NBA ‘heated’ up with Christmas features

In his first 20 seasons as a Miami Heat player, Erik Spoelstra participated in 12 Christmas games as a staff member, assistant coach, or head coach.

Additionally, the Heat only had one Christmas game in the eight seasons that followed.

He came to the following realization: Playing on Christmas is preferable to not playing on Christmas for an NBA team. The Heat will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday in the NBA’s customary Christmas quintuple header, marking their first return to the league’s holiday schedule since 2020.

The remaining games are Milwaukee at New York, Golden State at Denver, the defending champions, Boston at Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA’s biggest rivalry ever, and Dallas at Phoenix.

“Being able to perform on Christmas is a great honor,” stated Spoelstra. “The entire league doesn’t play on holidays, and we weren’t even given the option to play on Christmas for a number of years in a row. After that, you almost seemed to take it for granted that we would always be performing on Christmas.

Several teams affirm that they don’t take it for granted as well.

Warriors guard Stephen Curry is still excited about what lies ahead, saying, “Marquee games on Christmas, it’s going to be a great atmosphere. You know, we’ve been in that environment before, so I understand what it’s going to be like. On the road, it’s going to be fun to just compete. It’s a test.” Golden State playing on Christmas has become a holiday tradition. The Warriors are scheduled to play on December 25 for the 13th time in the last 14 years.

For a long time, the NBA’s unofficial Christmas slate was thought to be when more fans begin to pay attention. The NBA games air nationally on either ABC or ESPN, and football is coming to an end.

LeBron James will also be paying attention, but not until after some other Christmas-related tasks are finished. The all-time greatest scorer in the NBA has participated in more games on December 25 than any other player in league history, but his main focus going into the holiday is seeing his 9-year-old daughter Zhuri smile when she rips the wrapping paper off of whatever is coming her way.

After he and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Oklahoma City on Saturday, James declared, “The only thing I care about Monday right now is my daughter waking up and opening her gifts.”