Even in defeat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the high-profile Heat continue to attract big audiences.
ABC earned a 3.9 overnight rating for Miami’s loss to the Celtics on Sunday afternoon, the network’s highest overnight ever for a regular season NBA game in the 1 PM ET window.
Including playoffs, the 3.9 is the highest for a 1 PM ET game on ABC since Celtics/Bulls Game 4 in 2009, which went to double-overtime (4.0).
For some perspective, Heat/Celtics drew a higher overnight than TNT’s primetime Lakers/Celtics matchup three days earlier (3.3).
With all that said, Heat/Celtics was not even the top game of the day.
In the second half of ABC’s doubleheader, the Lakers’ loss to the Magic earned a 4.1 overnight rating. Excluding Christmas Day games, Lakers/Magic is just the sixth regular season NBA game on ABC to draw at least a 4.0 overnight since the network reacquired rights in ’02.
Overall, Sunday’s games drew the sixth and seventh best overnights for regular season NBA coverage on ABC (excludes Christmas games).
10 Highest Regular Season NBA Overnights on ABC
Excluding Christmas Day Games
* Overnights unavailable for 76ers/Pacers in March 2006, Spurs/Celtics in January 2004, and Timberwolves/Rockets in January 2004.
(Overnights from Puck the Media)
