The first NBA game played on December 25 Arrived in 1947, a year after the NBA’s inception, when the New York Knicks Defeat the Providence Steamrollers in Madison Square Garden 89–75.
Ever since then, the NBA has played with games every year on Christmas Day except in 1998 (when a lockout canceled half of the 1998–99 year ). By comparison, Major League Baseball is in its own off-season during Christmas, the National Football League only schedules Christmas games when Christmas falls on the weekend (and even then just schedules games on Christmas sometimes ) and the National Hockey League’s collective bargaining agreement forbids playing games on Christmas Day (and, except when it falls on a Saturday, Christmas Eve too ). In college football, the only bowl game traditionally scheduled for Christmas has become the defunct Aloha Bowl (and also for a single season, its replacement, the Hawaii Bowl). The NBA is the only league to schedule games on December 25.
In the first days, regional proximity dictated the majority of the matchups. Teams would usually play with with their geographic competitions to allow them to have more time with their families and to decrease holiday travel. According to Dr. Jack Ramsay, who coached the Portland Trail Blazers from 1976–77 (their sole tournament season) to 1986,”Christmas meant being at home with the family and using a game we always won. This was a perfect Christmas for me personally.” He set the record for most coaching victories on Christmas Day with 11, an accomplishment that Phil Jackson later matched in 2008.
The New York Knicks put three years in a row. In one game (1984), hall-of-fame ahead Bernard King scoring 60 points–the most ever scored by a participant on Christmas Day, Together with the advent of television and the excitement brought on by these games, the NBA decided to scheduled games over the vacation which showcased the best teams and players.
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