NBA and ABC hope for LAL and CLE

Never mind the basketball, or the karma that comes with turning all-out effort on and off, or respecting the league and the game. When it comes to the NBA Finals matchup that would most benefit the league and ABC (ratings! ratings!), there is the Big One and three other less satisfying options.

Ranking the four remaining potential Finals matchups:

1. Los Angeles-Cleveland. Bryant versus James. The whole regular season felt like a long setup to it. Significant late-season injuries -- Kevin Garnett, Yao Ming -- paved the way for it. The Bryant-James-who’s-better debate is ongoing, already spawning at least three television commercials in heavy rotation, including two with very annoying puppets.

2. Los Angeles-Orlando. No James, but Bryant is still involved. Lakers haters from across the land will tune in to root for their demise.

3. Denver-Cleveland. No Bryant, but James is still involved. The media can work with it.

4. Denver-Orlando. On the bright side, after it’s over, it will only be days until the NBA draft.

Trivia time

Besides the Lakers and the Nuggets, when was the last time sports teams from Los Angeles and Denver met in the playoffs?

Gruden, pre-’MNF’

Long before the backslaps and the handshakes, Jon Gruden and ESPN were not always on the same page.

The sports website Deadspin recalled this Gruden quote from 2007, when federal agents mentioned the name of Tampa Bay quarterback Bruce Gradkowski during an investigation into alleged point-shaving at Toledo:

“I don’t watch ESPN,” Gruden said then. “I don’t believe half the [expletive] people on the channel, personally, no disrespect. But if Bruce Gradkowski is throwing games in Toledo, how in the hell does he lead the NCAA in passing percentages? That is a crock. You know, these reports make me sick really. I don’t believe [there is] any truth to it, and I’ll go to my grave believing that. I hope ESPN 3 or 4 has real sources behind this story, because it has nothing to do with the kid. He’s a great kid. He wants to be great. This is very uncharacteristic, in my opinion, of ‘professional’ journalism.”

Two years later, ESPN successfully recruits Gruden to join its highest-profile football property, “Monday Night Football,” and all is well. And that is very characteristic of what can happen in the world of television and outspoken out-of-work football coaches.

More intimidating too

Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Joe Nelson calls his unconventional split-finger pitch, which he holds between his middle and ring fingers, the “Vulcan Changeup.” As Nelson told the St. Petersburg Times, “It was either going to be Nanu Nanu from ‘Mork & Mindy,’ or the Vulcan. And Spock just seemed like a cooler character than Mork did.”

Trivia answer

In 2002, the Kings lost to the Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. (Footnote: Kings fans refer to this season as “Glory Days!” The Kings have not been to the playoffs since.)

And finally

From Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post, on the current plight of the Colorado Rockies: “Their lineup has more pedestrians than a Manhattan sidewalk.”

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mike.penner@latimes.com