Nets broadcasters showing up everywhere, doing everything

On Friday night when the Nets beat the Celtics, the team’s broadcasters were everywhere. On YES Network, it was Ian Eagle and Sarah Kustok and on ESPN, just across the way, Ryan Ruocco handled the play-by-play. They even waved at each other!

And on the radio side, the Nets veterans, Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw handled the duties on WFAN. No matter where you turned or tuned in, the familiar voices Nets fans have grown up with were on fire as Brooklyn came back from 28 points, tying a team record, and beat Boston by 10.

There were the usual memorable lines Eagle in particular delivered to describe how the Nets were being led by Mikal Bridges who scored 38 that night.

“Brooklyn is building bridges in Boston” exclaimed Eagle. “Bridges of Kings County is in full effect!” he noted later, with Kustok adding in the same sequence, “The Nets are going small but they’re playing big.”

And it’s not just the TV side getting praise. Carrino and Capstraw have been getting their share for the Nets radio work. On Monday, Andrew Marchand of the Post had this to say in a column about the two.

WFAN’s Nets broadcast with Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw is art. Carrino is so precise on all the calls, and Capstraw fills in all the analysis. But what makes it stand out even more is during the flow of the game, they find a way to somehow mention baseball’s new pitch clock and old Buck Williams stories. If young broadcasters want to hear how a game should be called, they should tune in.

That’s who they are, professionals respected and appreciated far beyond Brooklyn but of the Nets. All of the most familiar voices have been with the Nets a minimum of 10 years. Kustok and Ruocco have been with Brooklyn for 10 years. Eagle and Capstraw span 20 in the Nets broadcast booths while Carrino is now 30 years in! The only newbie is Meghan Triplett who’s in her first year as sideline reporter, where Kustok started. And they’re appreciated not just because of the call. Two months ago, the NBA honored Carrino with the prestigious NBA Values of the Game Award this year. Carrino was honored for his role in establishing The Chris Carrino Foundation for FSHD.

Indeed, they can be found across the broadcast spectrum virtually every night. In late January and early February, for example, Eagle was seemingly everywhere as we noted at the time.

—Saturday, NCAA Basketball, Cincinnati at Houston, CBS Sports

—Sunday, AFC championship, Kansas City, Westwood One

—Monday, Nets vs. Lakers, Brooklyn, NY, YES Network

—Tuesday, Knicks vs. Lakers, New York, NY, TNT

Kustok is also the color commentator for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun home games. She is the substitute anchor and contributor on FS1’s First Things First and Carrino will fill in on the TV side for the Nets as he did on Sunday with Kustok when the Nets beat the Hornets. (Eagle was doing NCAA on CBS with former YES announcer Jim Spanarkel, Ruocco was doing the NBA on ESPN with Richard Jefferson.)

And it goes beyond the U.S., too. Capstraw has handled international broadcasts for NBA TV’s Euroleague broadcasts and several other international championships. He was color commentator for NBC’s basketball coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. Carrino did NBC’s play-by-play of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Every year, the Nets broadcast team wins Emmys and other accolades in surveys of fans and fellow broadcasters. It’s no wonder.