The NBA sounds Marv-elous again.(Brief Article)

Some people still can't listen to Mary Albert without thinking scandal. For them, his shadow will never disappear, not even in the klieg lights of NBC's NBA Finals.

For me, Marv merely sounds trustworthy, engaging, entertaining, authoritative--same as he ever was--in his first season back as the game's first-string narrator, which technically makes him eligible for Comeback Player of the Year.

"Actually, it's my third year back with Turner and MSG, my second with NBC," Albert says. "And really, I don't think about the significance."

Never mind a career rehabilitation or network flip-flop (the Peacock gave Albert the death penalty, then a reprieve). What is significant: The best basketball announcer ever is doing Must-See Games again.

He has replaced Bob Costas, who ostensibly needed to start cramming for the '02 Winter Olympics. Says Doug Collins, Wizards-coach-in-waiting and Albert's current partner: "How lucky have I been? They're both great partners and I have great trust in both. But Marv is the best in the business, no question."

Albert dismisses Collins as eternally partisan ("Doug shows up at production meetings with his Sixers uniform on.") Yet Albert inspires loyalty from his color men; unlike one-man radio filibusterers Chick Heam or Johnny Most, he happily sets TV analysts up so they can knock 'em down. And what really distinguishes him from predecessors Dick Stockton and Gary Bender (if not ...