NBA Finals 2026: Knicks' historic comeback was most-watched Game 4 since Michael Jordan's last championship
The greatest comeback in NBA history officially has television ratings to match.
The NBA announced Friday that Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, in which the New York Knicks erased a 29-point lead to take full control of the series against the San Antonio Spurs, drew an average of 20.9 million viewers. That's the highest a Game 4 has reached Michael Jordan's "Last Dance" in 1998.
The viewership peaked with 23.2 million viewers at 11:15 p.m. ET, during the meat of the Knicks' comeback.
Those high numbers continue the series' trend toward being the most-watched Finals overall since 1998, and the momentum likely won't stop with the Knicks one game away from clinching their first title since 1973.
Game 5 will take place on Saturday in San Antonio (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN).
It's not hard to understand why this Finals in particularly has proven to be a ratings bonanza for the NBA. In one corner you have the team in the NBA's premier market, playing for its first Finals this century after decades of frustration. In the other, you have Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, who is already one of the league's most well-known players and could become the face of the league at 22 years old if the Spurs pull this off.
Every game has been compelling, with the Spurs taking double-digit leads in the first quarter of all four games and winning only one of them. Game 4 in particular will be remembered for years to come, between an impossible comeback, a last-second tip-in, a Wu Tang Clan reunion, a ridiculous gaffe and euphoric jump hugs between Taylor Swift and Mariska Hargitay. And we almost lost Larry David.
A Finals series like this one, in which so much hype is being fulfilled, is rare, and the NBA appears to be fully enjoying the fruits on the national television side.
