With potentially just one game left in the series, Pacers-Knicks continues to deliver some of the largest Eastern Conference Finals audiences since the era of the LeBron James Cavaliers.
Sunday’s Knicks-Pacers NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 averaged a 3.2 rating and 7.1 million viewers across TNT and truTV, marking the largest audience in a decade for Game 3 of the East Finals — since Hawks-Cavaliers on TNT in 2015 (7.76M) — and the second-largest of the playoffs. (Lakers-Timberwolves Game 4 in the first round still holds the top spot with 7.35 million on ABC.)
Game 4 on Tuesday night averaged 6.7 million, marking the largest audience for an ECF Game 4 since Celtics-Cavaliers in 2018 (7.94M). Each game of the series has hit at least a seven-year high for an East Finals.
Pacers-Knicks accounts for three of the four largest audiences this postseason, and TNT Sports — airing the NBA for the final time — owns four of the top six and five of the top eight.
Viewership increased nine and one percent respectively from Games 3 and 4 of last year’s Celtics-Pacers ECF on ESPN/ABC (6.48 and 6.63 million). Nielsen’s recent expansion of out-of-home viewing may account for some or even all of that growth, as the household rating for Game 3 was actually down slightly from a year ago.
Compared to last year’s TNT Sports conference final, viewership for both games declined two percent from Games 3 and 4 of the Timberwolves-Mavericks WCF (7.25 and 6.87 million respectively).