A subpar NBA Finals ended on a quiet note Friday night as Warriors-Cavs ratings hit a metered market low.
Friday’s Warriors-Cavaliers NBA Finals Game 4 drew an 11.2 overnight rating on ABC, down 11% from last year (12.6) and down 7% from 2016 (12.0), both of which featured the same matchup.
The 11.2 is the lowest for any NBA Finals game during the four-year run of Warriors-Cavs matchups (22 telecasts dating back to 2015). The previous mark was an 11.8 for Games 2 and 3 in 2016. The last finals game with a lower overnight was Game 4 of the 2014 Spurs-Heat finals (10.6).
Overall, it ranks eighth out of the 17 NBA Finals Game 4 telecasts since ABC resumed airing the event in 2003. Keep in mind it was just the third of those games to air on a Friday night.
Compared to previous NBA Finals clinchers, Golden State’s win fell 30% from last year’s Monday Game 5 (16.0) and — not surprisingly — 41% from a Sunday Game 7 in 2016 (18.9). The 11.2 is the lowest for a finals clincher in nine years, since Lakers-Magic in 2009 (9.4).
The last time the NBA Finals ended in a sweep, 2007, Game 4 of Spurs-Cavaliers had a 7.8 overnight. In the previous sweep — Lakers over Nets in 2002 — Game 4 had a 12.0 on NBC.
All four games of the NBA Finals declined from last year, though Game 4 was the only game to drop by double-digits.
[Numbers from ESPN PR/Twitter 6.9]
