The Knicks/Nets rivalry has not been a blockbuster attraction nationally.
Tuesday’s Knicks/Nets NBA regular season game drew 1.7 million viewers on ESPN, ranking as just the 15th-largest NBA television audience of the season (29 telecasts on ESPN and TNT).
The game was not even the top NBA telecast of the night, trailing Clippers/Bulls (2.0M).
Knicks/Nets finished just barely behind the teams’ first Brooklyn meeting this season, a November 26 game on TNT that aired opposite “Monday Night Football” (1.8M). That game was postponed from November 1 due to Hurricane Sandy.
For some perspective, the final nationally televised game between the Knicks and New Jersey Nets (April 2011) earned a not-much-lower 1.5 million viewers on ESPN.
Thirteen NBA games have outdrawn both Knicks/Nets matchups this season, including the Knicks’ three other national TV appearances — Heat/Knicks on November 2 (2.8M), Knicks/Heat last Thursday (2.7M), and even Knicks/Grizzlies on November 16 (2.0M).
The Nets’ only other national TV appearance this season, a November 15 game against the Celtics, earned 1.4 million on TNT.
(Tuesday’s numbers from TV By the Numbers)
