The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors double overtime clash is continuing to earn "Game of the Year" praise, including from The Ringer founder and sports analyst Bill Simmons.
"Lakers-Warriors the new Game of the Year?" Simmons asked on X. "Man that was something. Curry and LeBron are a combined 74!"
The Lakers earned an exhilarating 145-144 double-overtime win over the Warriors. The NBA set up Rivalry Week a few years back to create more exciting opponents between top teams and rivals, and boy did the Lakers and Warriors deliver.
Even if the Lakers and Warriors aren't having their best seasons at this point of the year, their stars put on the ultimate show in the hard-fought back-and-forth matchup.
The Lakers held a two-point lead in the final seconds of the fourth quarter before Stephen Curry hit a game-tying basket with less than a few seconds to force overtime. Though the Warriors pushed the game into overtime, James and the Lakers ultimately came out on top, with James scoring the game-winning free throws.
Simmons was far from the only viewer to call this the game of the year, with that message getting echoed across social media and ESPN immediately referring to the matchup as a "classic."
Outside of this game, the other contenders for top games this season include the Utah Jazz-Phoenix Suns double overtime contest and the Warriors-Oklahoma City Thunder overtime matchup from earlier this season.
What makes this game stand out is the number of star-studded players who put up big performances, including James, Curry, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell and Klay Thompson. Even though some of the other games were also as close or down to the wire, few have the level of household names that this Lakers-Warriors matchup had.
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