NBA Finals Draw Lowest TV Ratings Since 1981

Michael Jordan took the NBA finals television ratings to a new high, but in the first season without him, they fell to their lowest levels in 18 years.

NBC’s five-game series average between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks posted a 11.3 national rating and a 21 share, down 40% from last year’s final series.

The 1998 finals between Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz went six games and had a 18.7 rating--the highest in league history.

The last time the NBA finals finished with a lower rating than this season’s was in 1981. However, none of the six games that season between the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets were aired in prime time by CBS.

“We knew going in that the casual fan would be a much tougher draw without the best known man in the world,” NBC spokesman Ed Markey said. “We knew it would be an uphill climb.”

Friday night’s Game 5, in which the Spurs wrapped up their first NBA title, recorded a 11.0/22, down 44% from last season’s fifth game.

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Russia handed Yugoslavia its first loss at the European championships basketball tournament, beating the two-time defending champion, 76-68, at Pua, France. Germany defeated Croatia at Le Mans, 102-85. Despite the loss, Yugoslavia, which won its second-round pool with a 5-1 record, will join Russia and Germany in the quarterfinals. Croatia did not advance.

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The home of the mother of the Lakers’ Glen Rice was destroyed by fire and authorities in Flint Township, Mich., consider it the result of arson. The fire Sunday destroyed plaques, trophies and other memorabilia from Rice’s career. The loss was estimated at more than $500,000. Ernestine Rice was in Florida when the fire broke out, and no one else was in the house.

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Former Clipper coach Don Casey, 62, has been named coach of the New Jersey Nets after spending most of last season with an interim tag.

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Philadelphia 76er President Pat Croce, injured in a motorcycle accident June 17, is scheduled to be released from the hospital today. Croce underwent several operations for fractures of the left leg after the crash.

Football

UCLA redshirt freshman safety Audie Attar has been suspended for the Bruins’ season opener Sept. 4 against Boise State for violating unspecified team rules.

Cleveland Browns owner Al Lerner decided to pass on a chance to sell stadium-naming rights as the new NFL franchise will play in the 70,000-seat Cleveland Browns Stadium in the fall. According to Lerner, the Browns will sell naming rights only to the new stadium’s four gates.

Golf

David Duval collected $55,000 as the big winner on the first day of the Export A Skins Game at Mont-Tremblant, Canada. Duval won the big purse when he made a 40-foot putt on the eighth hole. Canadian Mike Weir won a $45,000 skin on the third hole and John Daly won $30,000 on the fifth. Fred Couples was shut out.

Jeff Freeman of Palm Desert won the fog-delayed PGA Club Professional Championship at Haven, Wis., despite a bogey on the last hole. Freeman shot a three-over-par 75 and won by two strokes with a one-under 287.

Jurisprudence

Glenn Robinson of the Milwaukee Bucks was arrested early Monday outside a Miami nightclub and charged with disorderly intoxication.

Jason Watts, a former Kentucky football player who pleaded guilty in a drunken-driving crash that killed a teammate and another man last year, will be released from a Lexington jail next month and put on probation for five years.

A drunken-driving charge against Carolina Panther defensive end Jason Peter was dismissed because of botched paperwork in Charlotte, N.C. A judge ruled the case was tainted because a magistrate’s order signed after the arrest was improperly dated.

Miscellany

The Canadian government announced that it is ready to reverse past policy and provide financial help to protect the country’s six NHL franchises. Industry Minister John Manley said that Canada will pursue specific financial remedies at a meeting next month.

Richard Petty, 61, checked out of a hospital in Greensboro, N.C., and returned home after receiving treatment for bleeding ulcers.

Baylor pitcher and designated hitter Jason Jennings won the Rotary Smith Award as college baseball’s player of the year.

The right-hander was 13-2 with a 2.58 earned-run average for the Bears with 172 strikeouts in 146 2/3 innings.