WORTH NOTING ON TV

* SUNDAY

NBA semifinal (NBC, 7-9:30 p.m., EDT): If a seventh game is needed in the best-of-seven series, the Indiana Pacers will face the Orlando Magic at Florida's Orlando Arena in pro basketball's Eastern Conference Final.

The Tonys (CBS, 9-11 p.m., EDT): Among awards nights on TV, the theater's version is the classiest and most literate -- even, perhaps, during a meager Broadway season like this one, which has yielded only 24 productions eligible for awards.

The 49th Annual Tony Awards airs live from the set of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Sunset Boulevard'' -- a favorite for Best Musical -- at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. ''Sunset'' and ''Smokey Joe's Cafe'' are the only new musicals this season.

''Sunset'' star Glenn Close hosts the evening with Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane. Close, a two-time Tony winner, plays silent-screen star Norma Desmond and is considered by many a shoo-in for Best Actress in a Musical.

In the drama category, there are enough strong new plays and revivals to make competition more suspenseful. Tom Stoppard, Terrence McNally, and other writers, for instance, are in the running.

In the blizzard of celebrity presenters, one of the more interesting is Walter Cronkite, who made his Broadway debut as narrator of the revival ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' (also up for Best Musical).

* MONDAY

Crusades (The History Channel -- simulcast on A&E -- 9-10 p.m.): Terry Jones of ''Monty Python,'' the renowned British comedy troupe, retraces the course of one of the 11th-century armies that moved East across Europe to reclaim the Holy Places in the Middle East.

In this four-part series, aired on consecutive nights, he meets both Christians and Muslims, from scholars to artisans to aristocrats. Islamic and Western culture, past and present, are explored.

Please check local listings for these programs.