NBA Finals television ratings for Games 1 and 2

We are a couple games into the NBA Playoffs and while the series is split at 1-1. While the series is even and there are two big market franchises in the championship series, the television ratings have been a bit disappointing for the NBA.

Boston back in Finals twelve years later

The Golden State Warriors are back in the Finals for the sixth time in eight years while the Boston Celtics have made a Finals run for the first time since the Days of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

The Warriors are a top market team with a new generation of fans that have hopped aboard the Golden State ship since the arrival of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. They are the newest sexiest team on the scene at the moment in the NBA, and they have sky rocketed up the NBA’s money list because of this new wave of fans for the San Francisco based team.

Boston is the most prolific franchise, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, in the league. They have a long legacy of winning, but it’s been a while since the Celtics were relevant on the national level.

Bump up from last year, but ratings still struggling

For the first time in 12 years the Celtics are back on basketball’s biggest stage, and the Boston fans are going to flock to TD Garden. But just because it’s two big market teams in a battle of past vs. present the TV audience has left a lot to be desired.

The good news for Game 1′s ratings was there was a big spike in the national audience for ABC in comparison to last year. There was an average of almost 12 million viewers (11,901,000) that tuned in to watch the Celtics come back from a 12 point fourth quarter deficit and take the opener at the Chase Center. That was a 37% jump from last year’s Game 1 between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. While the jump was substantial, the 6.4 national rating was well under the mark the NBA are used to in pre-Covid years.

The Warriors Game 2 blowout of the Celtics didn’t help matters on the ratings front. While there was much anticipation to see how the Warriors responded after losing the opener, the numbers dipped down to a 6.2 rating on Sunday night, which was the lowest Game 2 rating since since the Cavaliers and the Spurs got a 5.6 rating in 2007.

Breen back on the mic Wednesday

As the series goes on the ratings are expected to grow, and even though it’s not the principal reason people tune into the Finals, ABC’s play-by-play man Mike Breen is expected to rejoin the broadcast team after missing the first two games with Covid.

Game 3 tips off on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET from TD Garden.