Miami Heat win in NBA Finals’ Game 7 delivers high ratings for ABC

He may be the most hated man in Cleveland, but LeBron James triumphed again Thursday night, on the court and in the TV-ratings books.

“King James” captured an MVP trophy while leading the Miami Heat to the NBA championship with a Game 7 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

The game delivered a 17.7 overnight rating for ABC, making it the second-highest-rated NBA game ever on the network. (The highest-rated was during the 2010 match-up between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics).

Complete numbers, including total-viewer figures, will be available later.

This was James’ second NBA championship in a row as well as his second since leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 in a controversial free-agency move.

Interesting statistic: ABC said that a record 115 million total minutes of NBA content were consumed on digital properties from its sister sports network ESPN on Thursday -- and that nearly half of that was smartphones and other mobile devices.

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Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT