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Lakers Sweep Leaves NBC Dunked
The Peacock network's pro basketball swan song sputtered to its conclusion Wednesday night, no thanks to a lopsided three-peat sweep by the Los Angeles Lakers. By topping Kidd's New Jersey Nets in just four games, Shaq and company presided over NBC's lowest ratings for the NBA Finals since 1981, averaging 15.8 million viewers (10.2 rating and 19 share in households).
The Lakers' 113-107 victory Wednesday pulled in 16.6 million viewers, giving NBC an easy first-place finish for the night. But the series average was down 13 percent from the 19 million who tuned in for last year's Lakers championship series versus the Philadelphia 76ers.
It's also plenty short of the average 29 million viewers who tuned in for the 1998 NBA finals--which was the all-time high for the '90s and, incidentally, the last time Michael Jordan competed for the trophy with the Chicago Bulls.
All told, it was a downer of a finish for NBC, whose contract with the NBA ended this season after 12 years. ABC and ESPN will take over next year, while TNT will also continue to air games.
Up until the finals, NBC was experiencing its best ratings in some time--thanks primarily to the nail-biter playoffs between the Lakers and Sacramento Kings (which went to seven games) and the Nets and Boston Celtics (six games in all). The Lakers' overtime victory against the Kings in game seven pulled in a whopping 46 million viewers--the biggest audience for an NBA game in two years and highest ever for a Western Conference final.
As for NBC's broadcast team, the crew is heading its separate ways. Play-by-play man Marv Albert will take his "Yes!" man routine to TNT, while analysts Bill "huuuuuge gamble!" Walton and Tom Tolbert are moving to ABC/ESPN.
Meanwhile, Bob Costas, who will remain at the Peacock network, wrapped it all up Wednesday night by saying, "For one last time, you've been watching the NBA on NBC."
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