Breaking down the 2018 NBA Christmas Day schedule

ESPN announced the full lineup for NBA Christmas Day 2018. Let’s look at the history of the matchups and some teams that have been waiting for decades to make an appearance on Christmas day.

Christmas in August! Or something like that. Wednesday, ESPN officially announced their lineup for NBA Christmas Day 2018 with a full slate of NBA games continuing an NBA tradition with history dating back to 1947.

NBA Christmas Day 2018 Schedule

• Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks, 12 p.m. ET
• Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets, 3 p.m. ET
• Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics, 5:30 p.m. ET
• Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors, 8 p.m. ET
• Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz, 10:30 p.m. ET

Milwaukee Bucks vs. New York Knicks

The opening contest of the day sees the New York Knicks take on the Milwaukee Bucks. The two have been polar opposite in terms of NBA Christmas Day history. The Knicks currently sit atop the NBA with 52 appearances in the Christmas showcase carrying a record of 22-30. This will be the Knicks third consecutive appearance on Christmas Day after missing the 2015 edition. Prior to being passed over in 2015, the Knicks had been in six straight Christmas Day games (2009-2014).

The Knicks helped bring Christmas Day games to the forefront of post-gift entertainment thanks to several spectacular games in the 80s including Bernard King’s famous 60-point outburst in 1984.

For Milwaukee, this Christmas Day appearance is a long-time coming as the Bucks haven’t been featured on the NBA’s Christmas Day slate since 1977. That year the Don Nelson-led Bucks — three years removed from the departure of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — were a valiant team winning 44 games and making it to game seven of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals. Led by emerging stars Brian Winters, Marques Johnson, Junior Bridgeman and Alex English, the young Bucks appeared poised to be a team of the 80s. After a brief slip and departure from the playoffs in 1979, the Bucks rattled off 12 straight playoff appearances (1980-1991) including three appearances in the conference finals.

But no Christmas Day games. Not a single one since 1977. In total, this will be the Bucks’ fourth appearance on Christmas Day and they carry with them a 2-2 mark all-time.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets

Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder have become a regular sight on Christmas Day as this marks their ninth consecutive appearance. The franchise has 18 overall appearances in the Christmas showcase, their first coming as the expansion Seattle Supersonics in 1967. That day saw the Cincinnati Royals squeak past the desolate expansion Sonics 118-112 thanks to 31 points from Connie Dierking and a triple-double (of course) from Oscar Robertson (26 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds).

The Thunder/Sonics have traditional not fared well on Christmas Day carrying a 5-13 record, fourth worst among franchise’s all-time on Christmas Day and the worst for any team with 10 or more appearances.

Houston, surprisingly, has less of a presence on Christmas Day with only 10 all-time games. They’ve fared better than the Thunder/Sonics with a perfectly average 5-5 mark on Christmas day.

Like, Oklahoma City, though, the Rockets made their first Christmas appearance in 1967 as the fellow expansion San Diego Rockets. That night the Rockets upset the Los Angeles Lakers 104-101 behind 20 points from John Block. The game carried extra weight for Block as the prior year as a 22-year-old rookie for the Lakers, Block had played in only 22 games finishing the year with a paltry average of 2.9 points per game. Left unprotected in the 1967 expansion draft Block became a sensation of sorts for the Rockets scoring 20.2 points per game that season while also averaging 11 rebounds. Block would carve out a solid career for himself even making an All-Star Team in 1973.

This season will mark Houston’s second consecutive appearance on Christmas Day after inexplicably being left off the schedule in 2016, a season in which they were 22-9 on Christmas Day. The Timberwolves, who did make the schedule (playing Oklahoma City) were 9-21.

Whoops.

This matchup is also a rematch from last year’s Christmas Day slate that saw the Thunder defeat James Harden and the Rockets 112-107.

Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics

Boston and Philadelphia have met 444 times in the regular season with both featured on Christmas Day a combined 61 times. Boston is fourth all-time in appearances at 31 with Philadelphia ranked fifth at 30. Yet, these two have only faced each other once on Christmas Day. And we have to go all the way back to 1961 when the Sixers were the Syracuse Nationals. That’s 57 years between Christmas Day meetings between these two. That’s nuts.

That Boston only has 31 Christmas Day appearances is shocking and more so that the franchise with so much history of success doesn’t fare all that well on Christmas Day. The Celtics are 13-18 all-time on Christmas Day. No luck of the irish on Christmas morning. Boston will make their fourth straight appearance on Christmas day after missing out on the tradition in 2015.

Philadelphia’s Christmas Day history dates back to their days as the Nationals and they’ve fared much better than their 2018 opponents with an overall record of 17-13. This marks Philly’s second straight appearance on Christmas Day. The Sixers had been noticeably absent from the tradition for over a decade last appearance in the game during a “thrilling” 88-82 matchup versus the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. Moreover, the last time Philly made consecutive appearances on Christmas Day was 1987 and 1988.

Welcome back Sixers!

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors

Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles is one of the most storied Christmas Day teams of all-time appearance in the second most ever (43) dating back to 1949 when the George Mikan, Jim Pollard and the Minneapolis Lakers laid waste to the Fort Wayne Pistons 72-58.

Overall, though, the Lakers are under .500 on Christmas Day with a 21-22 mark. The Lakers are a Christmas Day staple as you have to go all the way back to 1997 to find the last Christmas without the Lakers (ignoring 1998, of course, since nobody played due to the lockout). That’s 21 straight appearances for The Lake Show.

LeBron himself has been featured in each and every Christmas Day slate since 2006, a year the NBA inexplicably had only one Christmas Day game.

Thanks for making me talk to my family, guys.

Golden State has 27 appearances dating back to 1948 during their days as the Philadelphia Warriors. Golden State is 12-15 all-time on Christmas Day including their famous 109-108 loss to Cleveland in 2016 featuring Warriors stopper Kyrie Irving. Ahhh, remember those days?

Similar to our Celtics/Sixers match-up above, these two have been oddly distant over the years only meeting previously on Christmas Day in 1954. That day, the Minneapolis Lakers best the Philadelphia Warriors 99-91 behind 27 points from Vern Mikkelsen.

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Utah Jazz

Last but not least… okay, maybe it is but let’s go with it: Portland vs. Utah! These two have never met on Christmas Day so we’re in uncharted waters here.

Portland has appeared in 17 Christmas Day games and actually hold the second best win percentage among franchises to play on Christmas Day (82.4%). The Blazers last appeared on Christmas Day in 2010 when they were narrowly defeated by the Monta Ellis-led Warriors. Fun fact: Steph Curry was 2-15 that game including 0-5 from downtown.

For Utah this is a real return to prominence as this is the franchise’s first appearance on Christmas Day since 1997. Then, the Karl Malone/John Stockton-led Jazz were the toast of the NBA’s Western Conference in the midst of back-to-back NBA Finals appearances and a decade plus of consistent winning. Things have been up and down for the Jazz since then but finally getting them back on Christmas Day is a great sight to see. Only the Bucks (who will also break their long streak) and the Atlanta Hawks (1989) have longer gaps between Christmas Day appearances.

Feeling left out

Another year down and another year with the Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies locked out of the Christmas Day tradition. Neither franchise has made it to Christmas Day yet and given their team’s current and future outlooks, it could be awhile longer. Memphis, of course, had a rough go of it with Vancouver but put together a few solid seasons in the 2000s and most recently. The Hornets were one of the most iconic NBA franchise’s in the 90s but couldn’t get onto the Christmas Day stage.

The Toronto Raptors have also been snubbed numerous times over the last 17 years as the team’s first and last appearance on Christmas Day was all the way back in 2001.

Sacramento has been involved in a shockingly high number of Christmas Day games given their franchises’ checkered history (29 games to be exact) but they haven’t been featured since 2003, the heyday of the Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, Mike Bibby era.

Lastly, the Detroit Pistons, who have appeared in the third most Christmas Day games ever (32) have been locked out of the tradition since 2005, when they were in the midst of their dominance over the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

If you’re interested in learning more about NBA history, check out our NBA history podcast, Over and Back, and the rest of our great podcasts hosted on The Step Back.