The biggest rivalry in the NBA gave ABC strong numbers on Sunday afternoon.
The Lakers’ win over the Celtics drew a 4.4 overnight rating on ABC Sunday, up 33% from Spurs/Lakers last year (3.3), and up 29% from Cavaliers/Lakers in ’08 (3.4).
Excluding Christmas Day games, the 4.4 overnight is the second-highest for a regular season NBA game on ABC since the network began airing games in ’02, behind only Lakers/Cavaliers last season (5.0).
To put the numbers in perspective, Lakers/Celtics drew a higher overnight than Duke/North Carolina on CBS last March (3.4) and every Yankees/Red Sox telecast on FOX last season. Additionally, the game finished one tick behind the Ohio St./Michigan college football game on ABC last November (4.5).
Lakers/Celtics drew the highest overnight of the weekend for any sporting event on broadcast television — but finished behind the Pro Bowl, which aired on cable (7.9).
Earlier in the day, the Nuggets’ win over the Spurs drew a 2.1 overnight rating, down 13% from Mavericks/Celtics last year (2.4), and down 9% from Celtics/Magic in ’08 (2.3).
