The Cleveland Cavaliers will be returning to the Christmas Day NBA slate for the first time in nearly a decade. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, they will take on the New York Knicks for the first of five games that day.
Christmas Day games aren’t what they used to be. The NFL has come in and taken much of the NBA’s shine away from those matchups. However, this is still a time when the league tries to showcase its best times. The Cavs are clearly one of them and are rightfully being recognized as such.
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It is noteworthy that the Cavs and Knicks are the only Eastern Conference teams with a Christmas game. The other eight participants are in the Western Conference, which speaks to how lopsided the balance of power is between the two conferences.
The rest of the Cavs’ schedule is expected to be released soon. We do know that they aren’t one of the opening night showcase games, as those slots were also taken by Western Conference teams.
Cleveland took care of business against the Knicks last season. They were 4-0 against New York which included two impressive wins at Madison Square Garden.
This will be the 15th time the Cavaliers have played on Christmas. They’re currently 7-7 in those games while being 6-0 at home and 1-7 on the road.
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The Cavs last played on Christmas in 2017 when they lost to the Warriors. Their most recent road Christmas win was 2009 when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 102-87.