Indiana’s last-second win, which peaked with 11.07 million during the final minutes, was the least-watched Finals game of any kind since that 2021 opener — and the ninth-least watched in the people-meter era. Ratings declined 18% and viewership 19% from Mavericks-Celtics last year (5.7, 10.99M). The declines would have been sharper if not for the Pacers’ comeback. Viewership was down 23% from last year until the 10:45 PM ET quarter-hour (from 11.2 to 8.6 million), after which point it increased by 15% over the final minutes of last year’s Boston blowout (from 9.0 to 10.4 million).