The first game between the new-look Heat and the defending-champion Lakers drew the highest television rating for an NBA regular-season game on ABC since 2004.
Miami's 96-80 victory over Los Angeles earned a 6.4 fast national rating Saturday.
The rating is up 45 percent from the Lakers-Cavaliers game that aired in the same slot in 2009.
It's the best since a 7.3 for another Heat-Lakers meeting on Christmas six years earlier.