25 Things You Didn't Know About the NBA's Annual Christmas Day Games

Image via Complex Original

The first NBA Christmas Day game took place on December 25, 1947 between the Knicks and the Providence Steamrollers. The Steamrollers were one of the 11 original NBA teams, but they only stuck around for three seasons and left the league in 1949.

The Knicks won 89–75.

Do you think that the NBA plays too many Christmas Day games today? That's one of the complaints that some players and coaches have. They feel as though the NBA could easily get away with only having two or three primetime games as opposed to five games throughout the day. But consider this: Back in 1949 (and then again in 1971 and 1977), the NBA scheduled seven (!) Christmas Day games. And there were only 17 teams total at the time, meaning that all but three teams played on December 25.

When the first NBA Christmas Day games were played, they were shown on TV. But they were only shown locally. It wasn't until ABC stepped in back in 1967 and broadcast a Los Angeles Lakers/San Diego Rockets game that a national audience was able to watch a Christmas Day game. Since then, the Christmas Day games have been broadcast nationally every year.

Doesn't it feel like the Knicks have a Christmas Day game every year, regardless of how good or bad they are? That's because, for the most part, they do. Since taking part in the first Christmas Day game back in 1947, the Knicks have played 49 Christmas Day games, winning 22 and losing 27. This year's game against the Wizards will be their 50th Christmas Day game all-time.

Because the Knicks have played in so many Christmas Day games over the years, they have made a lot of memories on December 25. One they'd like to forget, though, took place on December 25, 1960 when they lost 162-100 to the Syracuse Nationals. It was their worst loss ever.

T-Mac only played in three Christmas Day games with the Magic back in the early 2000s. But he made the most of each and every opportunity that he had to play on December 25. He scored more than 40 points in all three games and finished his career with a 43.3 points per game average on Christmas Day.

There are a handful of NBA teams who haven't played in a Christmas Day game in years now. For example, the Jazz haven't taken part in a Christmas Day game since 1997. The Hawks last suited up on Christmas in 1989. And the Bucks haven't played on Christmas in almost 40 years now. But they're still in better shape than the Hornets, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves, who have never had the chance to play on Christmas.

Phil Jackson has spent nearly half of all of the Christmases in his life either playing or coaching basketball. And he's done some pretty special things during Christmas day games. For instance, he won the 1,000th game of his career during a Christmas Day game in 2008.

Even though it seems like Jackson would be a huge fan of Christmas Day games, given how active he has been in them, he doesn't like them and thinks the NBA should consider doing away with most, if not all, of them.

“I don't think anybody should play on Christmas Day,” he said in 2010. “Soccer teams don't play this time of year, they take a break. I don't understand it…It's like Christian holidays don't mean anything to them anymore. We just go out and play and entertain the TV. It's really weird.”

Tracy McGrady might hold the record for the scoring average in Christmas Day games. But he never scored as many points as King did in a single game on Christmas. The Knicks forward dropped 60 on the New Jersey Nets during a game on Christmas Day 1984 and became just the 10th NBA player in the history of the league to score 60 or more points in a game. But despite his scoring output, the Knicks lost that game.

It might seem like the NBA doesn't care about players or their families when you look at how many games they schedule on Christmas Day. But in recent years, the NBA has stopped scheduling Christmas Eve games in order to give players time with their families.

Although NBA Christmas Day games have been played for almost 70 years now, there have only been eight triple-doubles on Christmas Day over those years. And four of them were recorded by Robertson, who put up triple-doubles in 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1967. Robertson was also the all-time Christmas Day scoring leader with 377 points total for a long time before Kobe Bryant broke his record in 2012 by moving into first place with 383 points.

Christmas is about giving. So we had to include this stat on our list. During a Christmas Day game against the Bucks in 1972, Archibald dished out 18 assists. He finished that season as the league's assists leader with more than 11 assists per game.

Kobe has been talking about taking a few games off at the end of this month in order to let his body rest. It's something he needs to do if he wants to make it through the rest of the season. But you can rest assured that there's a 99.999999999 percent chance Kobe will play against the Bulls on Christmas Day. He has played in 15 Christmas Day games since 1996.

At this point, Kobe has pretty much become synonymous with NBA Christmas Day games. He's the all-time leader in points scored on December 25. But it's worth noting that his very first Christmas Day game didn't go so well. He had more fouls—one—than points and didn't put up a very solid showing during his rookie Christmas campaign.

Larry Legend is one of the best trash-talkers in sports history. He could talk trash with the best of them. And one of his most epic trash-talking moments came during a Christmas Day game when he nailed a three-pointer over Chuck Person and then yelled, “Merry fucking Christmas,” in his direction. It was retaliation for Person—whose nickname was “The Rifleman”—telling reporters that “The Rifleman is coming, and he's going Bird hunting” before the game.

The Celtics don't always play on Christmas Day—their last Christmas Day game was back in 2012—but when they do, they just about always play on the road. Reason being, Red Auerbach used to ask the NBA to schedule his team for road games on Christmas so that the people who worked at the Celtics' home arena could stay home on the holiday.

The NBA has scheduled at least one Christmas Day game during every season since 1947. The lone exception was in 1998 when half of the NBA season was canceled due to a lockout.

The Malice at the Palace—a massive brawl that took place in Detroit and resulted in a handful of players receiving lengthy suspensions and fines—occurred on November 19, 2004. The following month, the Pacers and Pistons played their first game after that fight in Indiana on Christmas Day. It turned out to be a pretty uneventful 98-93 Pistons win.

“People realize that was an unfortunate incident and will never happen again,” Detroit coach Larry Brown said after the game, “and now we can get back to basketball.”

People in the U.S. aren't the only ones who enjoy watching the NBA's Christmas Day games. In recent years, the NBA has expanded into new countries throughout the world. And as of 2012, the Christmas Day games were being aired in 215 countries and available in about 47 languages.

Van Gundy was very critical of both the NBA and NBA fans while making some comments about Christmas Day games back in 2009. “I actually feel sorry for people who have nothing to do on Christmas Day other than watch an NBA game,” he said. “I think we get a little carried away with ourselves with sports thinking we're more important than everything else.”

The league responded to Van Gundy's comments by fining the Orlando franchise an undisclosed amount of money.

In 2011, an NBA lockout prevented the league from starting its season on time. But in early December, the league's players and owners announced that the lockout was over and that they'd tip off the 2011-12 NBA season on Christmas Day with a slate of games. It ended up being one of the highest-rated NBA Christmas Day schedules in recent memory due to the circumstances.

As if the Christmas Day games weren't interesting enough in 2011 because of the end of the NBA lockout, ABC/ESPN decided to spice things up even more by having their two lead broadcasters call two Christmas Day games. First, they called a Heat/Mavericks game in Dallas at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Then, they flew to Oakland for a 10:30 p.m. Eastern time game between the Warriors and Clippers. And they pulled it off without a hitch.

Despite all the talent that they have on their roster right now, the Blazers haven't played in a Christmas Day game since 2010. But they might want to keep things that way seeing as how they are currently 14-3 all-time on Christmas Day, which means they've won almost 83 percent of their Christmas Day games. It's the highest Christmas Day winning percentage in league history.

Even though the Christmas Day games obviously aren't played until December, the NBA and the networks that air the Christmas Day games typically start thinking about the Christmas Day slate as soon as the NBA Finals are over. One Christmas Day matchup usually features a rematch of the Finals, while two or three of the other games feature matchups of teams who met in the playoffs or competed for playoff seeds during the previous season. So as soon as today's games end, it'll almost be time to start thinking about who will play next season.