The title of this post was going to be "What does the NBA have against the Philippines?" because we couldn't believe that ESPN Asia isn't showing the NBA Finals on our Filippino satellite system of choice necessity (the game is being televised on ABC in the US, and ABC owns ESPN). But then we looked at the schedule for ESPN Asia in Hong Kong, and it showed that ESPN Asia was televising the game there. So we did some more digging and found this page that gives the rundown on all NBA Finals coverage worldwide. In the Philippines, the games will be televised on RPN 9, which indeed is available on our satellite (except the on-screen TV guide says nothing about the NBA Finals). So, we've watched three quarters so far, and we have to say, having announcers speak Tanglish does make the game more exciting! And where else can you hear insights such as:

"Well, he's a Serbian, and you know Serbians are very good shooters."

If you are wondering, yes we do live in one of the only apartments in Shanghai not equipped with local cable TV. We're sure we could get it installed, but have never gotten around to it. The finals are being shown on 22 Chinese television stations.