But the biggest winner of the night was ESPN (DIS), which was lucky to have both games on its channels. The Warriors game, on ESPN, scored a 2.6 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated NBA regular-season game on ESPN (except for Christmas Day games) since 2014. (Regular season NBA games typically score a 1.3 overnight rating on ESPN.) Even more impressive: the Lakers game, on ESPN2, notched a 2.6 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated NBA regular-season game ever on ESPN2.
Both games also set regular-season records for viewers on WatchESPN, the company's streaming platform. Bryant and the Lakers: 134,000. Curry and the Warriors: 111,000.