Stockton, Heinsohn reflect on Lakers-Celtics rivalry

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Trivia questions for NBA fans that are not trivial.-- Who were the broadcasters who covered the 1987 Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals, aired on CBS?-- Then there was the veteran broadcaster, who, although not on the network, got a lot of airtime that year because many considered him the best NBA announcer ever. Who was he?Dick Stockton, a journeyman announcer for more than 25 years, provided play-by-play while Tom Heinsohn, who has spent a good share of his life with the Celtics as a player, coach and broadcaster, was color commentator and analyst.Stockton's current play-by-play duties include the NFL and Major League Baseball for Fox Sports and play-by-play work on NBA games for TNT.Because of health reasons, Heinsohn's Celtics coverage now consists of providing color commentary for home games on a Boston cable outlet. For the answer to the second question, NBA addicts certainly will remember the late Chick Hearn, who covered the Lakers on TV and radio for 42 years, which included a broadcasting streak of 3,338 consecutive games, beginning Nov. 21, 1965.Credited with coining phrases "slam dunk" and "air ball," Hearn died, at 85, in August 2002.No one knew more about the Lakers -- and the Lakers-Celtics rivalry -- than Hearn. As the promotional snowball gains momentum for the 2008 "dream championship series" that begins Thursday, ABC would be wise to bring Stockton and Heinsohn into the studios to provide a look back at the 1987 NBA Finals -- the last time these storied franchises met for the championship, won by the Lakers in six games.Their appearance won't happen for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the ABC-ESPN sports machine has a huge bullpen of analysts, some knowledgeable, others mediocre.Stockton and Heinsohn could add "we-were-there" perspectives about the '87 series not available to the current crop of "experts" -- most of whom have gleaned their knowledge through newspaper stories, interviews and the Internet. Meanwhile, look for appearances on ABC by high-profile members of both '87 teams. Will Magic Johnson and Larry Bird show up?The troika that had the most exposure on ABC and ESPN throughout the regular season and the playoffs will broadcast the championship series.Mike Breen is billed as the play-by-play man, while Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy will handle analysis. This means Breen probably will be odd man out during the broadcasts, since Jackson and Van Gundy always dominate the microphones.I remain a charter member of the club that strongly believes viewers lose when a three-member team covers football, basketball and baseball. For the record, two interesting parallels connect the 1987 and 2008 series. The Lakers took three straight from Denver (best of five in those days) in the first round in '87, while the Celtics won a grueling series against the Pistons for the Eastern Conference championship.RATINGS ROULETTE: ABC is optimistic regarding audience ratings success during its NBA Finals coverage.And based on what happened in May during NBA cable coverage, there's room for such optimism. Both ESPN and TNT showed major audience increases during playoff competition, compared with last season.In fact, TNT's coverage pushed the network into first place in prime-time ratings ahead of all basic cable networks. First- and second-round playoff competition rose 22 percent on TNT in key demographics, while the Western Conference finals (Lakers-Spurs) registered more than a 40 percent increase in the vital 18-45 age demographic.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)