The NBA’s two best teams attracted playoff-high viewership on consecutive nights.
Game 2 of the Blazers/Warriors NBA playoff series scored 5.2 million viewers on TNT Tuesday night, up 26% from Grizzlies/Warriors last year (4.1M), up 8% from Game 1 of Blazers/Spurs in 2014 (4.8M), and the top audience of the playoffs on cable.
Golden State’s win edged the previous high set by Game 2 of Thunder/Spurs the night before (5.21M to 5.20M) — which itself was up 12% from Clippers/Rockets Game 1 last year (4.7M) but down 4% from Clippers/Thunder Game 1 in 2014 (5.4M).
Five of the six most-watched games on cable this postseason have involved the Warriors or Spurs, the lone exception being Cavaliers/Pistons Game 4 in the first round (4.5M).
The Eastern Conference series were not nearly as strong, though earlier timeslots may have played a role. Game 1 of Heat/Raptors had 3.8 million viewers on Tuesday, up 27% from Wizards/Hawks last year (3.0M) but down 16% from Nets/Heat in 2014 (4.5M).
The Hawks/Cavaliers opener had 3.6 million on Monday, down 21% from Bulls/Cavaliers last year (4.6M) and down a fraction of a percent from Wizards/Pacers in 2014 (3.7M).
