The Golden State Warriors rebounded in Game 2 of their Western Conference Semifinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday evening, winning by the score of 127-100.
The game was completely out of hand inside Northern California’s Chase Center before the third quarter even came to a conclusion. In fact, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham decided to sit stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James for the entire fourth quarter.
Despite the blowout nature of Golden State’s win, fans around the Association couldn’t get enough of this matchup.
According to Nielsen, this was the most-watched conference semifinals matchup on a Disney platform ever. Airing on ESPN, Game 2 drew an average audience of 7,351,000 million viewers. The broadcast peaked at 8,390,000 million.
Let’s put this into perspective for a second. The 2020 NBA Finals between these Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat from the Orlando Bubble drew an average of 7.45 million viewers.
Game 2 wasn’t much below what ABC saw during the 2021 NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, either. That series drew just north of nine million viewers per game.
Related: Recapping Golden State Warriors Game 2 win over the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors series is a ratings bonanza for the NBA
TNT’s coverage of Los Angeles’ Game 1 win over Golden State drew an average of 7.4 million viewers. It was the most watched conference semifinals Game 1 in the history of cable television.
The Warriors have been a TV ratings hit since their dynastic run began back in 2014-15. In fact, Game 7 of their first-round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings drew an average of 10 million. That’s the most-watched first-round NBA Playoff game since all the way back in 1999.
As for the Lakers, we already know about the brand and their presence in North America’s second-largest media market. Add in LeBron James going up against Stephen Curry, and interest in this series makes a ton of sense.
Game 3 of this series will take place from Southern California at 8:30 PM ET Saturday night on ESPN. Disney knows exactly what it’s doing in working with the NBA to create the schedule. It’s also one of the reasons why the powers that be within the Association likely wanted both the Warriors and Lakers to advance.
These two rivals are tied at one heading into Game 3. If the series were to extend to seven, it would take place on Mother’s Day, likely during primetime. Imagine the ratings that one would get.