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If only TNT’s team could advance too

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Here’s rooting for a seven-game NBA Eastern Conference final series between Cleveland and Orlando. Not because the teams have played the best basketball ever.

It’s just that when the East is over, TNT’s NBA coverage ends too. No more Reggie Miller pouncing on Charles Barkley’s (oversized) body after Barkley had mocked Miller’s (oversized) ears when Miller was a kid in Riverside.

No more of the authority Doug Collins brings as analyst. “[Mo] Williams has been a little quick with his shooting,” Collins said of Cleveland’s second-best player, early in Orlando’s overtime win on Tuesday. “I don’t think he does that enough, ball fake, or ball fake and use the escape dribble to get yourself a two-pointer instead of a three.”

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And almost before Collins had finished, play-by-play expert Marv Albert chimed in. “Williams is 18 of 56 from the field in the series.” Then Collins: “And six of 24 from three.”

It isn’t a script and it isn’t a lesson plan, but it is a conversation between two guys who have a lot of information.

With only two people talking instead of three, the conversation is more easygoing, less crowded than what ESPN is offering.

It’s not that ESPN’s Western Conference finals announcing team of play-by-play man Mike Breen and analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson is bad. Breen is professional. Van Gundy is a hoot sometimes. Jackson is competent.

Certainly ratings are sky-high for ESPN. Monday’s Game 4 Lakers-Nuggets telecast was seen in an average of 6,746,000 households and was the most-viewed NBA game ever on cable, according to ESPN.

And it’s not that ESPN’s pre- and postgame studio shows are terrible. Well, maybe compared to the TNT shows they are. First of all, TNT brings its show to the arena. ESPN stays in the Bristol, Conn., studio. What fun is it in Bristol?

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Then TNT has the low-key Ernie Johnson as the facilitator for Barkley, Smith and Miller. Johnson can take a gibe, give one and just sit back and listen. While Barkley, Smith and Miller can be clowns, giving grief about clothes -- Barkley and Smith wore almost identical cream-colored suits Tuesday, causing Smith to look at Barkley and say, “Just because all the Orlando players wear the same uniform doesn’t mean Dwight Howard looks the same as somebody else” and causing Miller to howl -- there is also knowledgeable opinion offered.

Before the game Miller said, “This is going to have to be the night for Mo Williams.” Barkley followed up: “It’s going to come down to him or Delonte West. Whoever wins this game tonight is going to win the series. It’s a ‘must win’ for both teams.” And Smith ended the exchange. “Someone on Cleveland has to commit to being a star other than LeBron James.”

On ESPN, the “show” people are Stuart Scott (though he took Game 5 off), Michael Wilbon, Magic Johnson and Jon Barry. Scott wants to be a star more than a moderator. The Wilbon who is so entertaining on “Pardon the Interruption” seems unwilling to offer the strong opinions we hear from Barkley and Co. The TNT group has fun. The ESPN group seems to want its panel to be a seminar.

Mark Jones sat in Scott’s chair Wednesday and Johnson, Wilbon and Barry seemed more relaxed. But, Jones told us immediately, Scott will be back Friday. Oh, well.

And as soon as the Cleveland-Orlando series is over, the TNT crew “goes fishin’.” That’s how Barkley and Smith say farewell to the losing teams. But the TNT team isn’t the loser here.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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