MADRID 24 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NBA, considered the best basketball league in the world, will celebrate this Wednesday, Christmas Day, its traditional and high-profile Christmas Day, made up of a series of games of some relevance and which this year will be the Knicks-Spurs, the Warriors-Lakers , the Mavericks-Timberwolves, the Celtics-Sixers and the Suns-Nuggets. We review some of the numbers to keep in mind for fans of this day.
1. The Knicks, kings of Christmas. The New York franchise will play its 57th game of this holiday, a record and after debuting in the first edition, back in 1947. New York also hosts the first of the five games on this day for the fourth consecutive season.
2. New matches. Of the five scheduled games, only Knicks-Spurs and Mavericks-Timberwolves are being played for the first time in history on this day.
3. Lakers and Knicks who have smiled the most. The two franchises are tied, with 24, in number of wins this Christmas Day.
4. Statistical records. The historical points mark is also linked to the Knicks thanks to the 60 points that Bernard King’s forward scored in 1984, a figure that celebrates its 40th anniversary on the 25th. For his part, the legendary Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for rebounds, with 36 in 1961, Guy Rodgers and Nate Archibald the most assists with 18 in 1966 and 1972, respectively, DeAndre Jordan the most blocks with 8 in 2011 and Kyrie Irving has the steals with 7 in 2016.
5. Doncic was already the protagonist. The Slovenian point guard for the Dallas Mavericks shone with his own light last year when he scored 50 points, 15 assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks in the victory against the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first player in 39 years to score at least 50 so many on Christmas Day.
6. Duel between Eastern Conference historics. The Boston Celtics, current NBA champions, and the Philadelphia 76ers have played against each other for 75 years and have played in 22 playoff series, an NBA record. At Christmas, however, they had not seen each other since 2018, with the victory of the Massachusetts franchise.
7. Santa Claus James. Veteran LeBron James will play his nineteenth Christmas game, a record, five days before his 40th birthday and 21 years after doing so for the first time as a ‘rookie’ at the age of 18. In addition, he has the record for points scored with 476 and hopes this year to be able to break ties with Dwayne Wade in wins on this day (10). He will face Warriors star Stephen Curry for the fourth time on Christmas.
8. ‘Triple-doubles’ on a special day. Only nine players have reached triple digits in their statistics on Christmas Day, with special mention for Oscar Robertson, who did it four times, twice as many as John Havlicek, Billy Cunningham, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
9. The most successful coaches. Phil Jackson and Jack Ramsay share this mark with eleven wins each on Christmas Day.
10. The Heat, the best winning percentage. Miami has the highest winning percentage among active teams this Christmas Day thanks to its 12-2 record, with a nine-game winning streak.