Lakers vs. Spurs Means Ratings

There aren’t many certainties in life, but if the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs are playing a Sunday afternoon playoff game, it surely will be the featured NBA game of the weekend.

Although series-deciding games are generally more desirable, there was no doubt that ABC was going to grab Game 1 of the Laker-Spur series.

For one thing, the Lakers produce ratings. When ABC showed the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings the first weekend of the playoffs, the national rating was a 3.0. When ABC showed the Lakers and Houston Rockets the next week, it was a 4.8. That’s a 60% increase.

For another thing, the Lakers and Spurs have won the last five NBA championships.

“There’s no two ways about it, it is a marquee matchup,” said Thag Garson, ABC Sports’ director of programming. “There are some other terrific matchups this weekend, but we at ABC are very happy to have Game 1 of the Lakers and Spurs.”

They probably represent the best matchup of the playoffs. What could be more appealing? The Lakers and Kings?

TNT’s Charles Barkley, for one, sees the Lakers and Spurs as more competitive.

Of the Kings, Barkley said on the air Wednesday night, “They are a good team. They say all the right things. But they are not sure they can beat the Lakers.

“[The Spurs] are not afraid, and they don’t care about the Laker mystique at all. They know they can beat the Lakers, and that’s the advantage they’ve got.”

TNT’s Kenny Smith said he believes the Spurs’ advantage is at the small forward and point guard positions.

“Those two areas have really hurt [the Lakers] on the defensive end,” Smith said. “When you talk about the pick-and-roll, you’re talking about San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Those two positions are positions that the Lakers have trouble defending.”

Pinch-Hitter

TNT commentator Doug Collins, who was scheduled to work Wednesday night’s Laker-Rocket game with play-by-play partner Kevin Harlan, called in sick Wednesday afternoon. He had lost his voice because of laryngitis.

TNT had to do some scrambling to find a replacement. Jeff Ogan, TNT’s director of talent relations, called his friend Lon Rosen, former manager-agent for Magic Johnson. Rosen in turn called Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy, a friend, who a few hours later was on national television.

“He did a great job of pinch-hitting,” TNT Senior Vice President Greg Hughes said.

Before the game, Laker play-by-play announcer Paul Sunderland kidded Harlan about Collins’ absence.

“The commentator isn’t supposed to lose his voice,” Sunderland told Harlan. “You must be letting him talk too much.”

The Doctor Is In

Doc Rivers was introduced as the Boston Celtics’ 16th coach Thursday, but he will remain with ABC through the NBA Finals. Rivers and Al Michaels will call Sunday’s Laker game, which begins at 12:30 p.m., after a half-hour pregame show with Mike Tirico, Tom Tolbert, Byron Scott and Ahmad Rashad.

Fox Sports Net 2 will offer postgame coverage with Jack Haley and Barry LeBrock in San Antonio and Van Earl Wright and Michael Eaves in the Staples Center studio.

Race Leader

Television is largely responsible for making pro football this country’s most popular sport. And television is also largely responsible for making stock car racing this country’s second-most-popular sport.

Locally, there is nothing bigger than the Lakers. But not nationally. The 4.8 rating for the Lakers and Rockets on ABC Sunday was the second-highest national sports rating of the weekend. The NASCAR race at Talladega, Ala., on Fox got a 6.3.

Possibly no one has been more responsible for NASCAR’s success than Fox Sports Chairman David Hill, whose network will televise Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Fontana.

Hill foresaw the possibilities for NASCAR before Fox, NBC and TNT entered the picture in November 1999. That’s when the three networks agreed to a $2.8-billion contract that covered 2001-06 for NBC and TNT and 2001-08 for Fox.

Before that, NASCAR was on seven networks.

“Yet, in a time of declining ratings, NASCAR was holding its own,” Hill said. “It didn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out that viewers either knew who was televising that week’s NASCAR event, or they went looking for it.

“We were always interested in NASCAR, but not the way it was set up, where tracks individually sold TV rights. We didn’t want to become an eighth broadcaster. That would be ridiculous.

“But once NASCAR reorganized and presented itself to TV partners as a league, we became very interested.”

Hill was soon spearheading improvements in the coverage. He sought commentary with less jargon and more explanation. He used low-angle cameras to better show the speed. And he insisted on audio that captured the noise of the race.

Technological innovations, such as identifying each car and its position in a race, helped improve coverage as well.

“It has been a team effort,” Hill says, passing along credit to his counterparts at NBC, Dick Ebersol, and at TNT, Mark Lazarus.

“We talk all the time,” Hill said. “Dick called from Greece the other day to suggest putting up a yellow border on the screen during cautions. We exchange those kind of ideas all the time.”

It all seems to be working.

All in the Family

NBC has added “Today” reporter Melissa Stark to its announcing team for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. She will be working with David Michaels, who is producing NBC’s coverage. Stark used to work with Michaels’ brother, Al, on “Monday Night Football.”

Churchill Downs has been under renovation since last year’s Derby and the work won’t be finished until next year’s Derby. Michaels said it has made for some difficulties in setting up for Saturday’s race, but dealing with construction is nothing new for Michaels.

“I just returned from Athens, so I feel right at home,” he said.

As for the court ruling giving jockeys the right to wear sponsor patches, Michaels said it wouldn’t affect the telecast.

“You don’t compromise your coverage because of someone’s patch,” he said.

Short Waves

UCLA’s winning performance in last weekend’s NCAA women’s gymnastics championships at Pauley Pavilion will be televised by CBS on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Good news for Angel fans: Bob Koontz, sales director for L.A.’s ABC-run radio stations, including Angel flagship KSPN (710), said KSPN’s tower and transmitter would be moved to Irwindale to ensure better reception beginning next season.

Former USC football radio commentator Mike Lamb is doing a weekday afternoon drive-time sports talk show for KHTK in Sacramento, the Kings’ flagship station. His partner is Grant Napear, the Kings’ radio play-by-play announcer. Lamb also has been doing a weekend show with Jim Mora for the Fox Sports Radio network and plans to commute to Los Angeles to continue doing that show.