In the end, not what it used to be

Well, it was semi-classic, anyway.

You couldn’t say the quote, unquote, Renewal of the Storied Lakers-Celtics Rivalry, lived up to everyone’s expectations, especially around here.

After blowing a 24-point lead in Game 4 that was probably the biggest in Finals history and getting humiliated in Game 6, the Lakers are like their 1984 team that coughed up a title to the Celtics . . . living in the hope of a rematch next spring.

In the meantime, Lakers fans can take this summer off.

Kobe Bryant’s comments after Thursday’s exit meeting made it clear that he’s happy, officially ending last summer.

This being a 180-degree turn -- by a force of nature who isn’t given to making one-degree turns -- their season was already a success, or a miracle, by Jan. 14.

That was the night Bryant tipped off his change of heart, saying they were a “championship-caliber team” with Andrew Bynum.

Everything else was gravy until the Celtics turned the gravy boat over on them.

So let’s just say the Lakers had better not try Bryant’s patience by walking off the court looking like punks 10 days before his possible opt-out next year.

For the NBA, the Finals offered a dramatic comparison between its Golden Age of the ‘80s and today.

No one will ever call this a golden age; the game isn’t as entertaining, and none of today’s stars has the mythic status accorded Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

On the other hand, despite allegations of fixes and conspiracy theories that threatened to eclipse the championship series as none had ever been, this Finals made a statement about the NBA’s place in professional sports.

Wherever the NBA used to be, it’s still there.

If this year’s Finals’ 9.3 TV rating was disappointing, it was actually better than the ‘80s ratings, relative to other sports.

As the website Sports Media Watch noted, the NBA rating was right behind the NCAA final’s 9.4 and the World Series’ 10.1.

The highest-rated Lakers-Celtics Finals in 1987 got a 15.9 -- but that was almost four points behind the NCAA final’s 19.6 and 8.1 behind the World Series’ 24.0.

Last Sunday’s Game 5 bumped up against the icon of icons, Tiger Woods, in a U.S. Open they’ll talk about forever that ran into prime time.

Game 5 got a 10.1 rating to the Open’s 7.5.

However, about that NBA audience. . . .

The comparison is no longer the 18.7 rating for Michael Jordan’s last Finals in 1998. Those days are over, like those when World Series ratings were in the 30s.

From 1999 to 2002, the NBA Finals rating was between 10 and 12. As late as 2004, the Lakers-Detroit series drew an 11.5.

Since, the Finals have posted ratings of 8.2, 8.5, 6.2 and this season’s 9.3.

It’s holy writ in TV that a 9 p.m. start in the East -- which means ending around midnight -- is optimal, proved by the fact rating numbers go up as games go on.

Meanwhile, a Celtics fan named George Hutt, who was motivated enough to line up to buy Game 6 tickets, told a Boston Globe reporter he wasn’t watching on TV because of the late start.

“I hate it,” Hutt said. “The only game I watched in its entirety was [Sunday] night because I thought it was going to be the championship.”

While networks do such a bang-up job of scheduling, nighttime ratings nose-dive across sports . . . but daytime events (Super Bowl, NASCAR races, PGA tournaments) hold up nicely.

If I were David Stern, before I concede I’ve lost 30% of my audience since 2004, I’d try moving up a start time here and there to see what happens.

Now, about the actual game . . .

Before Game 6, the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan, a Celtics beat writer when there were classics, wrote a column headlined, “It has to get better than this,” noting there hadn’t been a “knock-down, drag-out 48-minute demonstration of mutual athletic greatness” that would have thrilled a wider audience.

Unfortunately, today’s defense-oriented game doesn’t promote classics.

The ‘80s Lakers-Celtics Finals games that popped up on ESPN Classic had flowing action with both teams running and scores in the 110-120 range.

This season’s quote, unquote, high-scoring Lakers, averaged only 93.8 points, stymied by that Celtics defense packed back in the paint.

Athletic greatness requires a stage on which to perform. Bryant, one of the game’s greatest high-wire artists, spent the Finals shooting jump shots from the cheap seats.

The game has actually sped up in recent seasons after the league took out hand-checking while coaches wept piteously about their inability to defend.

That was good. The next step is to take out as much physical contact as possible, changing the game from rugby with a round ball to basketball.

This would also make it easier to officiate, although nothing may ever stop owners, coaches and players making millions off the system from undermining their own system.

As the NBA learned to its dismay, the Tim Donaghy story wasn’t over, sprouting legs -- or tentacles like an octopus that dragged in Dick Bavetta, one of the referees in that Sacramento-Lakers game in the 2002 Western finals.

Several officials said FBI agents asked them about Bavetta. Stories noted his old nickname -- “Knick Bavetta” -- in a new context that made it the next thing to an indictment.

The name came from a Knicks rival, Miami’s Tim Hardaway, suggesting Bavetta favored home teams, starting with the one near his Long Island home.

It remains to be seen what evidence or corroboration surfaces in the Donaghy story, but to this point there is none.

In a proud moment for the NBA that had to come from Stern, Bavetta worked Game 5 which, after all the oohing and aahing in the media, went smoothly.

The NBA, if it needs a nip and a tuck in a few places, it’s still here.

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