Without Lakers vs. Clippers Playoff Match, NBA TV Ratings Could Continue To Fall

While NBA fans and all of social media seemed to enjoy watching the Los Angeles Clippers choke away Game 7 of their second-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, league officials likely were not too thrilled.

The long-awaited battle of LA that was supposed to happen in the Western Conference Finals never came to fruition. Only the Los Angeles Lakers held up their end of the bargain, dismissing the Houston Rockets in five games and taking one step closer toward reaching the 2020 NBA Finals.

It’s not a stretch to say that the NBA would much rather have the Lakers take on the Clippers than the Nuggets in the conferences finals, which start with Game 1 Friday night from the bubble in Orlando, Florida. As the league searches for answers regarding declining ratings, games featuring the Los Angeles teams have been the league’s most attractive this season.

The Christmas Day matchup between the Lakers and Clippers remains the NBA’s highest-rated game of the season with an average viewership of 8.76 million people. The other three matchups between the LA teams ranked among the four highest-rated regular-season games, not including the Christmas Day slate.

The highest-rated regular-season game that wasn’t played on Christmas was the Jan. 31 contest between the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers, which came shortly after Kobe Bryant’s death. The four LA games had an average viewership of 4.83 million people.

The Lakers defeated the Nuggets in a very competitive overtime game that was broadcast nationally on ESPN on Feb. 12. With a 10 p.m. EST start time, the contest led all cable TV programs with 1.45 million viewers, ShowBuzzDaily reported.

The Lakers are the sport’s biggest draw no matter the opponent. An average of 5.43 million viewers watched the Lakers defeat the Rockets in Game 2 of their series, giving the NBA its best rating since Christmas. Some 4.65 million viewers tuned in to TNT for Game 3 two days later, also exceeding the viewership for every non-Christmas game. Saturday night’s clinching Game 5 was seen by 3.72 million people.

Game 7 between the Clippers and Nuggets averaged 5.23 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night. Game 6 only drew 1.3 million viewers, though it went head-to-head with NFL games at 1 p.m. EDT.

Between 7.25 million and 7.88 million viewers watched each game of the 2019 Western Conference Finals. The Golden State Warriors swept the Portland Trail Blazers in four games.