Christmas Day just feels empty without the Knicks.
Even as the team faded into mediocrity, obscurity, and comedy, the Knicks stayed on Christmas through 2018, when Tim Hardaway Jr and Mario Hezonja were being marketed as the team’s feature talent. Today, the Knicks are as talented as they’ve been in this century, and with the allure of Madison Square Garden, it was an absolute lock they’d be playing on Christmas.
The only surprise is that it’s a Western Conference team, the San Antonio Spurs.
NBA Christmas Day games for the 2024-25 season, per sources:
Spurs at Knicks
Timberwolves at Mavericks
76ers at Celtics
Lakers at Warriors
Nuggets at Suns— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 9, 2024The allure to that matchup is near nonexistent from a team standpoint—the Spurs are an underdog even to make the play-in tournament and the only notable matchup between the teams was the Spurs’ domination over the Knicks in the 1999 NBA Finals, the first of their five in the Gregg Popovich era.