Collins is bullish on Jackson

Doug Collins was fired as coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1989 and replaced by assistant Phil Jackson. But if there were ever any hard feelings, as some thought at the time, you’d never know it from Collins’ current-day TNT commentary.

Although Kobe Bryant deservedly is getting a lot of credit for the Lakers’ comeback victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, Collins, who is working the series with Marv Albert, also had high praise for Jackson on the air Wednesday night.

And during an interview Thursday, Collins elaborated on a couple of key moves the Lakers’ coach made.

“In the third quarter, the Lakers were standing around looking at the referees for help when Phil did a smart thing,” Collins said, referring to Jackson’s bringing in Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic and moving Bryant to small forward. “It gave the Lakers new life.

“The other thing Phil did was leave Kobe in for the entire second half. He usually rests him for four minutes at the start of the fourth quarter, but he knew he hadn’t expended much energy in the first half and knew the Lakers needed him to be out there.”

Collins says he sees the Spurs in quite a fix headed into Game 2 tonight at 6.

“I’m a firm believer that your stars have to come through for you to win on the road,” he said. “The bench feeds off the energy at home. For the Spurs, it’s now up to Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, particularly Ginobili.

“I think he was fatigued in Game 1,” Collins said. “He averages 31 minutes a game but played 41 in Game 7 against New Orleans.”

But maybe the Lakers are just too good for the Spurs, as TNT’s Charles Barkley believes.

“I’m picking the Lakers to win it all, and when they get Andrew Bynum back, they’re going to be scary good for the next five years,” he said Thursday via cellphone. “Kobe is in his prime and everyone else is young except for Derek Fisher.”

Asked about his gambling, which made news when it was revealed he owed a Las Vegas casino $400,000, Barkley said: “I’m going to quit for at least four years. I just signed a four-year contract with TNT and I don’t want to do anything to embarrass them.”

That might be easier said than done.

“I’m a very goal-oriented person,” Barkley said. “I have achieved many goals in my life, exceeded many goals. When I put my mind to something, I do it.”

All of the remaining Western Conference finals will be on TNT, with FSN West offering postgame shows.

There’s radio coverage on KLAC 570 with Spero Dedes and Mychal Thompson, and the Lakers’ flagship is now also repeating the broadcasts, complete with the pre- and postgame shows.

Richard Walsh, the station’s head of play-by-play sales, said there was no problem finding sponsors, although there are only eight 30-second commercial breaks during the game.

“It’s like TiVo,” Walsh said. “We’ve already taken out most of the commercials.”

Another gauge for the popularity of the Lakers in L.A. is that Wednesday night’s TNT telecast, during the hour it went up against Fox’s “American Idol,” was viewed in 1,008,000 Southern California households and got a 17.9 rating, compared to 745,462 households and a 13.2 rating for “American Idol.” Of course, that was in the 8-to-9 p.m. slot, long before the Idol winner was announced; the final hour was seen in 988,302 households and got a 17.5 rating.

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Also available for viewing this weekend:

Stanley Cup finals, Pittsburgh vs. Detroit, Game 1, Saturday, 5 p.m., and Game 2, Monday, 5 p.m., Versus. The NHL has been waiting for this kind of a matchup for a long time. CBC’s Don Cherry on ESPN Radio this week said of the Red Wings’ 4-1 series-clinching victory over the Dallas Stars, “They looked like Big Brown.” ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt responded: “Then the Penguins looked like Secretariat,” referring to their 6-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers to win the Eastern Conference. NBC takes over the finals with Game 3 Wednesday.

Baseball, Angels at Chicago White Sox, Saturday 12:45 p.m., Channel 11. Fox has Curt Menefee, the regular host of its NFL pregame show, doing the play by play. Angels announcer Jose Mota will be the commentator.

Auto racing, Indianapolis 500, Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 7; NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600, Sunday, 2 p.m., Channel 11. The big question is, how will Danica Patrick do at Indy? It’s like Big Brown in the June 7 Belmont. It’s just about all that matters to the average viewer.

Recommended viewing: “Amazing Sports Stories,” Sunday, 7 p.m., FSN West. Featured is John Montague, a 1930s golfer/con man. Some of his golf tricks, shown both in dramatization and actual footage, really are amazing.

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larry.stewart@latimes.com