ESPN earned a 6.6 overnight Nielsen rating for the Celtics-Heat NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game One on Monday night, marking the net's nest overnight ever for an Eastern Conference Finals opener. The overnight is up 25% from the Mavericks-Thunder Western Conference Finals opener on the net last year, and also up 20% from the net's Celtics-Magic opener in '10. The game earned a 21.5 local rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, which is the market's best rating ever for an NBA game on the net.
FINAL NUMBERS: TNT finished with a 4.8 fast-national U.S. rating and 7.8 million viewers for Game One of the Thunder-Spurs Western Conference Finals on Sunday night. Those figures mark the highest-rated and most-viewed Western Conference Finals opener ever on the net. However, the game was down 23% and 30%, respectively, from a 6.2 rating and 11.1 million viewers for the net’s Heat-Bulls opener last year, which was the most-viewed Conference Finals series on record. Meanwhile, ABC earned a 4.5 final rating and 7.0 million viewers for the Celtics’ Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Seven win over the 76ers on Saturday night. While the rating is up 4.4 for the comparable Thunder-Grizzlies Game Seven last year, which aired on a Sunday afternoon, the viewership is down from 7.1 million viewers (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
GUY NEXT DOOR: In Tampa, Tom Jones wrote ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy “was his usual top-shelf self" calling Celtics-76ers Saturday night. Van Gundy really “is like the guy next to you in a sports bar except he knows more basketball than you do.” His “most interesting comments Saturday night were about Sixers coach Doug Collins, who is known for his no-nonsense approach and organization.” Van Gundy said, “Great players want to be coached. In the playoffs especially, everyone is receptive” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/29).
SPEAKING OUT: In Miami, David Hill noted Heat Owner Micky Arison “does not often speak in public, so Friday he made the most out of an appearance” on Dan Le Batard’s radio show on WAXY-AM. Arison “saved his most choice words for ESPN's coverage” of Heat F LeBron James. Arison called the “hoopla surrounding The Decision in 2010 James' only real mistake during his career, one which was partially enabled by ESPN.” He said, “The way ESPN hyped that whole thing, and as soon as he did what they did, they caved in on him and just destroyed him, and I felt bad, I don't think it was deserved.” Arison also “refused to apologize” for the Heat’s ’10 preseason celebration and said that he “would have still done it, but not televised it” (NBCMIAMI.com, 5/25).
