NBA Finals Game 3 ratings: Best in 28 years
The Knicks haven't been to the NBA Finals since 1999.
And the NBA hasn't seen Finals Game 3 ratings like what the Knicks and Spurs delivered on Monday night since 1998. (That was Bulls vs. Jazz in 1998, by the way.)
ABC and ESPN averaged 23.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel, up 159% from last year’s Game 3. Monday's win by the Spurs peaked at 11:15 p.m. Eastern with 26.3 million viewers.
Through three games, this is ABC and ESPN’s second most-watched NBA Finals ever with an average of 19.1 million viewers. That's a 114% increase from last year's Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
Monday’s Game 3 on ABC and ESPN was the largest TV audience since Super LX in February. Major sporting events in that time span include the March Madness, the NFL Draft and the Masters, among others.
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
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