Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up
All Scores
Odds by

Game 3 television ratings for NBA Finals down from last year

Spurs' Duncan and Heat's James battle for position in the first half in Game 3 of their NBA Finals basketball playoff in San Antonio

San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan (L) and Miami Heat’s LeBron James battle for position in the first half in Game 3 of their NBA Finals basketball playoff in San Antonio, Texas June 11, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

REUTERS

Blowouts are not good for television ratings, and two of the three 2013 NBA Finals games so far have been Joel Anthony and Tracy McGrady showcase time.

That’s not the only reason ratings have been down, but it’s one. Game 3 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night drew just more than 14 million viewers. That’s down about nine percent from a year but falls pretty much in line with the previous games in this series. These rat

Why are ratings down after a couple of years of steadily climbing? Probably a combination of things, starting with the Spurs never being a big draw. You don’t tune in to watch Tim Duncan. Never have. Not like you do other stars. The blowouts don’t help. And the national hatred of all things Heat has subsided somewhat as well (people aren’t tuning in to see them lose in the same numbers).

Ratings tend to climb as a series goes on, we’ll see if that happens with Games 4 and 5.