• by Paul Gough , May 30, 2003

The hard-fought battle between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs topped the cable world for the week ended May 25, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The games were held Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday for that week and all on TNT. TNN had the fifth-rated program with the WWE Entertainment Raw Zone and TLC followed with Trading Spaces in sixth place. Annika Sorenstam's appearance in the second day of the Bank of America Colonial Golf Tournament on Friday was just under the top-10 in 11th place, with a 2.4/2.9 with 3 million viewers. Four episodes of Spongebob spread throughout the weekend were in the top 15, as well as two episodes of Fairly Odd Parents.

In pay cable, My House in Umbria delivered a 2.1/6.4 with 2.9 million viewers for HBO. A rerun of The Sopranos at 8 p.m. Sunday delivered a 2.1/6.2 with 3.1 million viewers. The top 10 syndicated programs were Wheel of Fortune (8.7, 9.3 million); Jeopardy (7.2, 7.7 million); Friends (6.6, 7 million); Seinfeld (6.6, 7 million); Everybody Loves Raymond (6.3, 6.6 million); Oprah Winfrey Show (6.2, 6.5 million); Seinfeld Weekend (6, 6.4 million); Entertainment Tonight (5.6, 5.9 million); Dr. Phil Show (5.1, 5.4 million); and Judge Judy (5.1, 5.4 million).

In the world of sports for the week ended May 25, Fox's coverage of the NASCAR Winston Cup topped the sporting events on TV with the Coca-Cola 600. It delivered a 4.7/11 with 8.04 million viewers. The Indianapolis 500 on ABC delivered a 4.6/14 with 6.7 million viewers. ABC's NBA playoffs between Detroit and New Jersey delivered a 4.2/7 with 5.8 million viewers. Fox's Saturday baseball, various teams and times, delivered a 2.2/7 with 2.7 million viewers.

The top 10 cable programs for the week ended May 25:

1. NBA Playoffs-Spurs vs. Mavericks/Sunday (TNT), 4.0, 6.08 million.

2. NBA Playoffs-Mavericks vs. Spurs/Monday (TNT), 3.9, 5.6 million.

3. NBA Playoffs-Spurs vs. Mavericks/Friday (TNT), 3.2, 4.8 million.

4. NBA Playoffs-Mavericks vs. Spurs/Wednesday (TNT), 3.1, 4.2 million.

5. WWE Raw Zone (TNN), 3, 5 million.

6. Trading Spaces (TLC), 2.8, 4.2 million.

7. WWE Raw Zone (TNN), 2.8, 4.5 million.

8. NBA Playoffs-Conference Finals (ESPN), 2.7, 3.9 million.

9. Spongebob (Nick), 2.5, 3.8 million.

10. Spongebob (Nick), 2.4, 3.7 million.