![]() ![]() He had to of been very salty that Yao was the West Starting Center in the All-Star game that year and that it seemed as if Shaq being the popular big men was yesterday. Shaq didn’t like Yao getting more attention than him. Add in MJ’s announcing his final season in the NBA, those were two storylines the NBA was able to hang on. Somehow with Yao showing he belong in the league late November 2002, the season had a strong storyline. On top of that, it didn’t help that the Lakers was struggling that season partly because of Shaq’s injury, but even when he returned there was not a quick turnaround on that Laker team. Lakers was coming off a 3-peat season and it left the NBA with little to nothing to look forward to going into the season. They switch networks and invested a lot into cable channels showcasing their games which was very tough for them at the start. I remember that game and I also remember ESPN hyping that game up as well all day long. You mentioned Shaq and Yao match-up in 2003. I had plans, but still managed to the entire pre-game ceremony and I’m surprised I was able to go through that without a tear in my eye. The large audience for Friday’s game came on the heels of ESPN averaging more than one million viewers for a rebroadcast of Bryant’s final NBA game.Įarlier Friday, Mavericks-Rockets averaged 1.53 million viewers - up 3% from Raptors-Rockets last year (1.49M) but down 1% from Rockets-Pelicans two years ago (1.54M).ĭidn’t watch the game. There are few parallels in modern sports history to Friday’s game, or to Bryant’s death generally, rendering the numbers anomalous.īryant’s death has prompted scores of tributes in Los Angeles and around the world, and that has extended to television viewing as well. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Spectrum broadcast averaged a 4.51 local rating, its second-highest of the season. In addition to the ESPN telecast, coverage aired locally in Los Angeles on Spectrum SportsNet. The Nielsen-measured audience includes the half-hour before game time, which included an emotional tribute to Bryant featuring performances by Usher and cellist Ben Hong and a speech by LeBron James. The tragedy also claimed the life of his daughter Gigi, two other members of his youth basketball team and their parents, his assistant coach, and his personal pilot. The game was the Lakers’ first since the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter accident five days earlier. ![]() Lakers-Rockets in 2003, the first meeting between Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming, holds the top spot (4.88M).Įxcluding Christmas, Portland’s win was the most-watched regular season game on any network in two years (2018 Cavaliers-Celtics: 4.64M). Viewers tuned in en masse for an NBA game unlike any other.įriday’s Blazers-Lakers NBA regular season game averaged 4.41 million viewers on ESPN, the network’s second-largest regular season NBA audience ever (dating back to 2002). ![]()
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