It’s the holiday season, and everyone is looking forward to the NBA Christmas day games. Since the league’s second season in 1947, the NBA has always had a series of games that many basketball fans look forward to watching underneath the Christmas tree. 

Over the years, we’ve seen some of the best performances in one of the brightest spotlights in the sport. We’ve seen guys like scoring champ Bernard King put up 60 points in a game against the Nets in 1984, or Dwyane Wade showing why he’s an amazing all-around player putting up 40 points with 11 assists, 5 blocks, and 4 steals. 

This year we look toward the same type of vibe and mentality, as we have five games to look forward to, and all of them consist of playoff-bound teams. At 12 p.m., it’s the Philadelphia 76ers take on the New York Knicks. At 2:30, the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Dallas Mavericks. Then at 5 p.m., the Milwaukee Bucks face the Boston Celtics. After that at 8 p.m., the Memphis Grizzlies will face the Golden State Warriors. The final game of the festive night will be the Phoenix Suns versus the Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m.

We’ll be looking at these games in depth to see which teams have found their identity and have adapted well with the players on their respective rosters, as we head towards the All-Star break. Can Philly win with Harden at point guard? Are the Knicks a real playoff team and/or do they have to trade Julius Randles? Have the Suns fallen off? Are the Warriors really back?

Nevertheless, this should be a very exciting Christmas day full of fun and lots of highlights by the end of the night.