SHORT BUT SWEET; LEAGUE DIDN'T TAKE A HIT WITH FANS LIKE BASEBALL.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

You came back. Admit it now. You feigned indignation, played cool with indifference, gave lip service to actual anger.

Then the NBA started its season and you came running back.

Baseball's work stoppage in 1994 brought it to its sporting knees. Fans cursed, cried heresy, filled newspapers and the airways with rage, and then when baseball returned, stayed away in huge numbers.

The NBA has a lockout that postpones the season's start three months, sees the greatest star in its history retire, and its faithful act like it almost never happened.

Baseball fans made like the scorned lover, basketball's the wide-eyed school boy given another chance by his true love.

``I think that we're very lucky that our fans are as forgiving as they have turned out to be,'' said NBA commissioner David Stern.

After the league and players reached a collective bargaining agreement, the NBA braced for the worst. Naysayers pointed to a truncated, hastily designed 50-game season without Michael Jordan and predicted Armageddon.

But by the end of the regular season, both attendance and television ratings were down only marginally.

The NBA averaged 16,738 fans per game this season, down just percentage points from last season's 17,135 per game. The regular season NBC ratings only dropped from 4.6 last season to 4.3 this year.

Major League Baseball, meanwhile, is still trying to fully recover from its 1994 troubles. Baseball was averaging 31,612 fans per game when its season came to an abrupt halt five years ago. The next year, its average fell to 25,260 per game. It has grown slowly each season since, but even in last year's supposed home-run inspired season of rebirth, attendance was up to only 29,285.

Plenty of reasons are promoted for why the NBA enjoyed an almost seamless return: The NBA utilized a smart public relations campaign; its sophisticated fans recognized a workable agreement; new stars ignited interest; and if losing Jordan was an historic blow, it did leave a more open playing field.

Yet the biggest reason may simply be in the very nature of the NBA. Its regular season is a prolonged prelude to the playoffs. If the NBA lost some prelude, baseball lost its grand finale.

``We were lucky in two respects,'' Stern said. ``Number one, our work stoppage cost us the beginning of the season and not the end. That's important. And number two, our work stoppage resulted in an agreement that the fans recognized was really a good-faith attempt by both sides to deal with seemingly retractable problems. I think that was not the perception coming out of the baseball strike.''

After the agreement was reached, the NBA went into PR mode. Teams were required to open a scrimmage to fans and have a free exhibition game. Players and coaches were encouraged to become more involved in the community. Every regular-season game had $10 tickets available.

Still, there had never been a work stoppage in the NBA before, and there could be no certainty as to how the fans would react. The fans, too, seemed unsure.

``I was angry at the start because they were out so long,'' said Ryan Davidson, 22, a student and linebacker at Pierce College, while watching a playoff game at B.J.'s Chicago Pizzeria in Woodland Hills.

``I almost forgot basketball was around. When it came back without Jordan, it was like a whole, strange season. Then I started liking some of the young players coming up. The new faces kind of brought basketball back again.''

Locally, the Lakers made it difficult for the old followers to turn away.

``Being a Laker fan, it was hard not to get sucked back into it,'' Keith Dardic, 41, a TV commercial producer, said at Yankee Doodles. ``The whole season played out like a Greek tragedy or an opera.

``There was a certain alienation during the lockout. But the bad feelings go away once the season starts up again.''

And if the short regular season cost the NBA financially, it wasn't necessarily a problem for fans.

``I think it's a little more interesting with less games,'' college student Nima Ourmazdi, 23, said at the TGIFriday's in Woodland Hills. ``It's always more interesting during the playoffs anyway. It's not any fun for players on teams 15 games out by midseason.''

Then there was the Michael Factor. Jordan had dominated the NBA like no player before him, transcending the sport to become one of the most recognized personalities in the world.

Everyone realized he would be missed, it was only the severity and ultimate impact on the game that was uncertain.

``We had some practice,'' Stern said. ``We had two years without him before, so we definitely knew the world as we knew it would not end. It would be somewhat diminished, but in an interesting kind of way, we expected it to be far better than the last time.

``The last time the focus was sort of on existing stars. This time, the focus was on existing stars and a new generation.''

Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Jason Williams, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury - suddenly the NBA seemed awash in bright young talent that before may have been diminished in Jordan's shadow.

``There was a special group of young players this season, that everyone had every reason to dislike, that ultimately made you watch them and respect them,'' Wise said. ``Whether it was Jason Williams freezing people in mid air, or Vince Carter just throwing down the most vicious dunk known to mankind - a group of young players really set the tone for an evolving NBA.

``The NBA this season to me has been about almost the birth, or the acceptance of the counter-culture hero. You might not like some of the things that have happened in Latrell Sprewell's and Allen Iverson's lives, but if you can't enjoy what they can do on the floor, then you're not a basketball fan.''

This evolving NBA continued to receive good ratings in the playoffs, despite several sweeps. Leading into the prime time telecasts, the playoffs received a 5.8 rating to last year's 6.1.

``We went into this season with our eyes wide open and realistic about what to expect,'' said Ed Markey, an NBC spokesman. ``But it turned out our ratings were close in the regular season, and even in the playoffs. Considering everything, we feel great.''

The bigger test of life without Jordan came as the playoffs moved into prime time, particularly with the Finals. Jordan could draw the casual fan. Last year, it what was anticipated to be his last season, the Finals drew a record 18.7 rating. Although the overall ratings for this year's Finals won't be out until early next week, the first four games were down about 35 percent from last year.

``The reality is, significant numbers tuned in with great intensity to see what we would call Michael's last dance,'' Stern said. ``Here you have the player perhaps of the century, certainly of our sport and maybe all sports, taking one last turn around the track. That was an enormous magnet to attract attention.

``But if you put this season in context of the last 10 years, this season is going to turn out to be just fine, thank you.''