The NBA enters the second half of the season post-all-star break with a lot of momentum. Viewership for the All-Star Game were solid, interest in rookies LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony has driven up ratings, and the games have been exciting, at least in the Western Conference.
   The task now, which ABC is especially concerned with, is to keep that interest level high for the second half of the season, when ABC wants to improve on its slower start to the season as it begins carrying basketball on Sundays.
   Thus far, the NBA’s breakout star has been TNT. 
   Great Western Conference matchups have driven the network to much higher averages thus far this season than last year.
   Through 34 games, TNT is up 26 percent among adults 18-34, to 378,000, including 34 percent among those elusive men 18-34.
   The network is up 23 percent among 18-49s and 24 percent among 25-54s. On fellow cable carrier ESPN, total viewership is up 15 percent over last year.
  While most other sports have been losing audience this year, including the NHL and NFL, the NBA is gaining, at least on cable.
   The Sunday games on ABC, which began yesterday, are a tougher sell. They must compete against NASCAR on Fox and men’s college basketball on CBS. Four NBA telecasts thus far on ABC this year, including several on Christmas, are down 13 percent among total viewers versus last year.
   Last year, ABC’s first carrying the NBA after a long stretch on NBC, the network was criticized for its weak announcing team. The addition of Al Michaels and Doc Rivers as the lead announcers should be a big improvement, but it probably won’t matter much to viewers.
   Instead, it will be the matchups that fuel ABC’s ratings. Yesterday’s Cleveland-New York game, for example, may not have sounded appealing six months ago, but it does feature James and the rapidly improving Cavaliers, and there’s some interest in the Knicks now that Isaiah Thomas is revamping them.
   But matchups like March 14’s Philadelphia-Detroit, while a decent Eastern Conference game, won’t draw much interest. The more Lakers, Kings, Mavericks and Cavaliers games ABC has, the better.
   The best the NBA can hope for is to continue showing well on TNT and ESPN to drive viewers to a once-a-week date with ABC. Even if the Sunday ratings don’t follow, it could still mean good things when the playoffs begin in two months.
  In other ratings last week, the Daytona 500 raced to its second-best ratings ever, averaging a 10.6 household rating and 24 share on NBC.
  Racing of any type was popular last weekend. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series opened with a 1.61 household rating on Speed, up 70 percent from last year’s opener.