Game 7 Ratings Dip From a Year Ago

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks drew an overnight TV rating 30% lower than Game 7 of last year’s Western Conference finals.

Sunday night’s game, which Philadelphia won. 108-91, drew a 10.2 preliminary rating on NBC Sports, the biggest viewership for an NBA playoff game this season.

It was well below the 14.5 overnight rating produced by the Lakers’ victory over Portland in the deciding game of the 2000 Western Conference finals.

Game 6 of the 76ers-Bucks series, on Friday night, drew a 7.4 overnight rating, 6% lower than Game 6 of last year’s Eastern Conference finals, when Indiana eliminated New York.

Overnight ratings measure the 49 biggest U.S. TV markets, covering about 60% of the country. Each rating point represents 1% of the TV homes in those markets.

Through the first 28 games of the NBA playoffs--before the last two games in the East--NBC was averaging a 4.7 national rating, down 11% from 2000.

In a bid to draw more viewers during the 76ers-Lakers NBA Finals, which start Wednesday night, NBC will have live halftime performances by U2 and Destiny’s Child.

The Vancouver Grizzlies deferred giving the Detroit Pistons a first-round draft pick owed as part of a four-year-old trade, the teams said.

The Grizzlies received Otis Thorpe from the Pistons in 1997 in exchange for a future first-round draft pick.

Detroit was to receive a first-round pick between second and 18th overall. Vancouver was to choose the year, from 1998 to 2003, in which it would surrender the pick.

The Grizzlies had until Friday to convey a 2001 pick to Detroit but decided not to do so, said Vancouver spokeswoman Jodi Ryan.

Under terms of the deal, the Grizzlies could have acquired a draft pick through a trade and then given it to Detroit. But next year, Vancouver would have to give up its own first-round pick, provided it did not fall in the top five.

And should the Grizzlies fail to repay Detroit in 2002, they would have to give up their own first-round pick in 2003, provided it is not the first overall.

A day after being suspended from the Bucks’ most important game in 27 years, power forward Scott Williams said he was sorry.

Not for the Game 6 flagrant foul on Allen Iverson that drew the suspension--but for not being able to be at the First Union Center with his teammates as they lost to the 76ers in Game 7 on Sunday.

“I just wanted to see our guys do well and when things started to slip away, I felt bad for the guys. I wanted to be there,” said Williams, part of three championship teams in Chicago in the early 1990s. “Even if I was suspended, I still wanted to be on the bench and console my teammates.”

Williams said he didn’t intend to hurt Iverson with a high elbow and contended he didn’t deserve the suspension because Iverson stayed in the game and finished with 46 points.

The Charlotte Hornets promoted Jeff Bower from assistant general manager to general manager.

The Hornets didn’t have a general manager, with Bob Bass, executive vice president of basketball operations, holding the top basketball position in the organization.