A battle between two of the most obsessively covered NBA teams in recent memory resulted in strong numbers on TNT.
Thursday’s Knicks/Heat NBA regular season game earned a 4.0 overnight rating on TNT. Overnights for last year’s comparable Celtics/Bulls game were not immediately available.
Despite the strong numbers, the game did not earn the highest NBA overnight of the season on TNT — that distinction belongs to Celtics/Knicks on Christmas Day (4.1). The game also did not earn the top overnight of the week, trailing Sunday’s Mavericks/Knicks (4.8) and Magic/Heat (4.3) games on broadcast network ABC.
Locally, the game earned a 9.4 rating in the New York City market — topping than the record-high numbers earned by MSG Network over the past week (7.32 for Hornets/Knicks last Friday, and a 7.34 preliminary rating for Knicks/Nets on Monday), but trailing Mavericks/Knicks on ABC (10.3).
In the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market, Thursday’s game earned a 15.3 rating.
Later in the night, TNT earned a 2.8 overnight for Lakers/Thunder. The game earned a 7.5 in Los Angeles and a 14.5 in Oklahoma City.
(Thursday’s numbers from Turner Sports)
