Christmas Day in the NBA
School’s out, work’s finished, snow is on the ground, presents are under the tree and on your television. Christmas Day basketball is a time-honored tradition that, for some, “officially” starts the NBA season. Let’s take a step back and look at a holiday tradition as festive as gingerbread and eggnog
There’s nothing like Christmas. Unwrapping your presents, seeing family, wearing fluffy sweaters and watching the NBA. For me it’s a little different: I sleep in, see a movie and order Chinese food. But you bet I watch the NBA too. This year, there’s a quintuple-header on deck, starting with Bucks-Knicks and ending with Blazers-Jazz. Thirteen. Hours. Later. It’s gonna be awesome. This is a brief history of how the game started, and some of the best stories and most interesting facts from over half a century’s worth of Christmas games.
Not as climactic as I had hoped, the first set of NBA games on Christmas Day was displayed without much pageantry in 1947, one year after the Association was formed. The league we know and love today was called the BAA at the time (Basketball Association of America). Christmas Day 1947 showcased six of the league’s eight teams. The New York Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers 89–75 in Madison Square Garden, the Baltimore Bullets beat the Chicago Stags 87–70 in the Baltimore Coliseum, and the Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Bombers 73–56 in the St. Louis Arena. The lone Hall-of-Famer who played that day was Buddy Jeannette of the Bullets, a 5-foot-11-inch, 175 pound guard out of Washington & Jefferson College. He only scored three points, all from the charity stripe.
Oh, a quick aside about out-of-place names. The Knicks had Leo Gottlieb, the Stags had Marvin Rottner, the Capitals had Sidney Hertzberg, and the Bullets had Irv Rothenberg. Those guys probably didn’t have Christmas commitments other than Chinese food dates after the game.
Christmas Day games continued in a similar fashion throughout the life of the NBA (which was named thusly in 1949). There were multiple games every 25th, with big markets like New York and Los Angeles appearing the most (the Knicks and Lakers will have 53 and 44 Christmas Day appearances respectively after today). The only exceptions were 1989, 1990 and 2006, where only one game was offered, and 1998, when a lockout cut half the season. The NBA has put out consistent five-game slates every year since 2008.
It would have been really fun to be a basketball fan on Christmas Day in 1971, when a record 10 games were played (including three ABA games). They featured 32 players and coaches who would eventually be inducted in the Hall of Fame, plus seven players inducted as coaches or vice versa (for example, Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson played power forward for the New York Knicks on Christmas Day 1971, while Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy was coaching the Cincinnati Royals).
The Christmas Day record book is always good to read by the fire with some hot chocolate. Bernard King nabbed the scoring record when he dropped 60 points in 1984, Tiny Archibald and Guy Rodgers dished 18 assists apiece in 1972 and 1966 respectively, and Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 36 rebounds on Christmas Day 1961. LeBron James is making his thirteenth Christmas appearance today, which trails only Kobe Bryant, who has sixteen.
The aesthetics of NBA Christmas was pretty pedestrian until 2009, when the NBA loosened a rule that sneakers had to be majority black and white, and thus, the sneakerheads rejoiced. However, players starting wearing the eye-popping, borderline ridiculous shoes we know today in 2010, headlined by Kobe Bryant. While his first Christmas Day kick was mildly interesting, his second, inspired by the Grinch, made fans fall out of their chairs. Christmas Day shoes, both custom (worn only by the player) and mass produced, have been made for star players ever since, including Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and many more.
Continuing on with the theme of consumerism, the NBA and Adidas came up with special-edition Christmas jerseys in 2012. The folks on the court would only wear them once a year, but kids at home who found them under the tree would wear them forever. While the NBA occasionally got creative (see: Green SuperSonics vs. Red Trailblazers), it wasn’t until 2012 that the uniforms were really worth tuning in for.
While the specialty uniforms, worn from 2012–2016, weren’t super “Christmasy” they were still pretty cool. These guys from 2012 remain my favorite. Simple, yet unique. You can pick your favorite here.
If that photo looks familiar, it’s because it’s from the 2012 NBA Christmas Day commercial. Yet another entertaining tradition comes from NBA Christmas games: the commercials.
Whether it’s swooshing threes to play a holiday tune…
Or Daveed Diggs showing off his “fastest rapper on Broadway” chops with “Carol of the Basketballs”…
You can always count on cheerful NBA commercials to get you pumped for thirteen straight hours of basketball, just like you can always rely on real Christmas music to get you into the holiday spirit.
Speaking of which, all this research has gotten me into even more of a basketball mood! I gotta go watch the games! And you should too, it’s going to be great. Three of the most fun-to-watch players in the league today, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, will hit the court before the sun goes down. The next two games, Celtics-76ers and Warriors-Lakers, will be, at worst, a look at four surefire playoff teams, and at best could be previews of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. The nightcap, Blazers-Jazz, will be all about the point guards, last year’s Rookie of the year Donovan Mitchell versus 3-time All-NBA star Damion Lillard.
It’s a tradition older than the Super Bowl, and as marketable as any in sports. Christmas Day games are some of the most watched regular season games of the year, drawing in more than double the viewership of an average regular season contest. Playing basketball on Christmas Day is an honor to many players and coaches, including former All-Star Jermaine O’Neal.
“It’s special because the whole world is watching,” O’Neal said.
So once against on December 25th, silver bells will meet buzzer beaters, ugly sweaters will meet unique shoes, and gathering around the table for dinner will meet gathering around the television for basketball. The history is behind us, and 70th batch of Christmas Day games are about to come out of the oven!
Jack Lido is the UNPLUGG’D Sports Editor. His favorite Christmas song is Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Carol of the Bells,” and his Chinese order is sweet and sour chicken with vegetable lo mein. Tweet at him @JackSLido.
