A thrilling chapter of the Pacers-Knicks rivalry delivered the largest audience for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals since LeBron James’ final year with the Cavaliers.
Wednesday’s Pacers-Knicks NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 averaged a 3.5 rating and 6.6 million viewers across TNT and truTV, flat in ratings and up 2% in viewership from Pacers-Celtics on ESPN and ESPN2 last year (3.5, 6.4M) and the most-watched Game 1 of the ECF since Cavaliers-Celtics on ABC in 2018 (7.24M). It is also tied as the highest rated over that span.
(Keep in mind Nielsen did not include out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020 and did not do so in 100 percent of markets until earlier this year.)
Compared to last year’s conference final on TNT Sports, Mavericks-Timberwolves in the West, ratings fell 6% and viewership 7% from a 3.7 and 7.02 million.
Indiana’s overtime comeback win — which peaked with 8.5 million in the 11 PM ET quarter-hour — ranks as the third-most watched conference final opener since 2019 (12 total), behind last year’s aforementioned Mavericks-Timberwolves and Lakers-Nuggets on the ESPN networks in 2023 (7.36M).
While the Pacers-Knicks rivalry has produced some of the most memorable moments in NBA playoff history, Game 1 was likely the first of their conference final games to post an increase over the previous year. Their matchups in 1994 and 1999 came the year after series involving Michael Jordan’s Bulls, and each game of the 2000 series declined from 1999 — owing in part to the broader decline in NBA viewership that season.
On the final night of the television season, Game 1 delivered television’s largest primetime audience.
Pacers-Knicks is the last NBA series on TNT Sports, which is in its final season carrying the NBA. Under the new NBA media rights deal that begins next season, TNT’s spot in the conference final rotation will be filled by a rotation of NBC and Amazon.
