After an all-time classic Game 1, viewers were evidently interested in more of the same from the Pacers-Knicks Eastern Conference Finals.
Friday’s Pacers-Knicks NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 averaged 6.7 million viewers across TNT and truTV Friday night, marking the largest audience for Game 2 of the ECF since 2018 (Cavaliers-Celtics: 8.42M). That was the second-straight seven-year high for the series, which opened with the most-watched ECF Game 1 since ’18.
Regardless of conference, it was the most-watched Game 2 of a conference final since Lakers-Nuggets on ESPN two years ago (7.66M).
The Pacers’ win, which peaked with 8.7 million viewers in the 10:15 PM ET quarter-hour, increased 19% from last year’s Pacers-Celtics Game 2 on ESPN (5.64M). It also increased 7% from last year’s conference final Game 2 on TNT, Mavericks-Timberwolves (6.27M).
Game 2 averaged a slightly larger audience than Game 1 last Wednesday (6.6M). By comparison, viewership for last year’s Pacers-Celtics series declined 12% from Game 1 (6.43M) to Game 2. This year’s lopsided Thunder-Timberwolves Western Conference Finals also declined from Game 1 (5.36M) to Game 2 (5.16M).
It should be noted that viewership for the first two Pacers-Knicks games has been considerably higher than the last time the teams met in the conference finals 25 years ago. This year’s audience is about 50 percent higher than for the first two games in 2000 — which also aired on TNT — but between population growth and out-of-home viewing, such comparisons are mostly irrelevant.
Figures for Sunday’s Game 3 will not be available until Wednesday due to the Memorial Day holiday.