Not even a four game sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals with each contest decided by double digits could halt the NBA\u2019s momentum when it comes to television ratings.<\/p>\n
ESPN has had rotten luck<\/a> in the last week with both its NBA Eastern Conference Finals and NHL Western Conference Finals coverage ending in sweeps. Those late-series primetime games are some of the most valuable inventory ESPN has in its lineup with potentially tens of millions of viewers between the pair of them. In replacement, the network has had to get creative, airing a Pat McAfee special interviewing major sports league commissioners. But as ingenuitive as it was<\/a>, it couldn\u2019t come close to matching what a Game 6 or Game 7 in a conference finals could do.<\/p>\n In spite of that bad luck, ESPN has to at least be happy with their numbers from the games that were played in the NBA\u2019s Eastern Conference Finals as the New York Knicks disposed of the Cleveland Cavaliers with ease.<\/p>\n Across the four games, ESPN averaged<\/a> 7.4 million viewers. That was up an impressive 37% compared to last year\u2019s coverage of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. It\u2019s also the most watched ECF in whole for the NBA since 2023 when the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics went seven games.<\/p>\n The \u201926 #NBA<\/a> Eastern Conference Finals between the Cavaliers & Knicks averaged 7.4M viewers across ESPN & ABC<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfc0 Up 37% vs \u201925 Western Conference Finals Details: https:\/\/t.co\/Hj8h11bMlz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/fNdKTdHsms<\/a><\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc8 Most-watched ECF since \u201923<\/p>\n