Thunder-Heat Showdown Delivers ESPN's Highest-Rated NBA Game of the Season

Wednesday's 2012 NBA Finals rematch - the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the defending NBA Champion Miami Heat, 112-95, behind Kevin Durant's 33-point performance - delivered a 2.7 overnight rating, according to Nielsen. This is the highest-rated NBA game on ESPN during the 2013-14 season. The telecast was up 93 percent from last year's comparable game (Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets, 1.4).

In addition, last night's Thunder-Heat game led to a local market ratings surge in several markets, including Oklahoma City (7.9), Miami (6.1) and New York (3.9) and set an ESPN ratings record in Tulsa (4.9).

Local markets

Local market Rating Market ranking

Oklahoma City 7.9 Third highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

Miami 6.1 Fifth highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

Tulsa 4.9 Highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

New York 3.9 Second highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

Jacksonville 3.9 Third highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

Ft. Myers 3.2 Second highest-rated NBA regular season game ever on ESPN

WatchESPN

The Thunder-Heat game was a huge digital success for WatchESPN. The game generated 4 million live minutes viewed and an average minute audience of 25,423 across platforms. This is the best NBA regular season game on WatchESPN so far this season and the second best ever behind the Heat-Celtics game on March 18, 2013.

Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat on ESPN Super Bowl weekend

The Thunder and the Heat will be in action during Super Bowl weekend in New York. On Friday, Jan. 31, the Thunder will visit the Brooklyn Nets at 8 p.m. ET. On Saturday, Feb. 1, the Heat will visit the New York Knicks at 8:30 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN and will also be available via WatchESPN.

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