Game 7 Ratings Were Predictably Bananas

The ratings are in: 26.3 million viewers watched the Heat beat the Spurs last night, the second-most for an NBA game since 1998.

Viewership peaked at 34.2 million in the final minutes. Overall, it earned a 15.2 share, meaning 15.2 percent of households with TVs were tuned into the game. Who are those 288 million Americans who didn't watch Game 7? Some of them are babies, I guess, so that's understandable. But do you actually know anyone who wasn't watching? You should stop being their friend.

The impressive number still didn't come close to 1998's Chicago-Utah Game 6, Michael Jordan's last game in a Bulls uniform. (That one pulled in an incredible 35.9 million viewers.) And it fell 1.9 million viewers short of 2010's Game 7 between L.A. and Boston.

But it seems the post-Jordan NBA has found its formula for big numbers. Conspiracy theorists take note: The 10 most watched games of the last 15 years have all featured either the Lakers or the Heat.