basketball vs basketball game

basketball and basketball game both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
basketball	Yes	No	No	No
basketball game	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, basketball and basketball game are synonyms defined as:

basketball and basketball game: a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop

Other synonyms of basketball include hoops.

basketball (noun)	basketball game (noun)
a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop	a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
an inflated ball used in playing basketball