The score ticked up before the ball hit the rim on a few occasions.
Yeah I have no interest in the technicalities.
The technicalities are where you find causes and solutions, though.
If you've been happy with ESPN broadcasts of the NBA, NFL, etc then the resolution issue is irrelevant because those are 720p50 as well, assuming earlier posters are correct about that being the channel specs here.
If a low bitrate is causing a quality drop, shifting from Fox to streaming is likely to make things worse as any stream is highly likely to top out at a much lower bitrate than a TV broadcast.
I recall we had similar complaints about one of the open-air games, when the only issue was the natural light making it look different.