According to TNT the average viewership was the highest ever as well, 6.6 million viewers, which peaked near the end of the game with 8.5 million.
Source:
According to TNT the average viewership was the highest ever as well, 6.6 million viewers, which peaked near the end of the game with 8.5 million.
Source:
40 comments
I’m so glad I watched this live and didn’t turn off the game when Knicks had a big lead. absolutely insane ending.
i feel bad for anyone who missed it.
absolute banger of a game.
Wish these games came in a little earlier. i passed out with like 3 minutes left in the 4th
My heart probably lost years of it’s life. lol
Hicks Versus Knicks 2K25
Exciting product = views. Obviously Minnesota/OKC markets care less about basketball but they also just havent been good games
Ratings police punching air
Was such a good game but also Eastern Conference gets more of us degenerate European fans staying up to watch it lol.
This can’t be right! NBA ratings are terrible! Dwindling! Dying! Everyone who hates the NBA and has a vested interest in seeing it fail says so!
It was an awesome game
The ratings concerns are overblown
It was the better game/product for sure, but also a lot more accessible than the Western Conference game being on ESPN.
Turns out it’s good for basketball when the Knicks are good. Huh.
Pain
I missed Indianas game 2 steal vs Cleveland and New Yorks game 2 thriller vs Boston…. I’m so grateful I didn’t miss this. Genuinely one of the most insane endings to a game I’ve ever seen.
Definitely feels like one we’re going to be referencing even 30 years from now.
And it was an awesome game where players were allowed to play. It was fucking fire for 48 minutes. Both teams punching hard back and forth.
absolute banger, even after knicks pulled away I had a feeling that pacers gonna do it again
7 games series…WCF indeed boring and not suprise while ECW have strong history.
It will get better ratings than the finals
Everyone thought WCF will be a banger but the one that delivering is East.
It is fun to watch a good basketball game.
>While the Knicks-Pacers game notched the most eyes for an Eastern Conference Finals series opener, the most-viewed ECF game remains Game 7 between the Celtics and Heat in 2023. Jimmy Butler’s heroics in Miami’s win over Boston notched 11.9 million viewers, surpassing Game 7 between the Heat and Pacers in 2013, which averaged 11.6 million.
It’s a REALLY big deal that we are back to the ECF here in New York – I’ve not seen this much knicks gear around casually
This is the series that’s going to deliver. All of the talk about parity up until this game a majority of the games were lopsided.
Knicks are a sleeping giant, I hope the succes continues even if it doesn’t lead to a ring.
You can’t even call it a rebuild, almost feels like they’ve been changing the entire mentality of the organization and keeping everything lowkey without drama. Haven’t always been an avid basketball watcher but I remember a few years ago they were even mocking the fact the training facility was outside of NY as if that made the team unwanted by free agents like KD/Kyrie etc.
The fact that it was on Max made it much easier to watch, at least for me. ESPN is so weird and confusing about their streaming I refuse to give it any time of day
No suprise here when the Knicks and pacers are a historic rivalry and also are gritty teams that play pretty aggressively on the defensive and offensive side. Sure you can make fun of Brunson foul baiting but he is a 6’2 guard and weighs way less than SGA who is 6’5. Also the Knicks get into foul trouble a lot more than okc because of their agressive defense whilst okc rarely does.
That ending was absolutely wild. Knicks playoff runs just hit different the whole city gets locked in. Makes sense those numbers were massive.
90s nostalgia hitting like crack
Pacers are on fire right now. Of course I’m tuning in
This goes to show the media marketing the league actually works. ECF gets really hyped up for being a legacy rivalry while big crickets for the WCF. Ratings then reflect that. Not much of a coincidence.
It will be more tonight for sure. That was a hell of a game and way more entertaining than the OKC series!!
Damn. This is great for the league.
Surprised Ppl didn’t enjoy the FT show every other minute on the other series?
These playoffs have been on crack. I’m going to have legit withdrawals in July and August
Was it most watched ever? The article says most watched since 2018
> Knicks vs Pacers was the most watched Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 ever, with a peak of 8.5 million viewers.
Total BS. Most watched since 2018, per the article. I can’t find viewership numbers for the Bulls’ game 1s in the 90s, but [game 7 in 1998 was 61 million](https://www.nydailynews.com/1998/06/17/ratings-hoops-there-it-is-nba-finals-record/). I’m guessing game 1 was quite a bit higher than 6.6 million.
Because it was everything the western conference finals is not. And it helps that it’s on TNT not espuken
The reason for this is because Hoosiers don’t watch the pacers because you have to pay for an extra tv package to watch them (bally or fan dual or whatever it is called) and this game was on TNT.
Basically in Indiana unless you pay extra, you can’t watch pacer games. Even when you do pay extra they black out home games.
The pacers were a much bigger deal in the 90s because anyone with cable could turn on channel 8 and watch them.
I know dozens of people in my local community that talked about watching their first pacer game in years!
NBA media rights deals are limiting their reach.
That game is worth to watch, the real excitement of NBA playoffs is on that one…
Fuck ESPN
Yea. ESPN thought they were on to something taking the MIN and OKC series. Glad TNT got this one