Giannis Antetokounmpo had some choice words about the NBA’s slate of Christmas Day games this year, mainly because the Bucks have been left out of the day’s lineup.
“I’m pissed,” Antetokounmpo said, “I really believe there’s probably an algorithm that takes place within the NBA that shows who is the most attractive team or which team gets the most attention for them to be able to play in the Christmas game.”
While Antetokounmpo eventually ceded that it will be nice to spend the day with his family, opening gifts and then watching basketball along with so many others, he also called it a popularity contest. He’s not wrong, and that insight is likely closer than the league utilizing a shadowy algorithm rather than just consulting their ratings data.
The teams that play on Christmas Day have some combination of previous season playoff exposure, stars, and perennially net high ratings. That’s it. It’s why this year’s line-up includes the Lakers and Suns instead of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. That inclusion (or exclusion, depending on your fandom) also bears out before the season gets underway. The league’s December 25th games are announced the same day as the regular season is, in mid-August.
So, what if the league held off scheduling two out of its five Christmas Day games until early in the same season, when the stakes for that season’s competition started to clarify? What would those match-ups look like?
For starters, say goodbye to the Sixers. I’d also boot the Suns, Warriors and Spurs — though it doesn’t feel great omitting Steph Curry, and the appeal of watching Victor Wembanyama casually dunk over every single New York Knick is high. I’m loathe to leave in the Lakers, but Lebron James’ gravity is its own unique force in basketball.
That leaves us with, for the games as they’re currently slated:
Timberwolves-Mavericks
And adds, either re-jigging the matches or adding new teams:
Knicks-Grizzlies
Celtics-Nuggets
Cavs-Rockets
Lakers-OKC
I’ll admit, most of my logic is my gut, but hear me out. New York and Memphis would pit two hard-nosed, equally flamboyant teams against each other and have a chance for some crowd pleasing, high-flying dunks care of Ja Morant’s spring-loaded legs. Desmond Bane and Jalen Brunson are alike in their tenacity and playmaking, and Bane would ratchet up the pace for New York overall. For Celtics and Nuggets, the logic is to pit two immovable forces against one another and see what happens. If the Celtics and their 3-point shooting can’t be stopped, and Nikola Jokic can similarly only hope to be slowed down, then we’ve got a game of problem solving and basketball IQ deployed in real time by some of the league’s best.
Cavaliers and Rockets are two young teams who play opposite styles of basketball but are poised to undermine the other. The Cavs boast an offence reliant on passing and creating opportunities via offensive momentum, and the Rockets pride themselves on defence and being a nouveau Bad Boys-esque bully team. It would be a game with plenty of pace, torrid shooting, and a touch of chippiness — like the pinch of cinnamon to finish off your eggnog. Finally, isn’t it just fun to picture the Thunder absolutely frustrating the Lakers? For OKC, a team that’s entire roster is made up of athletes who take personal pleasure in doing the intangibles like diving for loose balls, switching incessantly, and playing with maximum effort, to face a team that seems to either be outright against those things or has a selective memory about when to deploy them.
If one of the underlying complaints driving the ratings-scare discussion around the NBA this season is effort, the lack of it in play and by extension the lack of a competitive product, then setting up the Christmas Day games as competitive showcases makes a lot of sense. In their current construction, they rely on the trifecta of stars-postseason exposure-ratings without taking into account changes in the impending season and where audience attention is going to waiver, e.g. no one wants to watch the Sixers play on Christmas. Teams with young talent, who have used league parity to their advantage and are legitimate title contenders, and are the future of the league ought to be showcased. And when it boils down to it, we all want dunks for Christmas.
