Christmas night was a heavyweight fight between Stephen Curry and LeBron James. In the final seconds, the Lakers’ Austin Reaves was the hero.
After the Golden State Warriors made up a nine-point deficit in the final minutes, largely thanks to Curry scoring eight points in the final 25 seconds, Reaves blew past Andrew Wiggins for the game-winning layup in a 115-113 Lakers win.
It was a crushing loss for Curry and the Warriors, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Down the stretch, the Lakers couldn’t stop Curry, who first cut the lead down to a single point on a play where he inbounded the ball, got it back and sank a three-pointer, despite the defense of James.
After Reaves made a pair of free throws — the Lakers were a perfect 18-for-18 from the line — Curry shook off the Lakers defense by launching, and hitting, from 30 feet.
It was Curry’s 38th point of the game and his eighth three-pointer, tying a Christmas record. But it wasn’t quite enough against James, who extended his Christmas day record for points (507) and wins (11), while passing out 10 assists.
But while James is the most accomplished Christmas player of all time in his 19 games, Reaves was the hero Wednesday. He logged 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. When the game was on the line, Draymond Green was there to battle James, while Reaves didn’t hesitate to take control and win the game.
Curry vs. James is a classic battle any time, but especially on Christmas Day. Wednesday, Curry did his best to bring home the holiday win for his home crowd, but it was Reaves who closed out Christmas.
