NBC earned a 12.6/21 preliminary overnight Nielsen
rating for last night's Game Three of the Lakers-Pacers NBA
Finals, up 1.6% from last year's comparable Spurs-Knicks
Game Three, which earned a 12.4/21. Meanwhile, Friday's
Game Two on NBC earned a 11.9/21 overnight, which was up 19%
from last year's 10.0/19 for Knicks-Spurs Game Two (THE
DAILY). ESPN's Mike Lupica, on the NBA Finals: "How much
are you put off, just as a viewer, by fourth quarters that
now take longer than 'Dances With Wolves' -- fifty-Five
minutes the other night. And how much is David Stern
sitting there, hysterical, that his big showcase event turns
into a free throw shooting contest?" (ESPN, 6/11).
ALL ABOUT PERCEPTION: In N.Y., Mike Wise wrote that
Stern will give his annual state of the league address this
week and will say that "business is not as bad as
perceived." But Wise noted the league's low ratings and
failed initiatives to place mics on coaches and cameras in
the locker rooms and wrote, "A wedge is growing, and it is
not relegated to the league and fans. The kinship between
coaches and players and the N.B.A. is not as strong as it
once was." Heat President & coach Pat Riley: "The N.B.A.
has marketed their sport extremely well. But maybe they've
gotten involved into the game too much, making these
changes. And they made them the last time in a very
arbitrary manner. They said: 'Well, you guys don't want to
change, so we'll change them. We're changing the rules, so
you get with it.' That was basically the message. So they
must feel very strongly about the direction they're going
in." Pacers coach Larry Bird feels players need "to do more
in their communities" in order to boost fan interest. Bird:
"And stay out of trouble. And when they play, they got to
play hard" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/11). Bird: "It just seems like a
lot of people aren't talking about the NBA the way they used
to. But I think they're doing a good job of promoting it.
I'd like to see them get more teams on TV, instead of just
the Lakers and New York" (BOSTON HERALD, 6/10).
'N SYNC? In L.A., Tom Hoffarth writes on NBA.com's
"SyncTV" feature on the NBA Finals' cybercast. Hoffarth
notes that "SyncTV," unlike NBC game broadcasts, constantly
features an on-screen score/clock graphic: "It's a simple
addition, but one rather important way to make NBA.com's
enhanced TV element important enough to consider rearranging
the furniture. The downside: It sometimes takes 15 seconds
after each basket to update." During Games One and Two, the
NBA.com crew was "able to implement a live array of cameras
that gave home surfers a feel that they were inside the
building." NBA.com Senior Dir of Internet Services Brenda
Spoonemore, on the feature: "While it may not be perfect,
the objective was to get it up and pretty cool, then next
season make it so that it'll be a more interactive part of
all the broadcasts" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 6/12).
ARE AGENTS RUNNING THE SHOW? In OH, Bob Finnan wrote
that many GMs at the pre-draft camp in Chicago "privately
think" SFX agents Arn Tellem and David Falk -- who represent
13 projected first-round picks -- "are trying to dictate the
draft" by not having selected players work out for some
teams. Cavaliers GM Jim Paxson, whose team picks eighth:
"You have to beg and plead. We're in no-man's land. There
are certain guys who are going to be sitting there [at No.
8] who won't come in" (Ohio NEWS-HERALD, 6/11). In N.Y.,
Peter Vecsey added that Falk and Tellem are also "attempting
to package" their SFX free agents. Vecsey: "Say you want
[Raptors F] Tracy McGrady? Fine, but you've also [got] to
take [Clippers F] Maurice Taylor" (N.Y. POST, 6/10).
