{"id":1987367,"date":"2026-06-12T22:56:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1987367"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:56:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:56:29","slug":"knicks-spurs-is-the-most-watched-nba-finals-game-4-since-end-of-jordan-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1987367","title":{"rendered":"Knicks-Spurs is the most-watched NBA Finals Game 4 since end of Jordan era"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With each passing game, record numbers of people are tuning in to watch the New York Knicks repeatedly overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in pursuit of the franchise\u2019s first NBA championship in 53 years.<\/p>\n

ESPN reported that an average of 20.9 million viewers tuned in to Game 4 on ABC to watch the Knicks erase a 29-point second-half deficit and complete a 107-106 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on an OG Anunoby tip-in with one second remaining. The win put New York ahead 3-1 in the series and on the brink of a historic championship.<\/p>\n

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Another record-setting audience for the ’26 #NBAFinals<\/a> as ABC drew an audience of 20.9M \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc0 Largest NBA Finals Game 4 audience since ’98
\ud83c\udfc0 Most-watched NBA Finals Game 4 EVER on ABC
\ud83c\udfc0 Up 123% from last year’s Game 4
\ud83c\udfc0 23.2M peak viewers<\/p>\n

More: https:\/\/t.co\/TKy0zNgv7I<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/AGlxLuNCfB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was the largest audience for an NBA Finals Game 4 since 1998, the final championship run of Michael Jordan\u2019s Chicago Bulls. In that game, the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 86-82 behind 34 points from Jordan to take a 3-1 series lead and eventually secure the Bulls\u2019 second three-peat of the decade.<\/p>\n

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Game 4 in 2026 reached a peak of 23.2 million concurrent viewers as the Knicks rallied from the largest deficit ever overcome in an NBA Finals game. The viewership numbers were 123 percent higher than in Game 4 of last season\u2019s finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n

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It has been a continuing trend of record-setting audience numbers throughout these finals. Game 3 averaged 23.8 million viewers<\/a> across ABC and ESPN and peaked at 26.2 million viewers. It was the most-watched NBA Finals Game 3 since that same Bulls-Jazz series in 1998. The Spurs defeated the Knicks 115-111, with President Donald Trump in attendance, in the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999.<\/p>\n

Game 1 of the finals was also reported by ESPN to have drawn a 90 percent increase in viewership compared to Game 1 of last season\u2019s finals.<\/p>\n

It appears the combination of a major market like New York and two of the game\u2019s biggest stars \u2014 Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and Knicks guard Jalen Brunson \u2014 has drawn massive audiences to television screens across the country.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Spurs-Knicks<\/p>\n
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\n Spurs-Knicks Game 3 is the most-watched NBA Finals Game 3 in 28 years\n <\/div>\n
\n Game 3 averaged 23.8 million viewers, the most for a finals Game 3 since Bulls-Jazz in 1998.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Game 5 awaits Saturday in San Antonio, with New York on the verge of capturing its first NBA championship since Willis Reed patrolled the paint in 1973.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With each passing game, record numbers of people are tuning in to watch the New York Knicks repeatedly overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in pursuit of the franchise\u2019s first NBA championship in 53 years. ESPN reported that an average of 20.9 million viewers tuned in to Game 4 on ABC to watch the Knicks erase a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1987367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1987367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1987367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1987367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1987367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}