NBA Playoffs Ratings Up On ABC, ESPN Over '07 Opening Weekend

Ratings were up for the opening games of the '08 NBA Playoffs on ESPN/ABC this weekend. Each game on ESPN showed an increase, while the triple-overtime Suns-Spurs game on Saturday posted a gain for ABC. The following lists ratings for each game on ESPN and ABC from this past weekend (THE DAILY).

MIX AND MATCH: In N.Y., Harvey Araton wrote NBA Commissioner David Stern for the NBA Finals could "do worse" than G Kobe Bryant's Lakers against F LeBron James' Cavaliers. C Shaquille O'Neal's Suns against the Celtics also "would keep enough viewers in the East up late." Araton: "Stern would probably sign on right now for the Lakers or Celtics against anyone, just to preclude a rematch of the 2005 finals between" the Spurs and Pistons (N.Y. TIMES, 4/20). Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti said of a potential Celtics-Lakers Finals, “TV ratings in the NBA Finals in recent years: 6.5, 8.1, 6.2, three of the lowest ever. ... With these two great franchises, you get it going and you will see that number, if not double, at least creep up to 11, 12.” Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said the NBA “is down on its knees hoping” for Celtics-Lakers. Paige: “They’re not looking for Detroit-San Antonio. Give me a break, nobody wants that." The Miami Herald’s Israel Gutierrez: “It’s about individuals and that’s what the game today is about. It’s about star power” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 4/18).

Writer Feels This Year's Playoffs Abound With Many Storylines

DYNAMIC DUO: In Denver, Dusty Saunders writes ABC's Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy for the weekend's NBA playoff coverage were the "best verbal punchers." Jackson and Van Gundy during yesterday's Nuggets-Lakers Western Conference quarterfinals Game One "squared off in an entertaining debate regarding the abilities of [Nuggets G] Allen Iverson." Such commentary "helped lift ABC's coverage out of the predictable mundane rut announcers too often sink into while agreeing about what is happening on the floor or in the locker room" (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 4/21).

NOTES: In Toronto, William Houston writes TSN's telecast yesterday of Raptors-Magic Eastern Conference quaterfinals Game One was the "same one that we've seen all season." Houston: "Regular season to postseason, who could tell the difference? ... What yesterday's telecast needed from TSN was a fresh voice during the intermission" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 4/21)....ESPN Radio's Ric Bucher, in describing the Jazz' home-court support, argued that "it's because those fans are Mormon and 'you gotta smile and be happy all the time. This might be one opportunity for fans to get vicious.'" Bucher apologized for the comments, saying in a statement, "The point I was trying to make is that the manner in which some Jazz fans get on visiting teams is counter to the general friendliness that the people of Salt Lake City are known for" (USA TODAY, 4/21).

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