Golf Gives Nbc A Chance To Top Its Nba Finals

That was some National Basketball Association postseason, and NBC’s ratings reflected the nation’s interest.

Game 4 of the Finals Wednesday night got a 14.9 national rating, compared to a 12.9 for Game 4 last year.

The Houston Rockets-Orlando Magic Finals averaged a 13.9, second highest ever for a four-game final. Only the Detroit Pistons’ sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989, with a 15.1, did better.

Overall, NBC’s camera work and announcing were superb. Matt Guokas, with his understated delivery, might have finally arrived, and Bill Walton was Bill Walton, candid and opinionated.

If there was a flaw in NBC’s coverage, it was the graphics. How many times Wednesday night did you wonder how many points Hakeem Olajuwon or Shaquille O’Neal had and NBC failed to tell you?

They might have been the best NBA playoffs ever, even though they didn’t last very long. Houston’s sweep made it an even more improbable story.

So what will NBC do for an encore?

Golf’s U.S. Open, the network’s first since 1965, isn’t bad. After ESPN showed the NBC-produced second round Friday, NBC will show the final two rounds today and Sunday.

NBC has Johnny Miller and Dave Marr, who are favorites among the picky golf set, but the network also has Bob Trumpy, who is not.

Host Dick Enberg, new to golf, is regarded as an outsider. But unlike ABC’s Brent Musburger, who has to put his melodramatic stamp on everything, Enberg realizes he’s an outsider. He said he knows his job is to “stay out of the way.”

“With golf, the analysts are the stars,” he said. “You’re not calling play by play, you don’t call shot by shot. That’s what the analysts do.”