Sports source, “LaForce gave LeBron James a heads up prior to the Popovich question.” At halftime of the Timberwolves-Rockets game, which followed Cavs-Pacers, “NBA on TNT” host Ernie Johnson said that LaForce had asked James if he wanted to comment on Erin Popovich, and that the Cleveland star had agreed to do so.
In other words, James wasn’t completely blindsided by the tragic news and the request for a reaction. That in turn, led some to question, fairly or not, the sincerity of his on-camera response.
Later on Wednesday evening, James filmed a response to having been “made aware” by friends that “a lot of people feel like I was blindsided” by LaForce’s question. James confirmed she made sure beforehand that it would be “okay” to ask him about Erin Popovich’s death, and he said, “Once I started talking about it, once we were on air, actually my emotions just kind of took over, and that was just my emotions coming straight from my heart.”
There was less cynicism about the reaction of Kevin Durant, who was told by reporters of the tragic news while at a practice earlier in the day with his Warriors, who are in the midst of a playoff series against the Spurs. The Golden State forward was shown on video to be taken aback at the news and struggling to form an eloquent response.
ESPN’s Chris Haynes was among the reporters who posted video of Durant, but he subsequently took it down, possibly because he had gotten many negative reactions. “Filming Kevin Durant’s reaction to the Gregg Popovich news is pure s—baggery,” said one Twitter user.
Ultimately, the reports that James got a heads-up about the Popovich news before being asked about it could serve to put LaForce and TNT in a better light, for at least a few viewers outraged over the interview. But more than a few Internet observers are still questioning why he and Durant were asked about it at all, on camera and in their respective settings.
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