The Nuggets’ 94-89 victory over the Miami Heat — sealing a 4-1 series win and the franchise’s first NBA championship — averaged 13.08 million viewers Monday night, a high for the series and slightly ahead of last year’s fifth game between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics .
The five-game series averaged about 11.64 million viewers, down 6 percent from 12.4 million for the 2022 Finals.
Still, the Finals dominated linear TV on all five nights it aired, with only one other program averaging even half as many viewers as that night’s game.
The play-in games, counted separately from the main playoff rounds, also edged up to 2.61 million viewers from 2.5 million last year.