Christmas Day NBA Numbers Game
We borrow from a Tuesday staple to preview Sunday's festive quintuple-header
It has been suggested to me that the Numbers Game section which runs in every Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza could run on its own as a separate story.
I have always pushed back on that suggestion, believing that it is a pillar of the Tuesday construction that we’ve employed since its New York Times inception in January 2018.
Yet the NBA’s annual five-game Christmas Day slate does afford us the opportunity for some experimentation. To preview the occasion — which is competing against an NFL tripleheader for the first time — I have compiled a special Christmas-only edition of the Numbers that will hopefully get you in the mood (and inject some NBA into your otherwise-hoopsless Christmas Eve).
All five NBA games will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN. The schedule:
12 PM ET: Philadelphia at New York
2:30 PM ET: Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas
5 PM ET: Milwaukee at Boston
8 PM ET: Memphis at Golden State
10:30 PM ET: Phoenix at Denver
🏀 55
The Knicks will be playing in their Christmas-record 55th game when they play host to the Sixers — 47 of those games at home. New York and Philadelphia will be meeting for a Christmas-record 13th time.
🏀 17
LeBron James will be playing in his 17th Christmas Day game when the Lakers visit Dallas, breaking a tie with Lakers legend Kobe Bryant for the all-time league lead.
🏀 6
In six days on Dec. 30, James celebrates his 38th birthday.
🏀 422
James’ teams are 10-6 on the holiday and he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer on Christmas with 422 points, good for an average of 26.4 points per game.
🏀 2011
Dallas is hosting a Christmas Day game for just the second time in franchise history, having also done so on Christmas in 2011 after winning the lone championship in franchise history. The Mavericks will unveil a Dirk Nowitzki statue outside its American Airlines Center home in a pregame ceremony.
🏀 5
My pal Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press notes that the Bucks played in only four Christmas games before drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2013. Milwaukee’s visit to Boston on Sunday will mark its fifth successive Christmas Day game.
🏀 15
Golden State’s spot on the Christmas schedule (albeit without the injured Stephen Curry) means that the NBA’s defending champion will feature as part of the holiday for the 15th consecutive season.
🏀 2018
The Warriors' Klay Thompson will be playing on Christmas for the first time since 2018 ... against Memphis in the Grizzlies' first Christmas date in franchise history. Memphis’ appearance will leave Charlotte as the only NBA team without a single appearance on the NBA’s marquee regular-season holiday.
🏀 1994
Denver's only win on Christmas in seven attempts came in 1994 against Seattle — mere months after the Nuggets, as the West's No. 8 seed, upset the top-seeded SuperSonics in the first round of the playoffs in five games.
🏀 4
The four most popular teams on NBA League Pass this season — based on viewing figures outside the United States — are all in action: 1. Warriors; 2. Lakers; 3. Celtics; 4. Mavericks.
🏀 5
Five of the six NFL teams playing on Christmas have losing records. Miami is the only exception at 8-6. The fear nonetheless persists that the NFL’s television ratings from three games (Packers at Dolphins, Broncos at Rams and Buccaneers at Cardinals) will dwarf the NBA’s from a quintuple-header.
🏀 75
The NBA’s first Christmas Day game was 75 years ago: The Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers, 89-75, on Dec. 25, 1947.
I’d watch basketball over football any day - especially if it’s good basketball vs. bad football. Obviously I’m in the minority.
Why does the NBA seem to shy away from finals rematches on opening day/Christmas Day headliners? Too few inter conference match ups to make the schedule work? Or is it some other faux pas?