Lakers beat Warriors 115-113 in a Christmas Classic

Austin Reaves (Google Images)

The NBA is always linked with Christmas Day. On Wednesday night in northern California, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors put on a Christmas Classic with the Lakers coming out on top 115-113.

This game featured the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (LeBron James of the Lakers) and the NBA’s all-time three point scorer (Stephen Curry of the Warriors). However, the Lakers star on Christmas night was shooting guard Austin Reaves of Newark, Arkansas, who made the game-winning basket on a two-point layup field goal from three feet with exactly one second left. Reaves’s game-winning shot came six seconds after Curry tied the game at 113 with his 3849th career three point shot.

What was a head scratcher was how easily Reaves got to the basket and scored. The bottom line is that Andrew Wiggins could have made a better effort to stop Reaves, but played poor defense.

For Reaves, he finished the game with 26 points. It was the second most number of points he has had in a game this season. He had a season-high 27 points in a 123-103 Lakers win over the Toronto Raptors on November 10.

Reaves also recored his third triple double of his career on Wednesday as he had 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Reaves also had 31 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in a 146-141 Lakers overtime win over the Denver Nuggets on April 10, 2022, and 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in a 128-124 Lakers win over the Milwaukee Bucks on March 26, 2024.

With the win, the Lakers improved to a record of 17 wins and 13 losses. They are tied for sixth place in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Clippers.