He Doesn’t Inflame, He Informs

What makes TNT’s Doug Collins a good basketball commentator, besides his knowledge and his insightful yet concise comments, is that he seldom, if ever, says anything offensive.

He knows that inciting viewers is not his job.

So when he is asked to pick a winner in the playoff series between the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves, he politely sidesteps.

“I stay away from that,” Collins said Thursday from Minneapolis, where he was preparing to work Game 1 tonight with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello.

“In my heart, I have an opinion. But if I express that opinion and say who I think will win the series and in how many games, then the fans of the other team will think I am cheering against their team.”

That stance, however, doesn’t keep Collins from analyzing the series.

“Just think, if Derek Fisher doesn’t hit that shot in Game 5, then the Lakers would have had to play a Game 7 [Wednesday night],” he said. “If they won that game, then they’d have to jump on a plane and spend a travel day flying to Minneapolis.

“Now they come in well-rested, and that really helps the Lakers a lot.”

Collins says a coach can’t win championships without quality players, but points out that the Lakers’ Phil Jackson has won nine championships with two teams, making him one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest, in NBA history.

“Those championship rings give a coach greater respect in the players’ eyes,” Collins said. “They enhance your leadership ability. You can speak at a level most coaches can’t.”

Asked whether the Timberwolves have an answer for Shaquille O’Neal, Collins said, “No, they don’t. They have three big bodies in Ervin Johnson, Michael Olowokandi and Oliver Miller to guard Shaq, but he doesn’t have to worry about guarding them one on one because they are not offensive threats. He can give them shots all night long.

“That means Shaq can roam around defensively and play more of a zone.”

Talking about Kobe Bryant, Collins compares him to Michael Jordan.

“I can close my eyes when I’m talking to Kobe and I can think I’m talking with Michael,” he said. “There is no difference. Everything is the same -- their mannerisms, their voice inflections, and they both have a single purpose of mind.

“They are unique in that they can compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand, no matter what is going on around them. I think Kobe has shown that time and again this season.”

Collins did not say the Lakers would win this series, but he did say he’d thought before the playoffs that the winner of the Laker-Spur series would be the favorite to win it all.

The guess here is that, in that objective heart of his, Collins believes the Lakers have the edge.

Timely Radio Bit

Often in sports-talk radio, hosts, in the interest of creating controversy and drawing attention, step out of bounds.

Occasionally, though, a radio bit hits the mark. That was the case on XTRA (690, 1150) Monday night.

Rick Schwartz, who has been out of sports-talk radio doing television the last nine years, and Ray Crockett, former NFL cornerback, were auditioning to become the co-hosts of a new local, 7-10 p.m. show on the station.

They called Marine Sgt. Dexter Parayno of Camp Pendleton and Rowland Heights in Iraq and learned that he and other military personnel there have been able to follow the Lakers on the Internet.

About five minutes into the interview, Schwartz and Crockett surprised Parayno by putting him on the air with Karl Malone.

Malone in turn invited Parayno and all 200 Marines in his unit to be guests of Malone at a Laker game next season.

The show was inundated with calls after that. One caller, saying he was a Vietnam veteran, was in tears.

Schwartz and Crockett got the job. They’ll begin doing their new show Monday night.

But it wasn’t the bit with the sergeant and Malone that got them the job, according to program director Don Martin.

“They had it before that,” he said.

Strange Ending

ABC and lead golf commentator Curtis Strange are parting company. That was first reported by the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press and then confirmed by the network.

Strange, who turns 50 in January and plans to compete on the Champions Tour, couldn’t work out details on a new contract. He sought a four-year deal.

“We have decided to part ways amicably in order for me to properly prepare for the senior tour in January,” Strange said in a statement.

ABC’s next golf tournament is not until June 12-13. ABC Vice President Mark Mandel said the network had not selected a replacement. Possible candidates are Ian Baker-Finch and Steve Melnyk.

Strange, who had been with ABC since 1993, said he would still like to be involved in television work.

Short Waves

Fox’s “Saturday Baseball Game of the Week” begins Saturday, with regional coverage of the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves being shown in Los Angeles at 10:15 a.m. The announcers will be Kenny Albert and Jeff Torborg, who is back for a second stint with Fox.... “This Week in Baseball” debuts at 9:30 a.m. on Channel 11, with Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett of the Florida Marlins serving as co-hosts.

Angel announcer Jose Mota will work as an analyst on the Spanish version of “This Week in Baseball,” “Sabor a Beisbol.” ... All in the family: Fox’s Thom Brennaman, who also works for the Arizona Diamondbacks, called Randy Johnson’s perfect game against the Braves on Tuesday. His father, Cincinnati announcer Marty Brennaman, called the perfect game by the Reds’ Tom Browning against the Dodgers in 1988.

ABC’s first WNBA telecast of the season Saturday at 1 p.m. features rookie Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury against the Connecticut Sun. Terry Gannon and Ann Meyers Drysdale call the action.... TNT’s coverage of the NBA’s Western Conference finals will be available in high definition.... Last weekend’s Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones fight drew 360,000 pay-per-view buys. The fight will be replayed on HBO Saturday at 6:45 p.m.

Channel 9’s Derrin Horton will handle the play-by-play on two NFL Europe games for the NFL Network. The first one will be May 29 between the Frankfurt Galaxy and Rhein Fire. Horton’s agent, Rick Ramage, got permission from Channel 9 for Horton to make the trips abroad.... Programming and marketing executive Dan Weiner has left XTRA to become general manager of KTWV, “The Wave.”

In Closing

NBA Commissioner David Stern has said he would like to tighten up the postseason schedule. What really needs tightening are game endings. All those timeouts and commercial breaks are infuriating.