ABC drew a 14.2 overnight rating for the Warriors’ 104-91 win over the Cavaliers last night, marking the best figure for an NBA Finals Game 5 since the net drew a 15.4 overnight for the series-clinching Pistons-Lakers matchup in ’04 on a Tuesday night. Cavs-Warriors Game 5 is up 21% from an 11.7 for the series-clinching Spurs-Heat Game 5 last year. Last night’s game peaked at an 18.1 rating from 10:30-10:45pm ET. ABC is expected to win the night for the 47th straight time when airing an NBA Finals matchup. Game 5 drew a 33.6 local rating in the S.F.-San Jose-Oakland market, which is the net’s best figure ever for an NBA game in the Bay Area. Cleveland-Akron drew a 42.5, which ABC’s third-best NBA game ever in the market, behind only Games 3 and 4. Last night's game also accounted for 2.5 million tweets, making up 62% of all TV-related Twitter conversation for the day. The game had competition on HBO with the season finale of "Game of Thrones," which drew a 4.5 overnight. Through five games, ABC is averaging a 13.5 overnight for the NBA Finals, marking the net’s best average since it acquired NBA rights prior to the ’02-03 season and up 27% from Spurs-Heat last year.
GO FOURTH: ABC finished with 19.8 million viewers for Game 4 last Thursday, marking the net’s best NBA Finals Game 4 in over a decade. The series through four games is averaging 18.9 million viewers, up 24% compared to the same point of Spurs-Heat last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
FLASH BANG: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted "interesting things can occur" when athletes "interact with each other on camera in an honest and unscripted way." That is what happened when Cavaliers F LeBron James sat for a postgame interview with Heat G and former teammate Dwyane Wade following Game 3. ESPN's John Anderson said of Wade, "In the limited time I was with him, that hour so after the game, I was quite impressed. ... He was taking notes in a small journal, jotting down thoughts. He made some really nice observations." ESPN's Sage Steele, who has worked with Wade during the studio show during the NBA Finals, said, "After we finished Countdown leading up to Game 3, I told him that if he doesn’t do TV after he hangs it up that I would kick his a%$. I think Dwyane has real potential. He obviously has to temper what he says right now because he is still playing. But that considered, I thought he was real solid with his takes and analysis. The toughest part of being on live television in front of millions is being yourself, being natural, and I thought Dwyane was great at that" (SI.com, 6/14).
CAREER CHANGE: In Pittsburgh, Mike White profiled Cavaliers radio announcer John Michael, who a dozen years ago was a "lawyer for a big firm, armed with a law degree, an MBA and a mechanical engineering degree, all from Notre Dame." But he "walked away" to be a minor league baseball announcer, and now is in his fourth season with the Cavs. Michael is a "fascinating story of a 42-year-old man who rose from MSA to NBA." It is a "tale of a man who, while listening to high school football games one night, decided on a whim that he would like to try broadcasting" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/14).
