The showdown between the NBA leaders Cleveland Cavs and Oklahoma City Thunder did not disappoint in terms of ratings. NBA fans responded on social media to the game, which ended Oklahoma City’s 15-game winning streak while extending Cleveland’s winning streak to 11 in a 129-122 game.
Ratings rose To 20% per NBA Communications’ X, formerly Twitter.
“The highly-anticipated OKC-CLE game averaged 1.87 million viewers on ESPN on Wednesday night, up +20% versus the comparable window last year. The game peaked with 2.5 million viewers. The back-and-forth contest, which featured 30 changes in Lead, propelled the Cleveland Cavaliers to the No. 1 trending topic worldwide on X during the game, the NBA said.
Wednesday’s game was a very interesting affair between Cleveland and the Thunder. 12 players from the Cavs and Thunder scored double figures, including Jarrett Allen (25 points and 12 rebounds) and Evan Mobley (21 points and 10 rebounds), leading Cleveland by seven points to Oklahoma City’s five.
Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 31 points. Jalen Williams added 25 points and nine assists, Isaiah Hartenstein added a triple-double (18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists), and Keason Wallace added 15 points.
After a decline in NBA viewership at the start of the regular season, it has risen significantly over the past month. According to Nielsen, the NBA averaged 5,335,000 million viewers on Christmas Day, an 87% increase from 2024. It was also the most watched Christmas Day on ESPN since 2019 (averaging 5,337,000 viewers).
Brian Windhorst’s bold claim for the 2024-25 Cavs’ NBA Finals season
Will 2024-25 be the campaign in which we see the Cleveland Cavs return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018? After belittling last year’s team, ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst admitted the Cavaliers have turned him into a believer in the wake of their dominance of the regular season.
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Windhorst says the Cavs are there talented Enough to win a title, according to ESPN Cleveland’s 5 Good Minutes with Windy.
“This team can win four playoff games,” Windhorst said.
The Cavs’ multi-faceted roster gives them the best chances to compete for a title than we’ve seen in nearly a decade. Their team has depth High Cavs to the top level of the NBA, per Windhorst on ESPN’s First Take.
“This was a group that I admit I thought they couldn’t work together after last season, and I said they weren’t doing well. Maybe they should think about breaking them up,” Windhorst said.[But] “The way the Cavaliers play, everyone on the floor can score a hat-trick, and the way they move the ball is reminiscent of the way the Warriors played when they first started out.”
The Cavaliers continued their winning streak to 12, defeating the Raptors 132-126.