NBA fans berate Doris Burke for seemingly showing Celtics bias on air: "Glazing of this team has to be assessed"

Doris Burke is calling the game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. With ESPN providing national TV coverage, it unsurprisingly has Mark Jones and Burke commentating on the said showdown. Coincidentally, their former partner Doc Rivers is now coaching the Bucks.

Boston had a superb first half behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard. The Celtics led 69-56 after the first 24 minutes against the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less visitors. Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton kept the hosts from running away in the first half.

Some fans, though, weren’t happy with the way Burke seemingly overlooked the Celtics on national TV:

“Doris Burke obvious glazing of this team has to be assessed”

Some of the reactions were a little off-based. Burke called it fairly even for both the Bucks and the Celtics. She gave flowers to the superstars of both teams.

What the fans are in unison with is the veteran sports journalist’s seeming favoritism towards Joel Embiid. Even if the Philadelphia 76ers are not playing, she often mentions the reigning MVP in her analysis of the Bucks-Celtics showdown.

Doris Burke and Mark Jones previously worked as ESPN’s No. 2 team for in-game commentating. But once the network decided to cut ties with former coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, Burke was pushed to the top spot along with Mike Breen and Doc Rivers.

Rivers, however, agreed to coach the Milwaukee Bucks following the dismissal of Adrian Griffin. With Rivers out of the picture, Jones has had opportunities to work with ESPN’s top team. On Wednesday’s Bucks-Celtics tussle, Burke and Jones got the call to commentate.

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Basketball fans will continue to hear from Doris Burke in the playoffs

For basketball fans who hate Doris Burke on air, they will have no choice but to bite the bullet. ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV will cover the 2024 playoffs. With Burke firmly entrenched in one of the networks’ top teams, she will be a regular during that stretch.

From April 20 to roughly the first week of June, Burke will be a regular commentator for ESPN in the playoffs. Mike Breen, Mark Jones, JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson will also get air time but she will be a fixture throughout the postseason.

If the Philadelphia 76ers make the playoffs, one can easily imagine the reaction from basketball fans hearing her talk about Joel Embiid.

The NBA Finals will be covered by ABC so that will likely be the first time fans will not hear Doris Burke past the regular season.