The Celtics' 115-105 win over the Wizards in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Monday night drew 6.8 million viewers on TNT, marking the net's most-watched non-conference finals game since '12. The Thunder-Lakers game five years ago drew 8.1 million viewers and saw the Thunder advance to the Western Conference Finals. TNT to date is averaging 3.8 million viewers for its coverage of the NBA Playoffs games, the most since '14, when it drew 4.3 million. The net has the exclusive rights to the Cavaliers-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals, which begin tonight. The playoffs heading into last night's Spurs-Warriors game were averaging 3.6 million viewers across TNT and ABC/ESPN, up 5% over '16. Meanwhile, ABC drew 8.129 million viewers Sunday for the Warriors’ come-from-behind win over the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The last time ABC carried a conference finals Game 1 was Heat-Pacers in ’14. In that same time window, it drew 7.815 million viewers (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).
PURE ENTERTAINMENT: In DC, Tim Bontemps writes the NBA Draft Lottery is a "spectacle" that makes for a lot of "wonderful made-for-TV moments that lead to plenty of hilarity." Basketball HOFer Clyde Frazier represented the Knicks last night, and he looked "like a kid who had been told he wasn’t getting any Christmas presents this year when he saw the Knicks come up with the eighth pick." The "star of the show" was 76ers C Joel Embiid. When it was announced that the Kings had "moved up, the camera cut to Embiid nodding with a knowing smile." Then, when it was announced the Kings "would have the fifth pick, Embiid clearly was trying to work through exactly what that meant" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/17).
