Daily Sports: The Weekend Agenda

The first weekend of June has the conference finals possibly ending in the NBA and just beginning in the NHL. Baseball’s most storied rivalry takes center stage, and there are quality matchups among contenders elsewhere on the diamond. Here’s a look at what fans have on TV for daily sports on Saturday & Sunday…

CONFERENCE FINALS CRISS-CROSS

The NBA & NHL conference finals round can pass each other in the night on Saturday. The Miami Heat go to Indiana to try and close out the Pacers in Game 6. Tip time is 8:30 PM ET on TNT, and the possibility that it’s the last night of Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley until October provides all the motivation to at least watch the pregame and halftime shows.

Game 1s of each remaining NHL playoff series start in the late afternoon. Begin on the NBC Sports Network at 5 PM ET with Los Angeles-Chicago, and then switch over to NBC at 8 PM ET for Boston-Pittsburgh.

In baseball, the Red Sox-Yankees battle in the Bronx is naturally getting the attention of the networks. It will be the main game shown by Fox at 7 PM ET on Saturday, with other markets getting a good Reds-Pirates game from PNC Park. Big day for the sports fans in Pittsburgh, with the Reds in town for baseball and the Bruins visiting for hockey.

There’s a lot more baseball moving under the radar on Saturday. If you want to watch a movie, MLB Network is showing the 1992 film “The Babe” with John Goodman and Kelly McGillis at 1 PM ET. It will be followed by Tigers-Orioles action at 4 PM ET. And at the college level, it’s the second day of the NCAA Tournament, meaning teams are subject to ouster in this double-elimination event. ESPNU has coverage starting at Noon ET and going all the way to midnight.

MORE BASEBALL SUNDAY

San Francisco is in St. Louis this weekend and TBS will be on hand for a 2 PM ET game. ESPN will be in the Bronx for the Red Sox-Yanks finale in prime-time at 8 PM ET. The latter has a big-time pitching matchup with Clay Bucholz and Hiroki Kuroda, both early frontrunners for the American League Cy Young Award.

College baseball action continues with more all-day action on ESPNU. There are 16 regional sites with four teams apiece at each one. By Sunday night, it’s possible each site will be able to determine a winner. To make a long story short, the night game on Sunday at each site has it pared down to two teams and one of them gets two cracks to win and advance. It’s possible the regional can extend to Monday.

There’s no rest for the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings, which have to come back right away for Game 2, an 8 PM ET start on the NBC Sports Network.

Nor is there rest for TheSportsNotebook. There’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action going Sunday at 1 PM ET on Fox, and we’ll preview the race here later today. There will also be MLB coverage, as we go deeper into the MVP races in both leagues.

Then on Sunday, be sure and check in for NBA commentary, as we look back on the last two games of the Miami-Indiana series and look ahead to either the Finals or Game 7, wherever it’s at. There will also be NHL analysis in the morning, to rehash the Game 1 action in both series.