The NBA is doing Christmas Day 2015 right.
Most likely.
Schedule details are starting to trickle out ahead of the league’s official release, and, naturally, it’s the Association’s slate of Christmas Day tilts that are being dispersed first. On Thursday, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein brought word that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will be squaring off in a Christmas edition NBA Finals rematch:
League sources say Cavs tentatively scheduled to visit Golden State on Christmas Day in NBA Finals rematch –> http://t.co/831yJz89dE
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) August 6, 2015
Woooooooot. That should be fun. Really fun. LeBron James on his own is fun. Stephen Curry on his own is fun. The Cavaliers by themselves are fun. The Warriors by themselves are fun.
Put ’em all together and whatya get: crap tons of fun.
More seriously, this is an obvious pick. It’s an NBA Finals rematch that holds more intrigue than usual because of the what-if factor involved. What if Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love had been healthy for the Finals? Would the Cavaliers have won? That type of thing sells.
Plus, LeBron is fun.
This news comes on the heels of the Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson reporting that the Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans would also be meeting on Christmas Day:
Per league source, tentative (not yet definite) NBA schedule in circulation has New Orleans playing the Heat on Christmas in Miami at noon.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 5, 2015
Anthony Davis, against Goran Dragic, who will be leading a presumably healthy, and therefore immensely intriguing, Heat squad, on Christmas Day?
Yes, please.
This better happen, and I’ve haphazardly photoshopped the below scene in order to convey how much it needs to happen:
You’re welcome world.
Now, onto the guesstimate portion of this exercise.
Games usually tip off at 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (all times Eastern), give or take a few minutes, on Christmas Day. The Warriors and Cavaliers will get 5 p.m., because that’s prime-watching time, and because, obviously. Bet on the Heat and Pelicans getting, let’s say, 2:30 p.m.
That leaves the cruddy 12 p.m. slot for a cruddy team, most likely the New York Knicks, who, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, feel like Christmas Day locks. NBC Sports’ Sean Highkin made what I thought were some nice guesses on how the rest of the day will pan out:
Bulls-Knicks
Heat-Pelicans
Cavs-Warriors
Thunder-Rockets
Lakers-Clippers
is my guess for the Christmas games @HPbasketball
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) August 5, 2015
If we’re lucky, the league will turn Lakers-Los Angeles Clippers into Dallas Mavericks-Clippers, if only so we can watch DeAndre Jordan get smacked around by Mark Cuban’s hardwood minions. But hey, if the Lakers are playing, at least it’s not at 12, or at 2:30, or at 5, or at 8. It’s at 10:30 p.m. ET, a time you can easily ignore on any coast—assuming, of course, they’re actually playing, and that they’re actually playing at that time.
Whatever, though.
It looks like we’ll at least get Cavs-Warriors and Pellies-Heatles.
Christmas Day is already looking mighty fine.
