Criqui hosted with Mendy Rudolph officiating. 32 players, including Rick Barry, Pete Maravich, George Gervin, JoJo White, Doug Collins, Paul Westphal and Bob McAdoo, competed in a round-robin single-elimination tournament each week. Barry was eliminated in the first round by Earl Tatum of the Los Angeles Lakers. Maravich and Westphal made it all the way to the final, which was scheduled to take place at halftime of Game 2 of the 1978 NBA Finals. However, Maravich was injured and unavailable, so CBS instead had Westphal shoot a free-throw against "Bag-Man" (who was actually Rick Barry, who was on the announcing team, wearing a paper sack over his head). Westphal, with a bag over his head as well, made the free throw while Barry missed, and CBS awarded him the trophy. Among the games aired this season included 10/28/1977 Philadelphia 76ers vs. Portland Trail Blazers 12/25/1977 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Braves 1/8/1978 New Orleans Jazz vs Portland Trail Blazers 1/15/1978 Portland Trail Blazers vs Boston Celtics 1/22/1978 (regional telecast) New York Knicks vs Denver Nuggets 1/22/1978 (regional telecast) Detroit Pistons vs New Orleans Jazz 2/12/1978 New York Knicks vs New Jersey Nets 2/26/1978 (regional telecast) Milwaukee Bucks vs New Orleans Jazz 3/5/1978 New Orleans Jazz vs Detroit Pistons 3/19/1978 New York Knicks vs Philadelphia 76ers 3/26/1978 Portland Trail Blazers vs Philadelphia 76ers 4/8/1978 New York Knicks vs Buffalo Braves 4/9/1978 Buffalo Braves vs Boston Celtics Tape delay and playoff scheduling From 1975 to 1979, CBS aired all NBA Finals games live (usually during the afternoon); live NBA Finals game coverage on the network resumed in 1982. During this era, CBS aired weeknight playoff games from earlier rounds on tape delay at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time (airing games live when the game site was in the Pacific Time Zone). CBS continued this practice until at least the mid-1980s. CBS did not want sportscasters to give the final score on the late-evening newscasts aired by its local affiliates. The network preferred the games to not be over by that time if they were going to be aired on tape later that night. Most CBS games were either 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. local starts. For instance, CBS aired Games 1–3 of the 1981 Western Conference Finals, between the Houston Rockets and Kansas City Kings. Ironically, both Western Conference teams finished the regular season with a record 40–42, instead of the Eastern Conference Finals between