The Week In Tv Sports

Highlights

SATURDAY 5/19
? NHL and NBA Playoffs
ABC 3 PM ( NHL); NBC 6:30 PM ( NBA)
Mario Lemieux's made-for- Disney comeback story continues in the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals, in which the Penguins host the Devils in Game 4. An Avalanche-Blues Western Conference finals Game 5, if necessary, will be played on Monday ( ESPN, 8 p.m.). For pro basketball fans, it's playoff viewing roulette: Today, you could be watching a Game 7 of a conference semifinals and/or Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

SUNDAY 5/20

? Indy 500 Bump Day
ESPN 12 PM, ESPN2 6 PM
Racing fans who can't get enough of cars circling a track will eat up this full day of time trials, so named because drivers are bumped from the field for the May 27 race once their qualifying times drop below 33rd place. The rest of us would probably be more entertained if, instead of Bump Day, this were the Indy 500 Bump and Grind Day. Picture Sir Mix-a-Lot grabbing the P.A. mike to proclaim it time to "get this party started, yo!" at which point droves of halter-topped women flood the track, Soul Train camera angles kick in, and all the Unsers, Andrettis and pit crew grease boys get their freak on.

? Indians at Angels
ESPN 8 PM
Tune in for ESPN's newfangled (and very cool) Dead Center camera, which provides a view of home plate from directly above the pitcher's head. It should be the perfect vantage point from which to see Juan (Gone)zalez (10 homers through Sunday) and the rest of the Indians' sluggers tee off. Anaheim counters with its own fence-buster, American League home run champion Troy Glaus, who had hit nine so far this season.

Don't Miss

SATURDAY 5/19
?The Preakness Stakes
NBC 5 PM
Practice? Monarchos don't need no stinking practice. At least that was the thinking of trainer John Ward, who didn't work the colt during Kentucky Derby week, a tactic no trainer of a Derby winner had employed since Laz Barrera kept Bold Forbes inactive before the race in 1976. As a result, a still-fresh Monarchos (above) might have a little extra kick for another charge in the stretch as he aims to win the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico. Even so, the pick here, by a snout, is Congaree, who was ridden to a third-place Derby finish by Victor Espinoza but will have the peerless Jerry Bailey aboard for the Preakness.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANCE.