Hate Watch / Rival alerts / NBA

NBA rival alerts

Basketball moves fast and an 82-game season is long, so nobody can watch every possession of the team they dislike. Hate Watch watches for you and sends the moments you would have wanted to see: the block, the airball, the technical, the lead that disappears.

What you get alerts for

NBA alerts are mostly about one player at a time. You can get an alert when your target:

• Gets blocked;
• Misses a free throw, or misses a shot (with the distance, and a note when it was late and close);
• Turns it over;
• Has a brick night, which is a bad shooting game, or is scoreless at the half;
• Gets a technical foul or is ejected, or fouls out;
• Commits a foul, if you want every one.

Two alerts are about the team instead: the opponent's star going off, which tells you the other side's best player is having a big night against your target's team, and the opponent going on a run, which tells you your target's team is getting outscored in a stretch. Alerts like a missed shot or a foul are numerous, so some are off or feed-only until you ask for them.

Which ones buzz your phone

Push notifications by default include a block, a technical foul or ejection, a foul-out and the opponent's star going off. Missed free throws, turnovers, brick nights, scoreless halves and opponent runs go to the feed without a buzz, and missed shots and ordinary fouls are off. Change any of them in Settings, for the whole league or for one player.

When the game ends

When a team you track loses, you get the loss alert plus lines for how: they lost on a go-ahead score in the last 10 seconds or in overtime, they blew a lead of 15 points or more, they lost as a heavy favorite, or they lost to a team with a much worse record. If a player scored 40 or more against them, the alert says so. The standings count too: you hear when a team falls below .500, drops in the standings, or is eliminated.

Picking a target

Lakers and Celtics, Knicks and Heat, Warriors and whoever beat them last: the NBA has no shortage of teams to root against. Tracking a single player is often more fun, because an individual's bad night is easy to enjoy and the per-player settings let you pick exactly which of their failures you want to hear about. Search for a team or a player and tap Track. The WNBA gets the same set of alerts.

For how the three alert settings work and what the loss alert adds, see how rival alerts work.

Free. No account. Push alerts need the iPhone or Android app.

Other leagues: NFL, MLB, WNBA, NHL, College football, Premier League, F1, UFC