Posted on 05/31/2019 8:23:21 AM PDT by EdnaMode
The opening matchup of the 2019 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors made history last night, in more ways than one.
Played before a sellout crowd in The 6, including one former Prime Minister and a very passionate Drake, Game 1 of this year’s championship series was the first to been played outside the U.S. and the first NBA Finals game to see a non-American team win. The Raptors’ 118-109 victory over the reigning champs showed that this battle for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy isn’t going to be a walk for Steph Curry and the Warriors.
With a 10.1/19 in metered market ratings for Thursday’s 9-11:45 PM ET game, this year’s NBA Finals are certainly not going to be a walk for ABC, either. Those numbers are off a hard 18% from Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals in the early metrics.
In fact, with only one U.S. market team in competition, this year’s opener is the worst any Game 1 has performed in metered-market ratings in a decade, dipping just below the results of Game 1 in 2009, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the visiting Orlando Magic on June 1 of that year.
Also shown on the Disney-owned network, that Game 1 in the far-off TV era of 2009 went on to earn 13.04 million viewers. Steady with 2017, Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals pulled in an audience of nearly 17.4 million as the Warriors topped the then LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers 124-114 in overtime on May 31 of that year.
Will Warriors fatigue also become a factor in this year’s finals? Sunday’s Game 2 could shed more light on that for a team that has been in the NBA title series every year since 2015.
In the meantime, we’ll update later with more NBA Finals ratings plus CBS’ Elementary, Fox’s Paradise Hotel and more that was also on TV on Thursday. Until then, check out some of the best of the action from up North last night:
NBA...NBA...sounds familiar. Does that have something to do with minor league bowling?
No
Big
Audience...............
LOL
How many basketball fans know that Toronto has an NBA franchise? Seriously, part of it could be not being familiar with the Raptors.
Nobody but Warriors fans want the Warriors to win the series, and they certainly don’t care for a team from Canada.
I wasted about 20 seconds watching.
Be ironic if the Raptors win the Title.
That would mean since the last time a Canadian Team won The Stanley Cup, the Blue Jays (1993) and the Raptors will have won titles.
I’m not watching but I would hope for Toronto to win because I am pretty sick of the curry character and his arrogance...but I love Klay Thompson...
O’Brien was Postmaster General.
Toronto may win an NBA title before the Stanley Cup
(their last being 52 years ago).
At least Toronto may go the White House if they win.
Most expected another Warriors rout, I suspect.
Now Women's National Basketball playoffs might be interesting, but how long until the sport was fully dominated by transgender "women"?
Nothing is sacred any more.
Without Durant? No way.
Toronto in 6.
Okay, but there were A LOT of empty seats.
” . . . first NBA Finals game to see a non-American team win.”
That sort of statement never fails to amuse me - gotta hand it to Toronto in how they were able to get a team of the very best Canadian basketball players to show those Yanks how the game should be played
Well, James Naismith was Canadian, after all.
So are you trying to say that the Raptors aren’t a Canadian team because most of their players aren’t Canadian (a number aren’t American, either). So, by that standard, are the Boston Bruins not an American NHL team?
For me, first game of seven fatigue.
First game is near meaningless. Now, the second game is important, the team behind is under serious pressure as their odds for a championship dwindle if down 0-2.
So, I may watch the second game.
I hope Trump invites the Raptors to the Whitehouse should they win. Delicious.
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