The NBA’s Christmas Day slate has star power, sure. But when you line up the five games the league announced Tuesday morning, the whole thing feels more odd than ambitious.
It starts at noon EST with Spurs @ Knicks, a matchup the league is billing as a Finals rematch. That part makes sense on paper, because it’s a solid game and it’ll get attention. The strange part is the timing, and the fact that these teams aren’t even facing conference rivals.
At 2:30, the Heat visit the Celtics in Boston. There’s an obvious recent rivalry there, and there’s also the Giannis Antetokounmpo piece.
But Miami has been a play-in team for years, and after gutting their roster to build around two stars who are both big men, there’s still no real proof this group will be good. If Giannis is injured, the game could turn into a total dud.
The Celtics, meanwhile, should be playing the 76ers, Knicks, or Lakers.
The 5 PM window is where things get really head-scratching: the new-look 76ers heading to Los Angeles to play the Lakers. The league can point to LeBron James returning to LA, but is that actually a rivalry, or even a big deal?
The teams have hype and name recognition, but there’s little juice in the matchup itself. And for the NBA to lean so heavily on a 41-year-old LeBron feels like a strange bet.
The 8 PM game might be the cleanest one on the board, with the Thunder in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. Both teams should be good, but there just isn’t much history there. A lot of fans probably would have preferred Thunder-Spurs for another chapter in that rivalry, while the Timberwolves would seem better matched with the Nuggets, their arch-nemesis.
Then comes the nightcap: Nuggets @ Warriors at 10:30 PM EST. That one is the most baffling of the bunch.
Yes, Stephen Curry is there - for now - but Golden State was a play-in team last year, got worse, and could end up as one of the 5-10 worst teams in the league this season. If Curry misses any time, a lot of people around the country will be heading to bed early.
There are big names in these games, and there are a few solid matchups too. But with so many better options available, the league clearly could have done more. The frustrating part is how often it keeps selling old stars on non-contending teams instead of giving the next generation more of the spotlight.
Of course, diehard fans will still watch. But Christmas is supposed to be the NBA’s chance to show off what makes the league and the sport great to a huge audience that doesn’t tune in every day.
Instead, the slate is packed with questionable teams, non-rivalry matchups, and stars who are past their primes. That’s a pretty big whiff, if you ask me.
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