Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The Heat’s new Big Three earned big television ratings. The debut of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Tuesday’s opener drew the most viewers for an NBA regular-season game in cable history.

TNT said Wednesday that Miami’s 88-80 loss to the Boston Celtics had a 4.6 rating and was watched by 7.4 million people. The rating is second only to the 4.9 for the Bulls-Lakers game on Feb. 2, 1996, when Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson met for the first time after both came out of retirement. That game had a smaller audience because of population growth.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Tuesday’s game actually earned a higher rating in Boston (17.1) than in Miami (15.5). It drew a 10.6 in James’ jilted former home of Cleveland.