NBA Christmas Day games revealed: All the details as Lakers and Celtics headline blockbuster day

As usual, there will be five outstanding games throughout the day. In other action, the Milwaukee Bucks will travel to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers will take on the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks will face the Phoenix Suns.

This will be the seventh consecutive season that the Celtics will play on Christmas and the fifth time they will face the Lakers on that day. The most recent Christmas showdown between the longtime rivals came in 2008, when the Lakers secured a 92-83 victory with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists from the late Kobe Bryant. Of course, the Celtics got the last laugh that season when they won the Finals against the Lakers in six games; they’re hoping history repeats itself.

As for the Nuggets and Warriors, both have been a constant presence on the Christmas schedule in recent years – this will be the Warriors’ 11th consecutive appearance – but they have never faced each other on this day. However, they’ve had plenty of exciting matchups since their respective cores came together, and this has a good chance to be the most exciting game of the day.

As for the Bucks’ trip to New York to play the Knicks, it will be a rematch of the 2018 Christmas game, which Giannis Antetokounmpo and company won handily. Madison Square Garden has been good to Antetokounmpo throughout his career; he made his NBA debut there, jumped over Tim Hardaway Jr. for a dunk and nailed the game-winner in 2017.

It’s interesting that the 76ers and Heat have been scheduled to play on Christmas, as both teams are currently in limbo regarding some star players. The 76ers are trying to figure out what to do with James Harden, who has requested a trade and wants to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, while the Heat hope to eventually reach an agreement with the Portland Trail Blazers to acquire Damian Lillard. These two teams could be radically different come December.

You know it’s a full day of basketball when the Mavericks and Suns are mentioned last. That, of course, is a rematch of the dramatic 2022 second-round series between the teams, won by the Mavericks in seven games. It will also be the first time they play each other at Christmas.