The last two Game 2's aired on Sunday nights and saw the Warriors win by 19 pointsNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Ratings for the NBA Finals continue to keep pace with last year's numbers, as Cavaliers-Warriors Game 2 last night drew a 12.7 overnight -- just below the 12.8 last year for the same matchup. Both games aired on a Sunday night and saw the Warriors win by 19 points. Last night also is up from an 11.8 overnight two years ago, which saw the Warriors win by 33 points. The telecast is expected to mark the 62nd straight night that an NBA Finals game was the top-rated show in primetime. S.F.-San Jose-Oakland led all markets with a 33.3 rating, which was an NBA record for ABC in the Bay Area. Cleveland-Akron drew a 32.7 local rating (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
FIRST-WORLD PROBLEMS: In DC, Tim Bontemps wrote there is viewer fatigue for these NBA Finals "on some level." That is helped by the Cavs being given "little chance of winning the series," plus this being the "only time in the history of the four major American professional sports that the same matchup has happened four straight years." ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus said, "There’s diminishing returns after a while with the same series in terms of casual fan interest. But, at the same time, you’re talking about the brightest stars in the league and the biggest brands. So it’s certainly a high-class problem" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 6/3). ESPN's Jeremy Schaap said, "You might think the public at large would be tired of this show. On the contrary, fans are gobbling up the familiar, and why wouldn't they when just about every night, it seems, another performance for the ages is fashioned by LeBron James" ("E:60," ESPN, 6/3). THE ATHLETIC's Richard Deitsch writes until "proven otherwise," this is the "best Finals matchup for he NBA and its television partners" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/4).
CRESCENT ROLL: In New Orleans, William Guillory noted football has "traditionally been the sport that draws the most attention in Louisiana," but NBA Playoff ratings "seem to suggest that may be on the verge of changing." Interest around the NBA "may be as high as it's been in quite some time around the city." Prior to the NBA Finals, New Orleans was ESPN's "second-highest-rated local market" during the playoffs (19 games) with a 6.7 local rating, behind only Cleveland-Akron at an 11.7 rating. A source said that in 42 TNT playoff broadcasts, New Orleans had the "third-highest" local rating with a 6.0. The only markets higher were Cleveland-Akron (7.6) and S.F.-San Jose-Oakland (6.4). It is an "indication that basketball may be on the rise for locals, and the Pelicans are hoping to take advantage by continuing the growth of their fanbase" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 6/3).
EXTENDING THE GAME: The AP's Tim Reynolds notes Doris Burke and ESPN have agreed on a multiyear contract extension that will see Burke "retaining her role as a full-time NBA game analyst as well as a reporter for the conference finals and NBA Finals." Burke, who has been with ESPN since '91, has had a "hand in virtually every level of ESPN basketball coverage over the years." This includes "game and studio coverage for the NBA, WNBA, women's college basketball and men's college basketball." Later this year, she will receive the Basketball HOF's Curt Gowdy Media Award (AP, 6/4).
