The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors in thrilling fashion on Christmas, as Austin Reaves played hero with a last-second game-winner to cap a throwback duel between LeBron James and Steph Curry. After the win, James took a chance to defend the NBA’s Christmas tradition.
“I love the NFL, I love the NFL,” James said. “But Christmas is our day.”
The NBA’s Christmas Day games go all the way back to 1947, when the Baltimore Bullets beat the Chicago Stags, the New York Knicks took care of the Providence Steamrollers and the Washington Capitols cruised past the St. Louis Bombers. In the nearly eight decades since then, the only year that there was not a game on Christmas was 1998, when the lockout postponed the start of the 1998-99 season until Feb. 5, 1999.
Starting in 2008, the league has played five games on Christmas, one after another for a day-long quintuple-header. No team is guaranteed to play on Christmas. Instead, the league chooses the matchups based on success, intrigue and ratings. Due to the NBA’s flexible scheduling, it has long dominated the sports world on Christmas.
In recent years, however, the NFL has tried to move in, foregoing its traditional scheduling practices to ensure that there has been at least one game on the holiday since 2020. That continued this year even though Christmas fell on a Wednesday, and the league had previously indicated that Tuesdays and Wednesdays would be off limits for Christmas games.
Not only were there two games, featuring the defending Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans vs. the Baltimore Ravens, but at halftime of the latter contest, Beyonce put on a concert that would rival any previous Super Bowl show.
For all of the NFL’s effort, though, they couldn’t control the actual games. The Chiefs and Ravens won in blowouts, while the NBA’s action was incredible and much more competitive. Four of the five games were decided by six points or fewer, and the other was a 10-point margin. Meanwhile, stars young and old put on terrific displays. Victor Wembanyama, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Steph Curry all had at least 30 points.
There have been some existential questions asked about the NBA in recent weeks, but Wednesday was another reminder that their Christmas Day tradition is not one of the issues.
“It was an amazing day for basketball,” Kevin Durant said after the Phoenix Suns‘ win over the Denver Nuggets. “I’m grateful I was able to play on this great day and entertain the fans and get a win at home. I’m grateful.”
