The Lakers, Cavaliers and Celtics combined to give ABC strong numbers over the weekend.
ABC drew a 5.1 overnight rating for Cavaliers/Celtics Game 4 on Sunday afternoon, up 24% from Lakers/Rockets Game 4 last year (4.1), up 6% from Lakers/Jazz Game 4 in ’08 (4.8) and up 50% from Pistons/Bulls Game 4 in ’07 (3.4).
The 5.1 overnight is the highest of the NBA Playoffs, topping Jazz/Lakers Game 1 last week (4.7).
Excluding Game 7s, this marks the highest overnight for a second round NBA Playoff game on ABC since Lakers/Spurs Game 5 in ’03 (7.2), which aired in primetime on a Thursday night.
On Saturday, the Lakers’ Game 3 win over the Jazz drew a 4.4 overnight, up 10% from Cavaliers/Hawks Game 3 last year (4.0), up 13% from Celtics/Cavaliers Game 3 (3.9) and up 7% from Suns/Spurs Game 3 in ’07 (4.1).
Lakers/Jazz topped NASCAR on FOX by 13% head-to-head (4.4 to 3.9), though NASCAR could still finish ahead when the final ratings are released later in the week. The game also finished well ahead of Yankees/Red Sox on FOX earlier Saturday afternoon (2.4).
Overall, the NBA games drew the top two overnights of any sporting events on broadcast over the weekend.
