If you're a sports fan (and you're here, so I'm guessing you are), you learn to equate every holiday with the sporting events that take place on them.
Thanksgiving is for NFL football. New Year's Day has college football. The Fourth of July provides baseball. Father's Day is usually the final round of the U.S. Open.
However, the calendar saves the best for last: NBA basketball on Christmas Day. While I'll admit that NBA games on Christmas Day aren't as ingrained in the day's events as the football games are on Thanksgiving, for a diehard NBA Fan, Christmas Day is like, well, Christmas.
Whether it's the two best players in the league squaring off for one of the only times that particular season, an NBA Finals rematch, old rivalries renewed, or some combination of all three, the NBA always delivers the goods on Christmas Day.
In this week's Starting Five, we hitch a ride back in time with the Ghost of Christmas Past (you were expecting Doc Brown?) and revisit five of the greatest games ever played on Christmas Day.
Starting Five
1. 2004: Kobe vs. Shaq I
It was one of, if not the, most anticipated regular season game in NBA history. For the first time since their very public and very messy separation, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal would play against each other.
The hype leading up to the game rivaled that of an NBA Finals matchup, with seemingly more focus put on whether they'd shake hands before the game (they did, sort of) than as to which team would actually win.
The game, as impossible as it might have seemed, actually lived up to the hype.
Shaq put Kobe on the floor with a moderately hard foul early in the game and the individual matchup ice was broken. The head-to-head matchup took a backseat after that and a great basketball game broke out.
Kobe scored 42 for the Lakers, but Shaq's 24 points and 11 rebounds, with some help from Dwyane Wade's 29 points and 10 assists, was enough for the Heat that day.
The Heat pulled off a two point overtime victory as Kobe's potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out.
Kobe vs. Shaq has happened a total of six times now, with the series spilt at three wins apiece.
2. 1986: Jordan's Christmas Debut at the Garden
This was Michael Jordan before he was the Michael Jordan, playing to a sold out Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day against Patrick Ewing and the Knicks.
Jordan didn't disappoint, scoring a game-high 30 points, but it was Patrick Ewing who spread the most holiday cheer as his eight-foot tip in at the buzzer gave the Knicks the 86-85 victory. He finished the game with 28 points and 17 rebounds.
The game was one of the few bright spots for the Knicks that season, as they finished with just 24 wins, their third consecutive season with no more than 24 wins.
3. 1990: Passing the Torch
The Detroit Pistons had beaten the Chicago Bulls in each of the previous three postseasons, and were the two-time defending NBA champs.
Michael Jordan had led the league in scoring the past four seasons and taken his team to the brink of the NBA finals twice, only to fall short to these same Detroit Pistons in the last two Eastern Conference Finals.
On Christmas Day in 1990, the Pistons visited Chicago and were sent a clear message: your reign at the top is over.
Jordan controlled the game with 37 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals as the Bulls walked away with a 98-86 victory over the champs.
The game signaled the end of the Pistons recent dominance over the Bulls. The Bulls went on to beat the Pistons in seven of the eight remaining games the teams had against one another that season, including the infamous four-game sweep in the conference semis in which the Pistons walked off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls.
Chicago went on to win their first of six NBA titles that season.
4. 1984: Bernard King Scores 60
Two of the biggest “what if” stars of the NBA in the 1980s (a decade that featured plenty) squared off at the Garden Christmas Day as Bernard King and the New York Knicks matched up against the Michael Ray Richardson-led New Jersey Nets. Ironically, the troubled stars had been traded for one another three seasons earlier.
King scored a still-standing Christmas Day record of 60 points, but it was Richardson's Nets who walked away victorious defeating the Knicks 120-114.
King would suffer his catastrophic knee injury a few months later, and never truly regain his scoring form.
Richardson would play only one more season in the NBA before being banned for substance abuse.
It was one of the last times these two infamous legends of the '80s would meet, and it remains one of the all-time classic Christmas Day games.
5. 1985: The Knicks Comeback
I know, another Kicks game. However, when you've played a record 45 Christmas Day games, you're bound to play in some memorable ones.
This one came during Patrick Ewing's rookie season, when the Knicks trailed 58-33 in the third quarter to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.
Led by Ewing's 32 points, the Knicks mounted a furious comeback and tied the game on a Trent Tucker three-pointer that forced OT. After playing to another tie in overtime, the Knicks ran away with the game in the second OT, completing the biggest comeback ever by a team on Christmas Day, defeating the Celtics 113-104.
In the Rotation: Christmas Day 2008
This year, the NBA is hoping to create some more holiday magic with a record five games being played on Christmas, featuring teams with nine of the top 13 records in the league right now (plus the Wizards).
Headlining the very intriguing slate of games is the NBA Finals rematch between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. The Celtics win streak currently sits at a franchise best 18 games, and if they take care of business at home against Philly Tuesday night, they will be looking to make the Lakers victim number 20.
The other Christmas Day games: Chris Paul takes his record of 107 games (and counting) with a steal into Orlando to battle Dwight Howard and the surprising Orlando Magic; the Spurs and Suns renew their newly formed rivalry in the desert; the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards have met in the first round of the playoffs each of the past three seasons, so the NBA probably wasn't expecting the Wizards to have the second worst record in the league ... nonetheless, the Wizards will travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavs on the first game of TNT's doubleheader; in the late game, Dallas travels to Portland to play the Trail Blazers for what could be a very important game down the road if these teams end up battling for the eighth seed out West.
Out of the Rotation: Christmas Eve
And we can add Thanksgiving and New Year's Day to the list while we're at it. That's because there are no NBA games on any of these three days. I know the league is spoiling us with five games on Christmas, but they can't even throw us a bone on these days?
There will be over 1,000 NBA games played this season, yet there will be three days in a six week span where there are no games at all. To an NBA addict, that is just unacceptable.
Inactive List: None
Have a heart, it's Christmas. There are 51 other weeks in the year for us to call out NBA players for doing something stupid, so I'll take it easy on everyone this week in light of the holiday spirit.
Plus, I'm afraid that karma might be catch up to the In the Rotation enterprise. After you voted unanimously (thanks to all that voted) that Glen "Big Baby" Davis was to be named inactive last week for crying on the bench, he suffered a concussion in a car accident on the way to the arena Sunday afternoon and had to be hospitalized.
I'm pretty sure that the blizzard in Boston had more to do with the accident than what we have going on here, but just to be safe, we're sparing everyone this week.
Merry Christmas, and enjoy the games!
Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.
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