Kevin Calabro, voice of the Sonics, looks back at the 1996 NBA Finals

The 1990s Seattle Sonics’ lone trip to the NBA Finals took center stage on Sunday night in the eighth episode of ESPN’s 10-part “The Last Dance” documentary series about Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. As you might expect, it’s brought a rush of memories back from the glory days of the city’s NBA franchise, and we can’t stop talking about it.

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So who is better to discuss the SuperSonics in general and that series in particular than longtime NBA broadcaster and original 710 ESPN Seattle host Kevin Calabro, who might be best known as the voice of the Sonics?

Calabro, who now calls games for the Portland Trail Blazers, joined Tom, Jake and Stacy on Monday afternoon for an 18-minute interview that covered everything you’d expect and a few things you might not from the ’96 Finals. Those include:

• “The Glove” Gary Payton’s defense against Jordan and the reason he didn’t start guarding MJ until Game 4.

• Why Shawn Kemp could have been the MVP of the series.

• The injury that prevented defensive standout Nate McMillan from having a bigger impact against the Bulls.

• Calabro’s thoughts on the story of Sonics coach George Karl giving Jordan the cold shoulder at a restaurant.

• Why he thinks Bob Costas called the Sonics-Bulls matchup possibly the biggest mismatch in Finals history before Game 1.

You can listen to the full interview at this link or in the podcast embedded above from Monday’s episode of Tom, Jake and Stacy.

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