Amazon Suffers Technical Meltdown During Crucial Moment In Hornets-Heat Game

By Phillip Swann

TV Answer Man, did you see that Amazon screwed up the last minute of the Hornets-Heat game? Hey, Amazon, if you’re going to have an exclusive game, you get it right or let someone else air it! – Jerry, New Bern, North Carolina.

Jerry, Amazon’s Prime Video, which has the exclusive rights to the NBA’s Play-In tournament, suffered a major technical snafu last night when the picture for the Charlotte Hornets-Miami Heat game went dark with 48 seconds left, according to The New York Times. The Hornets were up, 123-120, so it was not the best time to have a streaming boo-boo.

“Tell me the game didn’t just cut off?!!? Am I trippin?? WTH” – LeBron James posted on social media, according to The Times.

But he was not alone. A large number of fans reacted angrily on forums such as X.

“Technical difficulties during a win-or-go home NBA Play-in game is inexcusable. Just give the games back to TNT. I’ve seen enough,” tweeted ‘NextLevelTaken.’

The good news is that the picture returned with 28 seconds left and the Hornets up by five. (Charlotte eventually won, 127-126.) But the damage was done.

“Tonight’s broadcast of the Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets experienced a temporary disruption due to a hardware failure in our production truck,” Amazon Prime said in a statement. “Our teams restored the feed as quickly as possible to ensure fans could watch the conclusion of the game. We are conducting a thorough internal review to determine the cause of the outage.”

The picture interruption is the latest in a long series of streaming issues during high-profile events such as the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, and season finales. While live streaming’s reliability has improved in the last few years, it’s still prone to problems such as buffering and image freezing due to server issues and faulty home Internet service.

Have a question about sports on TV, send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com or complete the form below: