The NBA uses Christmas Day games as an early-season showcase for the league’s top teams. ET … [26], In 2010, there were complaints from both sides before the game between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. [1], In the early days, regional proximity dictated most of the matchups. We're still going to celebrate." [2] Very often a rematch of the previous season's NBA Finals is showcased on Christmas Day. In a great pairing, the two teams faced off against each in other during the first of the Lakers' most recent back-to-back championship seasons of 2008–09. It's Christmas, it's a special day, with everybody together to spend time with each other, as far as family and friends. For players and coaches, the standard public statement is that a Christmas game is an honor, as it is not only a chance to play on national television, but also a reward for having a great team and great players. [3] Some examples of this include 2009 and 2010, when the defending champions of those seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers played at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009 and the Miami Heat in 2010, so that they could have showdowns between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James both times.[3][9]. In 2015 and 2016, Stance provided Christmas-themed socks for the games. 3 Players who have scored 50 or more points in an NBA Christmas Day Game. As a result, the NBA gave TNT the first game of the Christmas slate with a contest between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He dropped an astonishing 60 points on the visiting Nets, a … Though being at home is usually a bigger benefit on Christmas than in regular games, it … It would have been really fun to be a basketball fan on Christmas Day in 1971, when a record 10 games … Doc Rivers played with the Knicks in 1992 and coached the Boston Celtics from 2008 to 2013. The game resulted in a 127-101 Lakers victory, but it did come with a price for the Lakers, as James injured his groin, which forced him to miss significant time, which also resulted in the Lakers being eliminated from the playoff race a few months later. Date: Dec. 25, 2001 Score: New York Knicks 102, Toronto Raptors 94 The Knicks hosted the Raptors at Madison Square Garden for one of only two Christmas Day games on the NBA calendar that season. [31] The Associated Press said of the large audiences: "NBA fans seem more excited about basketball's return than bitter about the lockout based on television ratings for the league's delayed openers. In a unique situation in 2017, ABC aired an NBA tripleheader for the first time ever, which was headlined by a 2017 NBA Finals rematch between LeBron James and the Cavaliers and Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and the Warriors, which would be the prelude to the 2018 Finals rematch, which resulted in a Warriors sweep. For the third consecutive year, the Lakers were a part of the ESPN/ABC simulcast game in 2020, this time, the defending champion Lakers, led by MVP candidates James and Davis, faced fellow MVP candidate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. That was a perfect Christmas to me. [10] In the 1990s, NBC broadcast a doubleheader each year on Christmas Day (except in 1998, when there were no games played on Christmas Day due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout) and this has continued after ABC took over in 2002, except that in 2004 and 2006, ABC broadcast only one game. In 2009, the game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks drew a 1.9 share with 2.6 million viewers, the highest rating for an NBA game on ESPN during the 2009–10 season. The game between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center marked the first time since the Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat that the two teams were facing each other and the first time that Shaq and Kobe Bryant would be facing each other as opponents. | Box score | Highlights, 2010: James joins exclusive club — In his first Christmas Day game with the Heat, LeBron James recorded a triple-double (27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists) in a 96-80 victory against the Lakers. [4][7] Kobe Bryant played 16 games on Christmas Day, the most of any player. Games held by the NBA on Christmas Day have turned into a tradition for a lot of fans over the years. The first NBA game … | Box score | Highlights. He then beat Michael Jordan and the Bulls on a last-second jumper in 1986. [16][17] They would have met a third time in 1998, if there had not been a lockout. [25], In 2010, the games that aired on ABC and ESPN delivered the highest cumulative audience ever. For three years (2004–2006) ABC insisted on having a Christmas Day game between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers so that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal could play against each other. As Christmas Day fell on a Thursday that year, TNT was given two primetime games as part of their regular TNT NBA Thursday slate (the same scenario also took place in 2014). [1], After a season's NBA Finals comes to an end, officials from both the NBA and the network that broadcast the NBA meet to plan the schedule of games for the holiday during the upcoming season. "[3] He set the record for most coaching victories on Christmas Day with 11, an achievement that Phil Jackson later matched in 2008. We're playing basketball on Christmas. (Russell Westbrook added his name to the list in 2013 and Draymond Green did so in 2017). [28] Such a pairing was unintentional, as the regular season was scheduled before the brawl took place. [3][11][12][13] Phil Jackson becoming the fastest coach to win 1,000 games (it happened on December 25, 2008). In fact, he played more often on Christmas than on any other date on the calendar, playing his first in 1996 and his last in 2015.[1][8]. Chris Schenkel did play-by-play for ABC during this period with the exception of 1970, when Keith Jackson had the honors. Since 2009, Christmas Day broadcasts on ESPN/ABC have featured a music video with Mariah Carey singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You. The home team is 142–75 in Christmas games. *missed 2017 and 2019 Christmas Day games with injuries. ET, ABC): Antetokounmpo, the reigning Kia MVP, takes on a stacked starting lineup led by Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. "[16] Derrick Rose said, "I'm going to miss my family, and I hate being away from home. The first NBA game played on December 25 came in 1947, a year after the NBA's inception, when the New York Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers at Madison Square Garden 89–75. In one game (1984), hall-of-fame forward Bernard King scoring 60 points—the most ever scored by a player on Christmas Day,[1] With the advent of television and the excitement caused by these games, the NBA decided to scheduled games over the holiday that showcased the best teams and players.[3]. The Knicks have a checkered history on the 25th. [15] ESPN/ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy talked about that day, saying, "It's a different opening day than has ever happened in the past and Christmas Day games have always been a big day for the NBA. The league began playing Christmas games in 1947, and will feature five games on the holiday for the sixth straight year. Penny Hardaway scored 22 points, including the game-winning shot with three seconds left, as the Orlando Magic defeated the defending-champion Houston Rockets 92-90. In a matchup featuring star centers, Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal had 22 points, 18 rebounds and five assists and Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon notched 30 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Obviously, Christmas Day is a day when everybody is home, everybody is relaxing, and what better way to serve them than with as many games as we possibly can...We try to put on the best games possible that people have interest in. I can open my presents up at 7 o'clock at night instead of 7 o'clock in the morning. King's 60 points is the greatest individual scoring performance on Christmas Day in NBA history. He said, "As a kid, you wanted to be on Christmas...I tend to look at it as a reward. The NBA and Christmas Day games is a tradition that dates back nearly to the league’s inception in 1946-47. [4], In the early 1980s, the New York Knicks put on a show three years in a row. Down 14 points early in the fourth quarter in Cleveland, the Cavaliers rallied to defeat the Warriors 109-108. 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