Through the first two games of the NBA finals, it looked as though the Miami Heat were in danger of being swept, falling behind 0-2 to the Dallas Mavericks. Now, thanks to three straight home wins, the Heat are suddenly one game from clinching the NBA title, having injected some much-needed excitement into ABC’s finals.

Last night’s game five of the NBA finals, which Miami won 101-100 in overtime, averaged a 10.2 metered market household rating on ABC, up 2 percent over last year’s 10.0 for game five between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons.

It was up 32 percent over the 2003 game five average of 7.7 for the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets, which had the lowest ratings ever for a finals. It was behind 2004’s game five, though that was the title-clincher for the Detroit Pistons and so drew the highest rating of the series.

Yesterday’s game lasted well past 11 p.m., and fast national ratings average time period data, so final ratings may change when they are issued tomorrow. But it looks like the game also got a big bump over game four in adults 18-49.

The 9 to 11 p.m. portion last night averaged a 5.1 overnight rating in that demo, up 28 percent over Thursday’s 4.1 average for game four over those two hours.

The Heat became the second team to sweep the middle three home games of an NBA finals using the 2-3-2 format for home and away games, following the Pistons in 2004. Game six is tomorrow in Dallas.

Big ratings for the NBA meant a relatively slow evening for the other broadcast networks on the night. The series premiere of NBC’s “Treasure Hunters” at 9 p.m. averaged a so-so 2.9, placing second in the timeslot behind the NBA finals against very weak competition.

ABC was No. 1 for the night with a 3.7 rating and 11 share among adults 18-49, followed by CBS at 2.4/7, NBC at 2.3/7, Fox at 2.0/6, Univision at 1.1/3 and WB at 0.8/2.

At 7 p.m., NBC's "Dateline" was No. 1 at 2.2, followed by ABC's repeat of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" at 2.0, CBS's "60 Minutes" at 1.6, Fox's 1.3 for "Malcolm in the Middle" and "King of the Hill" repeats, Univision's "Peregrina" at 0.9 and WB's "Reba" reruns at 0.8.

At 8 p.m., ABC was at No. 1 with a 2.7/9 for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "NBA Nation," followed by NBC at 2.7/8 for the first hour of the "Hunters" premiere. Following were Fox's "The Simpsons" reruns at 2.6, CBS's "Cold Case" rerun at 1.6, Univision's "La Fea Mas Bella" at 1.0 and WB's "Charmed" repeat at 0.7.

At 9 p.m., ABC led at 4.8 for the first hour of the NBA Finals Game 5, followed by “Treasure Hunters” at 2.9. CBS followed with the first hour of the Sunday movie "What Women Want" at 2.6. Fox was at No. 4 with a 2.3 for a "Family Guy" repeat and "Always Sunny in Philadelphia," ahead Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.2 and WB's "Charmed" repeat at 0.7

At 10 p.m., ABC's NBA game led at 5.3, followed by CBS's movie at 3.7, NBC's "Windfall" repeat at 1.5 and Univision's "Cristina" at 1.1.

Among households, ABC and CBS tied for No. 1 for the night with 6.1 ratings and 11 shares, followed by NBC at 3.8/7, Fox at 2.8/5, Univision at 1.4/2 and WB at 1.1/2.