Sweet 16 million for NBA Finals on ABC.

The Lakers/Magic NBA Finals is attracting more viewers than last year’s marquee Celtics/Lakers matchup.

The Lakers’ overtime win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals drew a 9.4 rating and 16.0 million viewers on ABC Tuesday night, up 8% in ratings and 16% in viewers from an 8.7 and 13.8 million for Celtics/Lakers Game 4 last year, and the highest rated, most viewed Game 4 of the NBA Finals since ’04.

The 16.0 million viewers is the third-most for any NBA Finals game since 2005, behind only Games 5 and 6 of last year’s Lakers/Celtics series.

Compared to previous years, Lakers/Magic Game 4 was up 45% and 61%, respectively, from a 6.5 and 9.9 million viewers for Spurs/Cavaliers Game 4 in ’07, and up 21% and 38%, respectively, from a 7.8 and 11.6 million for Mavericks/Heat Game 4 in ’06.

Additionally, the 9.4 rating for Game 4 is the third-highest rating for any sporting event since the Super Bowl, behind only the race portion of the Kentucky Derby (9.8) and the NCAA basketball title game (10.8), and ahead of events like the Daytona 500 (9.2) and the final round of The Masters (8.3).

Through four games, the Lakers/Magic NBA Finals is averaging an 8.5 rating and 14.4 million viewers on ABC, down 3% in ratings but up 4% in viewers from an 8.8 and 13.8 million through four games last year. The 14.4 million viewers is the highest average for the first four games of the NBA Finals since 2004.

Three of the first four games of the Lakers/Magic series have drawn at least 14 million viewers, with the lone exception being the 25-point Game 1 blowout. To put that in perspective, only 10 of the previous 23 NBA Finals games (less than half) had drawn at least 14 million.

The four NBA Finals games rank as the four most-viewed telecasts since the end of the television season in May in both total viewers and the adults 18-49 demo.

Most viewed NBA Finals games since 2003.