Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors on Saturday night represented the fourth-highest ratings for an NBA game in the history of cable television.
With Golden State coming out on top, that forced a Game 7 between these two teams on Memorial Day.
Not to be outdone by the previous outing, the Warriors’ dramatic win in that do-or-die meeting ended up rating as the most-watched game in the history of the NBA on cable television.
According to Sports Media Watch, the game saw 15.7 million viewers tune into TNT for a final rating of 8.8.
The game peaked from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET with a whopping 19.8 million people tuning in to watch the Warriors complete their remarkable comeback.
For comparison’s sake, the Kansas City Royals World Series clinching Game 5 win over the New York Mets last year peaked at 17.2 million viewers on regular broadcast television.
This is definitely a sign of just how much the NBA has grown in popularity in recent seasons. Though, the draw of the Warriors definitely played a role here.
It will be interesting to see how the ratings go for Golden State’s NBA Finals rematch with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers starting Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
We could be in store for more record-breaking audiences there.