Game 7 Ratings Give NBA Best Night Since 1998

And that says a lot, considering the NBA’s astronomical ratings during the ’90s. From LiveFeed: “ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals’ climatic Game 7 gave the network the largest overnight basketball rating in 12 years. Thursday night’s Game 7 — which saw the LA Lakers defeat the Boston Celtics for the championship title — delivered an 18.2 overnight household rating, the largest since a Bulls vs. Jazz game in 1998. The face-off also marks the highest-rated NBA Finals game ever telecast on ABC, and climbing 32% from the last Game 7 to air (Pistons vs. Spurs in 2005). ABC’s Finals coverage led the network to dominate primetime for all seven nights of the series, averaging 16.4 million viewers for the first six games.”