Ratings for the NBA’s Christmas Day tripleheader were neither naughty nor nice.
ABC averaged a 3.3 overnight rating for its NBA doubleheader, featuring Heat/Cavs and Suns/Lakers. Overnight ratings for last year’s NBA Christmas Day game (Lakers/Heat) are unavailable.
Heat/Cavs averaged a 3.1 overnight rating, making the game a likely candidate to be the lowest rated Christmas Day game on broadcast since 2002. Suns/Lakers, which aired from 5:00 PM ET to 8:00, averaged a 3.5 overnight, which should result in the game finishing with a lower final rating than Lakers/Heat last year.
While ABC will likely see its final national rating decline, a 3.3 overnight average is passable. If the NBA on Christmas Day is not the major showcase it was two or three years ago, it still draws a fairly decent crowd.
Viewers were less than interested in watching Sonics rookie Kevin Durant take on the red hot Portland Trailblazers. Sonics/Blazers drew a 1.1 overnight on ESPN, making the game easily one of the lowest rated — if not the lowest rated — Christmas Day games of all time. The game was a big draw in Portland, averaging a combined 9.0 rating locally on KGW (5.4/16) and ESPN (3.6/9).
