Carmelo Anthony not happy Knicks not playing on Christmas
By John Buhler
Carmelo Anthony is not happy the New York Knicks aren’t playing in on Christmas this season.
Apparently all Carmelo Anthony wants for Christmas is to play basketball on national television for the New York Knicks. According to a Marc Berman column at the New York Post, Anthony was massively disappointed that his Knicks were not going to be one of the 10 teams to play on Christmas Day in 2015.
The Knicks are usually a Christmas Day staple as the Knicks play in a major television market and Madison Square Garden is one of the NBA’s most iconic venues. The last time the Knicks didn’t play on Christmas was in 2008. Perhaps it was the Knicks’ awful 2014-15 season record that kept them from hosting a game this Christmas.
"“I ain’t watching nothing. We should’ve been on Christmas. Christmas in New York. That’s what it should’ve been….New York is one of those teams that should always be on Christmas.”"
He does have a point. If the NBA were to theoretically “adopt” two teams to play on Christmas annually, it would make the most since to have those two teams be the Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers. Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center should host annual Christmas games.
Those two iconic NBA teams would become the Christmas Day staples in a similar way that the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving Day no matter what. NBA commissioner Adama Silver could enact some sort of unwritten rule that the Knicks and the Lakers host games on Christmas and the NBA world would probably be fine with that.
Anthony understands the importance of basketball being played on Christmas and has some beef for why the Knicks will have to instead play on the next day when they take on the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on the 26th.