Love them or hate the Miami Heat are proving to be a TV ratings tour de force. The big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are driving the numbers to record levels.
However, last night when the Bulls beat Miami 103-82 in front of a loud United Center crowd in Chicago to take a 1-0 lead in their best of seven Eastern Conference Final series and it was the highest rated NBA telecast in cable history.
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The game delivering 11.1 million total viewers and a 6.2 U.S. HH rating. .
Game two of the series is set for Chicago Wednesday night at 8pm on TNT with the tipoff at 8:30pm and Miami will be looking to even the series at 1-1.
The NBA Playoff ratings continue on a steady rise a great trend for the league that has seen record ratings for the first two rounds of the playoffs for TNT, ESPN and NBA TV.
Through the first two rounds spanning 35 games, TNT had a 3.0 household rating average, up 25% from a 2.4 in 2010, posted a 29% rise in households to 3.53 million from 2.74 million and leaped 33% to 4.82 million viewers from 3.64 million, according to Nielsen.
First-round games on ABC, ESPN and TNT were watched by an average of 4.15 million people, up from fewer than 3.2 million last year.
All of the Eastern Conference Final games will be telecast on TNT with the Western Conference Finals between Dallas and Oklahoma City airing on ESPN/ABC starting Tuesday night at 9p.m.
