NBA: Cavs/Celtics Game 7 Breaks TV Ratings Record for ESPN

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LeBron James and the Cavs not only broke the hearts of the entirety of Boston; they also broke the ratings record for an NBA game on ESPN on Sunday night.

Darren Rovell broke the big news on Twitter:

We knew the number would be big because it was LeBron James in a game seven against a traditional power in the Celtics, but I don’t know that they expected this.

A 9.1 is a massive number, and after such a rough stretch for the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN has to be giddy with the good news.

It shows that LeBron James is $$$.

When he’s on in a big game, people watch. You can bet your ass the NBA finals (no matter who else will be there) will get monster ratings. People will cheer him on and pull for failure, but above all else, they’ll be watching.

It also highlights what made ESPN such a monster in the first place: live sports.

It’s the thing they do better than anyone else (for the most part) and have done better than everyone else for decades (for the most part).

I’m not one of those guys that screams from the rooftops that they should just break down the Cover-2 during any free periods they need filled, but it is refreshing when you turn on ESPN and see a game on.

UPDATE: The number of viewers was announced at 2:40 P.M ET and those came in at No. 2 all-time. Per Deadline, the game “drew 13.305 million viewers, the second-largest total for an NBA game in ESPN history. The 9.1 metered market rating for the game matched a network record.”