Collins Offers Take on Lakers’ Trend

NBC’s Doug Collins was poring over some numbers Thursday, preparing for Game 2 of the NBA finals tonight, when he spotted a trend.

The Lakers’ first three opponents in the playoffs failed to contain Shaquille O’Neal in Game 1, but two of them, Sacramento and Portland, were successful in Game 2 and won.

Collins noted that O’Neal had 46, 37 and 41 points in the first game of the previous series and then 43 Wednesday night against Indiana. He also noted that O’Neal had 23, 38 and 23 in the second game of those series.

“Only Phoenix failed to contain him in Game 2,” Collins said.

“I think the problem is teams try to simulate playing against Shaq in practice, but they can’t simulate what this guy brings.

“Then after one game they learn you can’t go soft, you have to go with a lot of people and swarm this guy. The question is, do the Pacers have the personnel to do that?

“Shaq took 31 shots in Game 1. If he gets 25 shots, Indiana can’t win. Shaq had only nine shots in Game 7 of the Portland series, and the Lakers still won.”

PRIORITIES

Collins missed the Lakers’ dramatic victory over Portland in Game 7 but has no regrets. He took the weekend off to attend daughter Kelly’s college graduation from Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa.

“I still got to watch the game on television,” he said, “and I got to see the look on my daughter’s face that told us how much she appreciated having her whole family there. That look was priceless. I can’t put it into words.”

RATINGS DEPARTMENT

The Lakers didn’t do NBC any favors by winning Game 1 by 17 points. The overnight rating indicated an increase, but the later national rating was a 10.5, down 9% from the 11.5 for last year’s Game 1 between San Antonio and New York. Wednesday’s game got a 28.7 with 44 share in L.A., and a 39.6/56 in Indianapolis.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Kobe Bryant is guest host with Ahmad Rashad on this week’s edition of “NBA Inside Stuff” Saturday at 10:30 a.m. on Channel 4. . . . There is an NBA Entertainment-produced special on the finals on NBC Sunday at 2 p.m., with Rashad as the host. . . . John Wooden recently sat down with Bill Walton for a multifaceted interview. NBC will show it either before Game 3 Sunday or at halftime. . . . The Golf Channel has produced a 1 1/2-hour biography of Payne Stewart, with cooperation from Stewart’s widow, Tracey, and will show it Monday at 5 p.m. and again at 8 p.m.

SHORT WAVES

Look for Fox Sports Net to announce that it has hired XTRA’s John Fricke as an anchor for its 11 p.m. regional sports report, which makes its debut June 28. . . . Foxsports.com is now using Vince Wladika, formerly the head of Fox publicity, as a twice-a-week columnist. Wladika, a New Yorker, started his first column with: “I hate Phil Jackson.”

According to sports broadcast historian David J. Halberstam, not to be confused with the Pulitizer Prize winning author, NBC televised one NBA final game in 1958. Lindsey Nelson called one half, Chick Hearn the other. . . . Hearn, asked if he might consider retiring or cutting back if the Lakers win an NBA title, said, “Oh, no. I think this team is going to be even better next season, and I want to be around for that.” . . . Among TV play-by-play announcers, Dick Stockton, with nine, has done the most NBA finals. Marv Albert has done seven, Brent Musburger six. . . . This year’s finals are being shown in 200 countries in 41 languages.

Bob Costas says goodbye to his regular role on NBA games after this series, giving way to Albert. The move, announced in December, met with Costas’ approval. . . . ABC says goodbye to Triple Crown racing with a whimper. Saturday’s Belmont is without the Derby and Preakness winner. But features on Bobby Frankel and Julie Krone are among the reasons to watch the pre-race coverage.

CBS has two College World Series games, one this weekend and the championship game the following weekend. The CBS game this weekend is No. 4-seeded USC against No. 5-seeded Florida State Saturday at 9:30 a.m., with Greg Gumbel and former Arizona coach Jerry Kendall reporting. ESPN has six CWS games, ESPN2 seven. There’s not much difference between ESPN and ESPN2 these days. ESPN is in 78 million homes and ESPN2 just went over the 70 million mark.

Guest stars on this season’s second “Arli$$” episode on HBO Sunday night at 9:30 include baseball commentators Joe Morgan and Kevin Kennedy, ESPN’s Linda Cohn, Hall of Fame golfer Amy Alcott and golf writer Susan Hunt. . . . CBS figure skating commentator and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton will be among those honored at the fourth Bob Chandler Foundation dinner Sunday at the Biltmore Hotel. Hamilton will receive a courage award from the foundation named in honor of the former Raider player and broadcaster who died of cancer at the age of 45 in 1995. The dinner will benefit Camp Ronald McDonald and USC athletics. Details: 626 441-2158. . . . Fox Sports Net and Net 2 recently received 14 Emmy nominations, the most ever, and two were for its Special Olympics coverage. Fox Sports Net has also raised more than $1 million for Special Olympics through its annual charity golf tournament. This year’s tournament is Monday at Lakeside.

OUCH!

It’s one thing for Jim Rome to take shots at Roy Firestone for his interview with Bob Knight on ESPN. Rome works for a competing network. But here’s what Mike Lupica had to say about Firestone on “The Sports Reporters” on ESPN: “He said, ‘As a journalist, I made a mistake by not watching the [Neil Reed] tape beforehand.’ I’ve got news for Mr. Firestone: He’s not a journalist, he just plays one on television.”

IN CLOSING

Bob Knight’s ill feeling toward John Wooden came out in the Firestone interview when Knight said he didn’t care what Wooden thought of him, that he valued Pete Newell’s opinion more. One prominent former coach remembers an event in Los Angeles a number of years ago where a fan asked Knight: “How do you compare yourself to John Wooden?”

Knight: “I don’t.”

Fan: “Why not?”

Knight: “Wooden cheated, I don’t.”

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for June 3-4:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Angels 11 3.9 10 Tennis: French Open 4 2.5 5 Stanley Cup: New Jersey at Dallas 7 2.0 5 Pro basketball: WNBA, Sparks at Minnesota 9 1.6 4 Golf: PGA Kemper Open 2 1.2 3 Arena football: Avengers at New England 9 1.1 2 Soccer: U.S. vs. South Africa 7 1.0 3 Golf: Senior PGA BellSouth Classic 7 0.6 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: David Tua vs. Obed Sullivan SHO 1.4 3 Baseball: Cleveland at St. Louis FX 0.7 2 NFL Europe: Barcelona at Berlin FSN 0.7 2 Horse racing: Hollywood Park Today FSN2 0.5 1 Auto racing: CART Miller Lite 225 qualifying ESPN2 0.3 1 Soccer: MLS, Washington at Columbus ESPN2 0.3 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share NBA playoffs: Portland at Lakers 4 29.4 51 Tennis: French Open 4 5.5 13 Pro basketball: WNBA, New York at Washington 4 3.7 10 Golf: PGA Kemper Open 2 2.3 6 Golf: Senior PGA BellSouth Classic 7 0.5 1

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Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Angels FSN 2.1 5 Auto racing: NASCAR race at Dover, Del. TNN 1.0 3 Drag racing: Prestone Route 66 Nationals ESPN 0.9 2 Baseball: Arizona at Texas ESPN 0.6 1 Auto racing: Formula One Monaco Grand Prix FSN 0.5 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: FRIDAY, June 2: Lakers-Portland, Ch. 4, 21.9/37. MONDAY: Dodgers at Texas, Ch. 5, 3.8/7. Stanley Cup finals, New Jersey-Dallas, Ch. 7, 3.4/7. WEDNESDAY: Indiana at Lakers, Ch. 4, 28.7/44.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.