This Laker Team Almost Done

The season is nearing an end for Paul Sunderland and Stu Lantz, no matter how the Lakers fare.

Channel 9’s telecast of tonight’s playoff game at Houston could be the last for the team’s television announcers, particularly if the Lakers sweep the Rockets.

ABC has Game 4 of the Laker-Houston series exclusively Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

A Game 5 at Staples Center on Wednesday would be televised by Fox Sports Net with Sunderland and Lantz, a Game 6 at Houston would be televised by Channel 9 and a Game 7 would be on Fox Sports Net.

But after that, it probably would be all over for Sunderland and Lantz. During the second round, TNT has exclusivity, and so does ABC. Only ESPN telecasts during the second round could also be televised by local carriers Channel 9 or Fox Sports Net.

After the second round, everything is exclusive to the national carriers.

Radio announcers Joel Meyers and Mychal Thompson get to continue. Sunderland and Lantz do not.

“I’ve tried to avoid thinking about it, but of course I am aware, and I’ve given some thought to the fact, that [tonight] could be our last game,” Sunderland said.

Sunderland said Frank Mariani, Laker executive vice president, had told him he would be welcome on all Lakers trips, working or not. Sunderland said he planned to accept the offer.

Lantz, who has been announcing Laker games since 1986, said he would not attend games he was not working. In fact, he said, it would be difficult for him to even watch them on television.

Lakers Rule

The ratings for last weekend’s NBA playoff games leave little doubt that the NBA and its television partners would like the Lakers to advance.

Game 1 of the Laker-Houston series on ESPN Saturday night drew the highest national rating of the weekend, a 3.3, even though ESPN reaches 13% fewer homes than ABC. Dallas at Sacramento on ABC Sunday got a 3.0 rating.

The next-highest rating was a 2.5 for Denver-Minnesota on TNT Sunday night.

If ABC officials were grumbling because they didn’t get to open the playoffs with the Lakers, it’s understandable.

Three regular-season Laker telecasts on ABC all did better than a 3.0. The Lakers and Houston drew a 4.1 on Christmas Day, the Lakers and San Antonio drew a 3.5 on April 4, and the Lakers and Sacramento drew a 3.1 on April 11.

Turmoil Everywhere

The tumult of the Laker season has spilled over to the television crew.

Channel 9 will televise tonight’s game without a key player, longtime executive producer Susan Stratton.

She will be sitting out a one-game suspension handed down by Don Corsini, president and general manager of sister stations Channel 9 and Channel 2.

No one at Channel 9 will talk about it, but the crew that headed to Houston with the Lakers on Thursday was told that Stratton would not be with them.

Sunderland and Lantz said they were told by Jeff Proctor, Channel 9 vice president and senior executive producer of sports.

Proctor, who has produced Dodger, Angel and college football and basketball telecasts, will produce tonight’s telecast. Doug Freeman, on loan from Fox Sports Net, will direct. When she’s working, Stratton serves as producer and director.

A producer oversees the content of a telecast, including pregame and halftime segments, and a director selects camera angles and replays while the game is in process. Both work in a production truck on site.

Stratton did not return phone calls Wednesday night and Thursday, but others on the crew said she was being disciplined for her comments in this column last Friday.

Channel 9 was criticized then for leaving the Lakers’ final regular-season game at Portland right after Kobe Bryant had made the winning three-point shot at the end of a second overtime.

Instead of postgame interviews or analysis, the station immediately began airing a new, locally produced show, “9 on the Town.”

Stratton, who’d been in charge of the game telecast, was asked the next day about the quick getaway. She said she had been told by Proctor before the game to get off the air as soon as the game was over.

Of Stratton’s suspension, Laker spokesman John Black said, “It is a KCAL matter.”

Playoff Notes

Channel 9 will have a one-hour Laker pregame show tonight at 5:30.... The ESPN announcers for tonight’s Laker game will be Mike Tirico, George Karl and Tom Tolbert.... The all-NBA team will be announced Sunday at halftime of the Laker-Houston game.

NFL Gets Sirius

An NFL Sunday Ticket-type package is coming to radio. Beginning in the fall, Sirius satellite radio will broadcast every NFL game nationwide, airing the local broadcasts of the teams involved in each game.

To kick off its relationship with the NFL, Sirius will offer six hours of draft coverage Saturday and four hours of call-in programming Sunday. Sirius has hired Phil Simms to serve as co-host of its draft coverage with Steve Cohen.

ESPN’s all-inclusive television coverage of the draft begins Saturday at 9 a.m.

Short Waves

The father and son team of Al and Adam Gottfried owns Fourteen Colony Productions, which has a golf show, “Tee It Up,” that airs Sunday morning on radio station KSPN.

They are planning to take that show to television on Fox Sports Net this summer, if details can be worked out.

Their company produced the taped coverage of the recent KLOS Mark and Brian celebrity golf tournament that has been airing on Fox Sports Net through this month. The next airings are Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.

The second installment of five consecutive weeks of NBC’s “Budweiser Boxing Series” will be televised Saturday at noon. The card is highlighted by Olympic silver medalist Rocky Juarez fighting featherweight contender Joe Morales at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

For the first time, NBC offers an Arena Football League doubleheader Sunday at 9 a.m. It’s San Jose at Georgia in the first game, followed by the Avengers at Chicago. The lead broadcast team of Tom Hammond and Pat Haden will announce the Avenger game.

The Tennis Channel offers Fed Cup coverage this weekend, the U.S. women playing Slovenia, and Croatia playing Belgium.

In Closing

Fox’s “Scooter” graphic, which made its debut on last Friday’s New York Yankee-Boston Red Sox telecast, got bashed by media critics.

The idea is to provide a vehicle for explaining baseball to kids. Most critics wanted the little thing knocked off the screen and out of the park, never to be seen again.

This is Fox chairman David Hill’s idea, and wasn’t the reaction somewhat similar when he came up with the all-the-time score graphic for NFL football in 1994? Let’s give Scooter a little more time.