Sunday's slate of NBA games generated best ratings in years

On Sunday, Anthony Davis scored 39 points to lead the LosAngeles Lakers to a 113-105 victory over the Golden State Warriorsin Stephen Curry’s highly-anticipated return to the lineup.

This game generated the NBA's largest non-Christmas regularseason audience in four years, with the broadcast averaging3,950,000 viewers and peaking at 5,411,000 viewers from 6 to 6:15p.m. ET. The previous high was also a Lakers-Warriors game, whenthe two teams met on Feb. 2, 2019. Viewership of theLakers-Warriors broadcast was up 65% from last year's ABC NBASunday Showcase season average.

Earlier that same day, the Phoenix Suns' win over the DallasMavericks became the most-watched NBA Sunday Showcase early game ineight years, dating back to 2015.

The close game featured plenty of stars (Kevin Durant, LukaDoncic, Devin Booker, Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul) and some dramaas Doncic and Booker got into it late. Suns-Mavericks averaged2,814,000 viewers (up 18% from last year’s NBA Sunday Showcaseaverage) and peaked with 4,372,000 viewers at 3:30 p.m.ET.

The Sunday night game between the New York Knicks and BostonCeltics was a double-overtime classic that the Knicks pulled out,131-129.

Knicks-Celtics delivered an average of 2,146,000 viewers, makingit the most-watched NBA game on ESPN this season. It was themost-watched program on cable for March 5, and viewership was up52% from last year’s regular-seasonESPNaverage.