Game five of the NBA Finals got some atrocious TV ratings Friday night when the Heat beat the Lakers.
As TVLine reported, the game had 5.7 million total viewers on ABC in the early numbers as the Heat pushed the series to 3-2 with a big win.
To get an impression of how bad the numbers were last night, game five in 2019 had 18.22 million viewers, according to SportsMediaWatch.com.
It’s truly shocking how bad the TV ratings have been for the NBA in the Finals this season. They’re not just bad.
They’re absolutely terrible, and there’s no other way to put it. We passed the point of embarrassment a long time ago.
The ratings might see a slight bump with the final numbers, but there’s simply no chance you can shine a light on this situation to make it positive.
While there are many reasons for why the NBA has bottomed out, we all know a lot of fans have had enough with the politicization of sports.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver more or less admitted as much, and said the social justice messages will likely be gone next season.
We’ll see how the ratings are for game six, but I’m very confident that they’ll be bad.
