Lakers games continue to attract huge television ratings for the NBA, a league that has been struggling with low ratings and bad publicity.

The NBA's greatest rivalry gave the Nielsen dials a workout over the weekend, as ABC's coverage of Saturday night's Lakers-Celtics game gave the league its biggest non-Christmas regular-season audience in seven years.

In fact, this matchup between the two historic franchises was the most-watched regular season game in seven years. The Lakers and the Celtics are two of the most recognizable franchises in all of sports. When those two teams are good and are facing off against each other, fans want to watch.