At Least ABC’s Crew Has Been Telling It Like It Is

These NBA Finals began accompanied by a laundry list of all the things they lacked. Shaquille O’Neal. The Phoenix Suns. The Dallas Mavericks. The TNT studio team.

That last one was a big one, considering the ability of the Charles Barkley-Kenny Smith-Magic Johnson-Ernie Johnson combination to wring laughs and amusement out of any matchup, even one as oppressively grim as Pistons-Spurs. TNT’s NBA analysts are this generation’s equivalent of the old Howard Cosell-Don Meredith-Frank Gifford “Monday Night Football” booth -- a reason to tune in, no matter who’s playing.

Four games into the Finals, this mixture of Detroit’s defense and San Antonio’s split personality -- dynasty at home, disaster away from it -- has pretty much lived down to expectations. The series is dead even, and deadly to watch, with the four games being decided by blowout margins of 15, 21, 17 and 31 points.

To no one’s surprise, television ratings are in the tank. Detroit’s 102-71 victory in Game 4 Thursday night drew an overnight rating of 8.4 with a 14 share -- down nearly 42% from Game 4 of the Laker-Piston Finals in 2004, which pulled in a 14.4 rating with a 23 share. Game 4 of Pistons-Spurs was even 3.4% down from Game 4 of the notorious 2003 Finals matchup between the Spurs and New Jersey Nets.

ABC is stuck with a dog, and one that is determined to prolong the agony at least for two more games. But give ABC this much: Its on-site studio crew of Bill Walton, Greg Anthony and Mike Tirico has been giving it a game effort, which is more than can be said for either team.

Walton, in particular, was outstanding Thursday night. After predicting before the game that “tonight, it’s all Detroit,” Walton took time in the second quarter to zero in on a critical flaw in the Spurs’ roster that was masked in Games 1 and 2 by San Antonio’s at-home comfort and Detroit’s fatigue after an exhausting Eastern Conference finals against Miami.

“The biggest problem is that this game is too rough for San Antonio,” he observed. “Their fatal flaw is that they do not have a man on that roster who can turn it around. The Spurs, they’re in trouble.”

At halftime, with Detroit leading, 51-36, Walton returned to the same theme.

“When I’m looking at the San Antonio Spurs right now, I am reminded of what happened to them a year ago in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs,” he said. “They went up against the Lakers, 2-0, were playing fantastic ball.

“They go to Los Angeles and they absolutely stop! Lakers came back and won the next four games, San Antonio out. Right now, we’re seeing tightening up, we’re seeing shrinkage by the San Antonio Spurs.”

Anthony has served as a necessary grounding device and foil for Walton. Their pregame banter about Rasheed Wallace was far more entertaining than what followed on the court.

After Anthony praised the contribution Wallace made to Detroit’s must-win performance in Game 3, Walton bristled and countered with, “But how can you predict or count on this guy? Rasheed Wallace is the most illogical and irrational player in the entire NBA!”

Anthony: “You just don’t know him, Bill. You don’t know him like I do. I was a teammate. He is not that irrational. He is fiery and at times has emotional instability, but you can never question his will to win.”

Walton laughed at that and fired back. “It’s not good when guys like you, Greg Anthony, and Magic Johnson have to go out of their way to keep telling us that Rasheed Wallace is such a good guy,” he said. “I’ve got two eyes. I can see for myself.”

Therein lies ABC’s big problem with these Finals. The viewers have eyes, and they can see for themselves.

But before tuning out altogether, fans should be advised that Walton, Anthony and Tirico will be back at it Sunday at 6 p.m. for Game 5, throwing out counterpoints and counterpunches in hope that the Pistons and Spurs might finally decide to follow the example.

Also available for viewing this weekend:

*

TODAY

* U.S. Open

(Channel 4, 9:30 a.m.)

NBC’s second-round coverage Friday included a report on the recent passing of golf writing great Herbert Warren Wind. As Jimmy Roberts put it, Wind “wrote like DiMaggio played, with elegance and grace. In this modern age of flash and dazzle, he had no need for fireworks. Only fact and nuance. He was a gentleman, and probably the most important golf writer ever.”

These modern times are different times, and not often for the better. After Roberts’ report, Bob Costas observed, “I think most of us would agree that the three sports that most lend themselves to great writing with an occasional literate touch would be baseball, boxing and golf.”

Which would explain, in these modern times, America’s fascination with football, stock-car racing and televised poker.

*

SUNDAY

* Florida Marlins at Angels

(FSNW, 1 p.m.)

The unlikely World Series champions of 2002 and 2003 meet in Anaheim in the middle of a decade where unlikely World Series champions have become the norm. Since 2000, the New York Yankees’ last championship season, the World Series has been won by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Angels, the Marlins and then, after we all swore it couldn’t be done, the once 0-for-86 Boston Red Sox.

This season, four of baseball’s six divisions are currently led by the Chicago White Sox, the Baltimore Orioles, the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Dodgers both began Friday a game above .500 and the Atlanta Braves were holding down fourth place in the National League East.

After years of chasing the NFL from far behind, Major League Baseball evidently decided to give up and simply become the NFL.