For the second-straight game, the NBA Western Conference Finals delivered a four-year viewership low.
Thursday’s Timberwolves-Thunder NBA Western Conference Finals Game 2 averaged a 2.7 rating and 5.16 million viewers on ESPN, falling below Game 1 to rank as the least-watched conference final game since Hawks-Bucks Game 5 in the COVID-delayed 2021 postseason (4.92M).
Excluding the COVID-delayed postseasons of 2020 and 2021, it was the least-watched conference final game since Raptors-Bucks Game 2 in 2019 (4.39M) and the least-watched game of the Western Conference Finals since Spurs-Grizzlies Game 3 in 2013 (4.94M).
Ratings declined 14% and viewership 18% from last year’s Mavericks-Timberwolves Game 2 on TNT and truTV (3.2, 6.27M). Compared to last year’s conference final on the ESPN networks, ratings fell 11% and viewership 9% from a 3.1 and 5.64 million for Pacers-Celtics.
The league-leading Thunder have played in 12 windows this postseason that can be compared to last year. Of those, eight have declined. Part of that can be attributed to their tendency to blow teams out. Oklahoma City has won six games this postseason by at least 15 points — including wins by 51, 43, 32 and 26.
There is no reason to believe that trend would end in the NBA Finals, as Oklahoma City went 29-1 against Eastern Conference teams during the regular season — losing only once to the Cavaliers. That includes wins over Indiana by 21 and 6, and New York by 25 and 10.
Oklahoma City, the second-smallest market in the NBA ahead of Memphis, set an NBA record during the regular season with a 12.9 average point differential.