NBC's coverage of the Pacers-Knicks Game Six on Friday
earned a 10.2/21 national Nielsen rating, making NBC's final
cumulative playoff average a 6.5/16 over 25 games, down 8%
from last year's 7.1/19 over 21 games. Pacers-Knicks Game
Six earned an 18.6/31 in N.Y. and a 35.1/57 in Indianapolis
(NBC). Meanwhile, Turner finished with a 2.9 average cable
rating for its 36 NBA playoff games, down 9% from last year.
However this year, Turner televised only the Knicks-Pacers
Game One, which earned a 6.1 rating, while it televised
three conference final games in '98 (AP, 6/15). In Denver,
Mike Littwin writes that the Knicks "will bring ratings" to
NBC during the NBA Finals, as Latrell Sprewell "gets to play
the antihero, which might be the best the TV boys can hope
for this soon into the post-Jordan era" (ROCKY MTN NEWS,
6/15). HBO's Bryant Gumbel, on the Knicks making the NBA
Finals: "In this abbreviated, forgettable, often ugly
season, they've actually given fans a real reason to claim
they still love this game" ("Real Sports," HBO, 6/14).
