With Isaiah Thomas entering star territory, the Celtics were nearly as strong a draw as the Warriors Tuesday.
Tuesday’s Wizards-Celtics NBA Playoffs Game 2 earned a 3.0 final rating and 4.8 million viewers on TNT, up 20% in ratings and 29% in viewership from Heat-Raptors Game 1 last year (2.5, 3.8M) and up 43% and 63% respectively from Wizards-Hawks Game 2 in 2015 (2.1, 3.0M).
The Celtics’ overtime win delivered the fourth-largest audience of the playoffs on cable, with Boston having played in two of the top four. Their Game 1 against Chicago in the first round ranks second (5.1M).
Later in the night, Jazz-Warriors Game 1 had a slightly larger audience of 4.9 million — down 6% from Blazers-Warriors Game 2 last year (5.2M) but up 18% Grizzlies-Warriors Game 2 in 2015 (4.1M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Golden State’s easy win ranks third for the playoffs on cable, and sixth regardless of network. The Warriors have played in three of the top ten games thus far, matching the Rockets for the most of any team.
For the night, Tuesday’s games took the top two spots on television in adults 18-49 and 18-34, each scoring a 1.9 in both demos. In adults 18-34, the NBA games more-than-doubled the top non-NBA programs, NBC’s The Voice and The CW’s The Flash (0.9 for both).
(Tue. numbers via Programming Insider 5.3)
