Spurs face Knicks on Christmas Day

As the NBA offseason continues, the schedule began to unravel on Thursday night when, according to Shams Charania, five games were announced that will take place on December 25:

These five hand-picked games to watch on Christmas Day usually have a bigger reason for the viewership than the average contest. The first matchup listed above is a great example, as reigning NBA Rookie of the Year and rising star Victor Wembanyama will be playing at the prestigious Madison Square Garden, nicknamed the “Most Famous Arena in the World.”

This will be Wembanyama's second appearance at MSG, as his first appearance was only the eighth game of his career. On November 11, the big man scored 14 points on a subpar 4-of-14 shooting from the field, while also grabbing nine rebounds, two assists and a block. The Knicks won the game 126-105.

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Nearly 70 games later, the Spurs hosted the Knicks in San Antonio and won in a close overtime duel 130-126. Wembanyama improved with each game after the first meeting with the Knicks, and that was evident in their last game, when he scored 40 points on 13 of 22 field goals, including 4 of 9 three-pointers, 20 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block.

These two teams have played a very different number of Christmas Day games throughout their respective franchise histories, but neither has a record above .500, as the Knicks have a 23-31 record and the Spurs have a 5-6 record in their small sample of December 25 games.

These two baseball clubs also finished last season in different places: The Spurs finished second to last in the Western Conference with a record of 22-60, while the Knicks finished first in the Eastern Conference, just behind the eventual champions Boston Celtics.

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