Wednesday’s Game 7 between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder averaged 4.11 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-watched opening round playoff game on cable in two years, and the most-watched on ESPN in three.
Houston’s win was the largest NBA audience since the Los Angeles Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers on January 31st a few days after the passing of Kobe Bryant, which drew 4.41 million viewers.
Compared to last year’s lone opening round Game 7 – a Saturday night Spurs-Nuggets game on TNT (3.49M) – Thunder-Rockets increased 18% and Jazz-Nuggets declined 3%.
Five of the 11 most-watched NBA games this season have been since the restart on August 1st.