The round mound of caution?

Not surprisingly, the Lakers’ bandwagon is getting crowded.

“One through 12, they are the deepest team in basketball,” said ABC-ESPN commentator Mark Jackson, who Sunday will work Game 1 of the Lakers’ first-round series against the Denver Nuggets with Mike Breen and fellow commentator Jeff Van Gundy.

“Certainly capable of winning it all, especially when you have the best player in the world,” Jackson added.

TNT’s Reggie Miller, who will work Game 2 of the series Wednesday night with Marv Albert, says he believes the Lakers are title bound if Andrew Bynum is able to play.

“If he comes back and plays 12 minutes a game, averages six to eight rebounds and three blocked shots, they will win it, hands down,” Miller said.

Maybe TNT’s Charles Barkley is the voice of reason here. In between taping appearances for the Jay Leno show (he was on Wednesday night) and the Jimmy Kimmel show (he’ll be on tonight), Barkley offered his opinions.

Of the Denver-Lakers series, he said: “It will be more competitive than people realize. I think Denver is dangerous. I think the Lakers will win this series, but it is going to be very difficult.

“Dallas would have been a better matchup. The Lakers are too big for Dallas.”

Barkley also believes an NBA title will be difficult if Bynum is unable to play.

“I don’t think they can win this thing without Bynum,” he said. “They could. I would make them a prohibitive favorite if they had Bynum. They’re one of the favorites without him.”

Barkley said Bynum’s development and the Pau Gasol trade are the keys to the Lakers’ successful season.

“Remember when we stole everything from the Indians?” he said. “That’s what it was like when the Lakers got Gasol for nobody.”

The Lakers go into the playoffs as a big television attraction. Their final regular-season game, even though it was a lopsided 124-101 victory over Sacramento, got a 6.7 rating, the highest of the season for an FSN West telecast.

And it was the cable network’s fourth-highest rating all time for a regular-season game. The highest was a 7.5 for a 92-84 win over Portland on Feb. 21, 2003, when Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, his eighth consecutive game with at least that many, and Shaquille O’Neal was returning from an injury.

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Also available for viewing this weekend:

Dallas Stars at Ducks (tonight, 7:30, and Sunday, if necessary, 6 p.m., FSN Prime and Versus). Game 5 of the first-round playoff series tonight is the second in two nights, this one at the Honda Center after Thursday night’s game in Dallas. Scheduling conflicts in Dallas and Anaheim created the situation. Elton John is at the Honda Center on Saturday night.

Dodgers at Atlanta (today, 4:30 p.m., Channel 9; Saturday, 12:45 p.m., Channel 11; Sunday, 10:30 a.m., Channel 9 and TBS). Vin Scully is missing this trip. Eric Karros works with Dick Stockton on the Fox regional telecast Saturday. Sunday, there’s a choice: The Dodgers’ announcers on Channel 9 or Skip Caray and Ron Darling on TBS.

Seattle at Angels (tonight, 7, FSNW; Saturday, 6 p.m., Channel 13; Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 13). The revolving-door situation in the Angels’ broadcast booth continues. Calling this series on television will be Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler. That team will end up working 85 games on television this season; Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza have 65.

Tom Feuer, executive producer of FSN West and Prime Ticket who is also in charge of the Channel 13 telecasts, said: “Angels baseball is a beloved tradition in Southern California, and that is why we don’t take decisions on the telecast lightly. Still, there is no way around the sheer number of games in a baseball season. . . . Splitting the workload between two announcing teams lightens the load for both, keeps everyone fresh, and works well with the radio broadcast schedule.”

Boxing (Saturday, 6:45 p.m., HBO). Bernard Hopkins, 43, makes his 16th HBO appearance, facing Joe Calzaghe of Wales in Las Vegas. Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Emanuel Steward are there.

Long Beach Grand Prix (Sunday, 2:30 p.m., delayed 1 1/2 hours, ESPN2). Reporter Jack Arute will cover two hemispheres and more than 5,000 miles in two days. He’ll work Saturday’s Firestone IndyCar 300 in Japan (shown here on ESPN2 tonight at 9), and then with the help of a 13-hour time difference will be in Long Beach in time for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Boston Marathon (Monday, 6:30 a.m., Versus). In addition to the leaders, cameras will focus on Lance Armstrong, who qualified for the Boston Marathon by running 2:46:43 in the New York Marathon.

Christine Daniels is on vacation.

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larry.stewart@latimes.com.