A television quiz for die-hard Nuggets supporters:
When was the last time a broadcast network telecast the team’s conference semifinal playoff victory in Denver?
Sorry, neither my overstuffed (some say disorganized) sports filing cabinet nor Google could come up with an answer.
Actually, I have a feeling there wasn’t a last time on this national stage.
The Nuggets’ Sunday win on ABC probably was a first.
Denver’s last appearance in conference semifinal competition came in 1994 after the team upset Seattle in five games.
(Fans love to recall that graphic TV scene of a joyous Dikembe Mutombo, on the floor, hugging the ball.)
The Jazz then beat the Nuggets in the second round, four games to three. But I can’t find any evidence that CBS, the NBA broadcast network of record in the mid-1990s, spent a Sunday afternoon in Denver chronicling a Nuggets victory.
Thus, Sunday’s ABC coverage, featuring Hubie Brown and Mike Tirico, should go into the Nuggets’ record books.
While I’ve always felt that Brown is one of those I-get-paid-by-the- word analysts, the former coach put Sunday’s game into a clear perspective, pointing out that Denver’s bench (“the second-unit guys”) and the team’s overall hustle provided the main keys to victory.
Tirico, underrated as a play-by-play man, had a decent game, adding to — or interrupting — Brown’s train of words.
Tirico also provided several “local angles” for NBA viewers in the East not necessarily familiar with the Nuggets since so many first- round playoff games started after 10:30 p.m. EDT.
More NBA dribbles:
• Altitude, no longer covering Nuggets playoff action because of NBA agreements with national networks, is providing hour-long postgame coverage following each Denver-Dallas game.
• Altitude operated under an “if-we-can’t-beat’-em-let’s-join- ’em” programming philosophy Sunday between 3:30-4 p.m., airing a rerun of “The George Karl Show” while Denver was beating up Dallas on ABC.
• It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Thursday night’s Celtics-Bulls triple-overtime thriller on TNT was the most-watched Round 1 NBA game in cable history.
The contest, won by the Bulls 128-127, also delivered the largest cable audience of the evening, drawing more than 5.3 million viewers.
It was appropriate that Doug Collins, NBA basketball’s premier analyst, provided keen insight.
• Still to come: Audience ratings from Saturday night’s seventh game, which, while competitive, didn’t have the drama of the series’ previous overtime contests. Also, Saturday night regularly has the fewest overall national viewers.
Around the dials.
Will the NFL draft, now aired on cable, compete for viewers next April against such broadcast network favorites as CBS’s “CSI” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”?
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is considering moving first- round coverage to prime time on Thursday night, with the following rounds presented Friday and Saturday.
More than 39 million viewers (up 2.8 million from 2008) watched draft coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and the NFL Network during the April 25-26 event.
• The NFL Network remains on Comcast cable (Channel 417) as the two sides attempt to hammer out a new financial agreement. The national contract expired last Thursday.
• Quotable: “I am not a masochist or anything like that, but I think this city is worth saving.” — For- mer Pistons star Dave Bing, profiled Sunday morning on ESPN. The 65-year-old Bing is running for mayor of Detroit in a Tuesday election.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Reach him at tvtime@comcast.net.
Bronco’s awards blitz
Tom Jackson, who has labored in the shadow of Chris Berman and other ESPN armchair football analysts since 1987, has won an Emmy Award.
The former Broncos linebacker, left, was honored during the 30th annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony in New York, along with Fox’s Terry Bradshaw, as outstanding studio analyst.
Other major winners:
• Studio host: NBC’s Bob Costas.
• Play-by-play: CBS’s Jim Nantz.
• Sports event analyst: NBC’s Cris Collinsworth.
• Sports journalism: “HBO Sports With Bryant Gumbel” for coverage of the slaughtering of race horses.
NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol received the Life Achievement Award, presented by Muhammad Ali.
NBC led all broadcast and cable competitors with 11 awards, including six for its Beijing Olympics coverage.
