Heat-Celtics tilt on ESPN sets NBA cable record

The Miami Heat's win over the Boston Celtics to reach the NBA finals has drawn the highest preliminary television rating for an NBA playoff game on cable since records started being kept in 2003.

MIAMI -- The Miami Heat's win over the Boston Celtics to reach the NBA finals has drawn the highest preliminary television rating for an NBA playoff game on cable since records started being kept in 2003.

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night on ESPN produced a 9.1 overnight rating. The network said Sunday that the three highest overnight ratings for NBA games on cable have come during this series.

In Boston, the game had a 21.7 rating, the highest on cable for an NBA playoff game in the market since records started being kept in 2003.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Overnight ratings measure the country's largest markets.