|
Media
Notes By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)--NBC's top NBA analyst Doug Collins said Thursday that life without Michael and the Bulls may not be a bad thing for this year's NBA playoffs. "When you look at the cities now, there's not that one team out there that you say, 'You know what, regardless of how we play we can't beat them.' I think all the teams are saying 'If we're playing well, we can advance. We can beat any of these teams.' "I think it brings hope," Collins said in a conference call. Click here to see a complete list of quotes from Collins. Collins, though, fears that the more defensive, halfcourt nature of the playoffs may stifle whatever offense there is left in the NBA. "I've got Miami-New York [12:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC], and that score might be 70-68," Collins joked. "I sure hope that the scoring doesn't get any lower or the shooting any worse than it was during the regular season. It would not be a pretty sight." After the Knicks game Saturday, Collins and play-by-play partner Bob Costas will make the cross-country flight to do the Rockets-Lakers game at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. "The Lakers are playing the best basketball I've seen them play all season long, now whether or not that lasts through adversity, we'll have to wait and see. But right now, they seem to be on a high as well as the Rockets, and both of those teams believe they can win anywhere." Other random thoughts from Collins on this year's playoffs: On Utah: "They've been saying now for a while, three or four years, that Utah is getting too old. ... [But] I still think someone is going to have to beat them four times, they are not going to beat themselves." On San Antonio: "It's going to be a tough match-up [for Minnesota] because the Spurs right now are probably playing with as much confidence as I've ever seen them play with." On the Eastern Conference: "I think there is actually five teams that realistically have a great chance that if they're playing well to come out, based upon that fact." On possible playoff surprises: "I feel like it's Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta. All three of those teams have a chance to play very well because they all finished the season very strong and they have very talented perimeter players." On New York-Miami: "If New York would win that series, to me, that would not be a major upset." Click to see a complete list of quotes from NBC's Doug Collins Click to see a complete listing of NBA playoff telecasts Hockey News More than 1.5 million homes tuned into ESPN and ESPN2's coverage of a pair of Game 7's Tuesday night, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Eastern Conference quarterfinal Game 7 on ESPN, in which No. 8 seed Pittsburgh upset No. 1 seed New Jersey, averaged a 1.3 rating and was seen in 993,677 homes. That marked the fourth most-watched quarterfinal-round playoff game in ESPN history. The Western Conference quarterfinal Game 7 on ESPN2, in which St. Louis defeated Phoenix 1-0 in overtime, averaged a 0.85 rating and was seen in 550,501 homes. This was the fourth most-watched NHL game in ESPN2 history. The Big Late Night Show The 1 a.m. ET SportsCenter, which debuted April 6, has increased ESPN's household audience for the time period by 52 percent to 437,341 from 288,218. It also is attracting 78 percent more men ages 18-34 and has increased ratings on the West Coast increased by as much as 82 percent at 10 p.m. PT. "We are extremely pleased with the performance of the 10 p.m. West Coast SportsCenter, especially among hard-to-reach men 18-34," said Dick Glover, ESPN executive vice president, programming. Overall, the gross daily live SportsCenter household audience is up to 1.93 million, a 13 percent increase over last year. Flipping around... ESPN's SportsCentury profile at 10:30 p.m. Friday of Yankee legend Mickey Mantle, No. 37 on its list, should be one of the more popular shows in the series. Some quotes from the program include this from Ted Williams "Mickey Mantle is my favorite ballplayer" as well as this from Duke Snider, "Not enough hours in the day for Mickey Mantle - played the game hard on and off the field, and it hurt his career." ... Kevin Stevens of the New York Rangers will join John Buccigross and Barry Melrose on NHL 2Night through the weekend. Ray Ferraro, who served as guest analyst in the opening round, will return Monday and remain through the conference finals. ... WNBA.com's live cybercast Tuesday of the 1999 WNBA Draft registered 376,100 impressions, a 194 percent increase over last year's WNBA Draft, breaking all previous records for most traffic on any given day in the site's three-year history. The WNBA was the first sport league to provide a complete live cybercast of its draft exclusively over the Internet. Commentators Mike Breen and Meghan Pattyson hosted the WNBA.com Web Radio broadcast. ... Lastly... Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa will be on Up Close Monday. ... Fox NHL announcers Mike Emrick and John Davidson will broadcast Game 2 of the Detroit Red Wings-Colorado Avalanche series at 2 p.m. Sunday, while Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti will call Game 2 of the Buffalo Sabres-Boston Bruins series. ... ESPN2 boxing analyst Max Kellerman will host a special audio chat at 5 p.m. Friday on ESPN.com. For more details and a complete list of televised sporting events this weekend, check out ArmchairQB.com's Today's Lineup. |
|
Today's Lineup | Sports
Pages | Features | Newsstand
| Sports Links
Speak Out | Mailing
List | Spotters | About
Us | Home
