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NBA Game 3 Rating Lowest Since '13; Canada Is Setting Records

The last time an NBA Finals Game 3 dropped below an 11.0 overnight was in ’14 for Spurs-HeatNBAE/GETTY IMAGES

ABC last night drew a 10.0 overnight rating for the Raptors’ 123-109 win over the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, marking the lowest Game 3 since ’13, when Heat-Spurs drew the same figure on a Tuesday night. Last year, Warriors-Cavaliers Game 3 drew a 12.7 overnight, and two years ago, the same matchup drew a 13.4 overnight. The last time Game 3 dropped below an 11.0 overnight was in ’14 for Spurs-Heat (10.3 on a Tuesday). Despite the drop, ABC will win primetime for the 67th straight time that it has carried an NBA Finals game (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

RECORD DRAW: Figures from Game 3 for Canadian broadcasters will not be available until tomorrow, but Warriors-Raptors Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night attracted an average audience of 4.3 million viewers on TSN, CTV2 and RDS, making it the most-watched NBA game on record in Canada. The game ranked as the top program of the day, and TSN was the most-watched network in Canada, ahead of all conventional networks. Game 2 ranks as the second-most-watched English-language sports telecast of both the broadcast and calendar years, behind only Super Bowl LIII (TSN).

MASTER AT HIS CRAFT: THE RINGER's Bryan Curtis writes ESPN's Mike Breen is "sometimes an easier announcer to admire than he is to love." Curtis: "The way to love him, I think, is to love the way he controls a game." He "makes his voice bigger without getting much louder." A key to Breen's "sense of control is that you don't feel that many details will slip by him." Breen has a "command of facts and numbers, and an even better way of easing in one or two just as a game is drifting into commercial." His sound is "tuned to the energy of the modern NBA, but his language can be strangely, charmingly old-fashioned" (THERINGER.com, 6/6).

MR. BIG SHOT: THE ATHLETIC's Richard Deitsch noted ESPN's Chauncey Billups' contract expires after the NBA Finals, and while he "does not draw the attention" that fellow studio analysts Jalen Rose or Paul Pierce do, he has been a "reliably solid voice for ESPN in multiple settings." Billups has been linked to multiple front office positions over the last couple years, but if he "remains available ... ESPN should re-sign him" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/5).

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