Thursday’s Suns/Lakers thriller hit a series-high in overnight ratings, but still remained off last year’s pace.
The Lakers’ buzzer-beating win over the Suns drew a 6.4 overnight rating on TNT Thursday night, down 16% from Magic/Cavaliers Game 5 last year (7.6), but up 33% from Cavaliers/Pistons Game 5 in ’07 (4.8).
Overnights for Spurs/Lakers Game 5 in ’08 were not immediately available. That game drew a 4.6 final rating.
The 6.4 overnight is also up from Tuesday’s Game 4 (5.8), and marks the highest overnight rating of the Conference Finals (East or West).
So far, final ratings for the Conference Finals have fallen anywhere from 16% to 21% from the overnight — putting Game 5 on pace for a final rating in the 5.0-5.4 range.
(Turner Sports)
