NBA Finals a Slam Dunk for ABC

It wasn’t much of a competition between b-ball and the theater on Sunday night, as ABC’s NBA finals handily beat the Tony Awards on CBS, giving the Alphabet network a first-place finish with a 3.5 rating/10 share in the key 18-49 demo, while the Eye network came in fourth with a 1.5/4. The NBA beat its rivals in all time slots, according to Nielsen Fast Affiliate overnight numbers.

Second-placed Fox (2.2/7) had comedy reruns all night except for in the 9:30 slot when, in a bid to help its little sibling channel FX, it showed the second-season premiere of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Fox will run the show for three consecutive Sundays before it premieres in FX June 29. Sunny came in third in the time slot (1.7/5) behind b-ball (5.0/13) and the second half-hour of a Law & Order rerun (2.3/6) on NBC.

Second-place NBC aired a repeat of the season premiere of new summer show Windfall from 10-1l. It scored a 2.1/5, more than a full rating point less than its premiere on June 8 (3.3/9).

A night of Reba and Charmed reruns put The WB at fifth place with an 0.7/2.