All-Star Game a Slam Dunk With Viewers

Early indications are that Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game drew more than 20 million viewers, making it the most-watched basketball game on cable television.

TNT, televising an NBA All-Star game for the first time, reported an overnight cable rating of 9.8. Last year’s All-Star game on NBC drew a 9.7 overnight rating for all television households, which translates to about 28 million viewers. NBC is in 19% more homes than TNT.

Previously, the most-watched basketball game on cable, pro or college, was Game 2 of the 1996 Eastern Conference finals between the Orlando Magic and Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. That game, televised by TNT, drew not quite 20 million.

Sunday’s game topped all over-the-air and cable programming for the time period, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In Los Angeles, the game, won by the West in double overtime, got a 13.7 cable rating and a 10.1 overall rating. By comparison, last week’s Laker game at Indiana drew an 8.3 overall rating on Channel 9. The 8.3 was the highest Laker rating for Channel 9 during February sweeps in three years.

The All-Star game drew the highest cable rating in Houston, with a 16.6. It got a 16.3 in Indianapolis and a 15.9 in Atlanta, the host city.

National ratings will be available later.

-- Larry Stewart

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Dallas Maverick guard Nick Van Exel was involved in an incident Saturday at an All-Star weekend party in Atlanta that led to his and at least one other player’s being handcuffed.

Van Exel apparently was at the NBA Players Assn. party with James Posey, a close friend and a former teammate. According to witnesses, Indiana’s Ron Artest and Posey got into a heated discussion and Van Exel came to Posey’s defense. It was not known who else was handcuffed.

Apparently, the issue was resolved. No arrests were made, according to NBA officials.

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Boston forward Vin Baker was cleared to play tonight against Seattle after meeting with team doctors over the lightheadedness that kept him out of the Celtics’ last game.