TV ratings for this year’s Eastern Conference finals may have hit multi-year lows, but the seven-game thriller between Golden State and Oklahoma City more than made up for it in the West. The Memorial Day Game 7 battle, which again saw the Warriors battle back from behind to overtake the Thunder and catapult into the NBA Finals drew an 11.2 overnight rating, setting the record for highest-rated NBA game of all-time on cable. The TNT broadcast peaked with a 13.8 rating between 11:15 and 11:30 and earned a staggering 30.9 in San Francisco and 30.0 in Oklahoma City. TNT’s Inside the NBA earned a series-high 4.8 rating.

Those gaudy numbers are likely to rise in a Finals rematch between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, a series featuring the league’s most transcendent stars in Steph Curry and LeBron James, who between them have won four of the NBA’s last five MVP awards.

This year’s finals will be the 14th broadcast on ABC and the 10th as part of the “ESPN on ABC” partnership. ESPN will introduce every game of the Finals with a special on-site version of NBA Countdown on ABC a half hour before game time. NBA great Paul Pierce will join Sage Steele, Doug Collins and Jalen Rose to break down select games from the series.

ESPN also is bringing its 6 p.m. SportsCenter on the road for most of the Finals, hosted by Lindsay Czarniak. Its new daily NBA show The Jump, with Rachel Nichols, will be on-site during the Finals at 3:30 p.m.

The continuity of the on-air broadcast team will remain intact, with Mike Breen handling play-by-play alongside analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson with Doris Burke handling sideline duties. It’s a record seventh NBA Finals for the quartet. Van Gundy will become the first broadcast analyst to call 10 NBA Finals. Breen will call his 11th.

The run is impressive, considering not only the fickle nature of TV but the fact that Van Gundy and Jackson are always names that pass through the rumor mill as possible NBA coaching candidates when there are vacancies this time of year. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Jackson did his part to dispel the rumors.

“I’m having a blast from my end calling NBA games for ESPN and ABC and being surrounded by a legendary group of people,” said the former Warriors coach. He was less diplomatic in saying that his colleague and former coach Van Gundy hasn’t coached an NBA team since 2007. “As far as Jeff, I’m shocked. I’m stunned,” Jackson said. “[It’s] shocking to me and it will remain shocking to me as long as he’s sitting next to me.”

Both commentators praised the league for increasing the length of time between games in the series, though Van Gundy said he didn’t like the extra day of rest between Games 1 and 2. “I do like when they’re flying cross-country to give them that extra day,” Van Gundy said. “I think it’s a really brilliant and wise manuever by Adam Silver. Even though it elongates the series, try to give the players the best chance to play their best on the big stage.”

Last year’s Finals hit a peak in the decisive Game 6 with a 13.4 household rating and more than 23 million average viewers. With a healthy Cavs team this year going up against the NBA’s best regular season team of all-time, it’s not tough to see a ratings slam dunk developing.

[Image courtesy of ESPN]

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