Lakers’ final win most-watched NBA game since Jordan’s last championship

NBA finale big seller on television

NEW YORK — Not since Michael Jordan’s final championship has a pro basketball game drawn a bigger audience than last week’s seventh game of the Lakers-Celtics series.

The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that 28.2 million people watched Kobe Bryant’s Lakers win their second straight NBA championship. It was the most-watched NBA game since Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to their sixth championship over the Utah Jazz in 1998.

Except for the Olympics, Nielsen said last Thursday’s game was the most-watched show on network TV in the summertime since the finale of the first “Survivor” season in August 2000.

It follows a trend of big ratings for big events on TV. This year’s Super Bowl reigns as the most-watched event in U.S. television history.