NBA
What is the NBA schedule over the holidays?
The holiday season marks the official start of the new calendar year and the unofficial start of the National Basketball Association league.
As the unofficial “opening” of the basketball season, Christmas Day is almost synonymous for sports enthusiasts with the NBA. Fans are rewarded with a handful of must-watch games involving bitter rivals or expected title contenders on the Christmas Day slate, which signals a point in the calendar a little more than a month into the season.
After the NBA announced the 2022–2023 season schedule, we looked ahead at the games that will be played on Christmas Day and highlighted the ones you shouldn’t miss out on watching.
NBA Christmas Day schedule 2022-23
- Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks, 12 p.m. ET
- Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 2:30 p.m. ET
- Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics, 5 p.m. ET
- Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors, 8 p.m. ET
- Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. ET
NBA New Year’s Day Schedule
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT
- Brooklyn at Charlotte
- Cleveland at Chicago
- New York at Houston
- Dallas at San Antonio
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT
- New Orleans at Memphis
- Detroit at Minnesota
- Philadelphia at Oklahoma City
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT
- Miami at Utah
The Grizzlies will travel to the Bay Area to take on the Warriors on Christmas Day, resulting in a repeat of the Western Conference semifinal series between the two teams. This game is widely considered the most important game of the day. Throughout the last several seasons, Memphis and Golden State have developed into an emerging rivalry both on and off the court. The fact that the Warriors eliminated the Grizzlies from the playoffs in six games adds fuel to the fire since Ja Morant and Draymond Green fought over social media in the summer that followed the conclusion of the playoffs.
Both Morant and Green made their support for a rematch on Christmas Day widely known, and it’s fair to assume that the NBA complied with their requests, much to the delight of NBA fans everywhere. Given the direction of both teams, the meeting between the Grizzlies and the Warriors may not only be a repeat of a game from the past but also a preview of a game that will take place in the Western Conference Finals shortly.