Ratings: NBA, college hoops and more

NBA regular season games have averaged 1.06 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV through 141 telecasts, up 3% from the same number of games last season. Keep in mind that last season began two months earlier.

In the final games before the All-Star break, TNT averaged 1.06 million for Heat-Pelicans Thursday night — down 31% from Clippers-Rockets last year (1.53M). The previous night, ESPN pulled 1.09 million for Nets-Rockets and 1.32 million for Warriors-Blazers, up 30% and down 10% respectively from last year’s comparable doubleheader (Pacers-Bucks: 839K; Pelicans-Mavericks: 1.47M).

In related action, Thursday’s NBA All-Star draft averaged 774,000 — up 37% from last year (566K) — and the premiere of TNT’s Inside the NBA documentary “The Inside Story” averaged 609,000.

Thursday’s Michigan State-Michigan men’s college basketball game averaged 1.00 million viewers on ESPN, up 6% from Illinois-Ohio State last year (944K). Including the Champions Classic and holidays, it was the 12th weekday game this season with at least one million viewers — ten of which have featured at least one Big Ten team.

The Texas-Oklahoma nightcap drew 545,000 (+4%).

Capitals-Bruins averaged 549,000 viewers on the latest edition of NHL Wednesday Night Hockey on NBCSN, down 6% from Penguins-Capitals last year (582K). The Blues-Ducks nightcap had 206,000 (-32%). … Last Sunday’s Chelsea-Manchester City Premier League match averaged 828,000 viewers on NBCSN (including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen), trailing only Liverpool-Manchester City three weeks earlier (1.06M) as the most-watched February EPL match ever on cable. … Thursday’s opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational averaged 484,000 viewers on Golf Channel, up 27% from last year (379K).