The first NBA game played on December 25 came in 1947, a year after the NBA’s Beginning, when the New York Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers in Madison Square Garden 89–75.

Ever since then, the NBA has played games each year on Christmas Day except in 1998 (when a lockout canceled half the 1998–99 season). By comparison, Major League Baseball is at its own off-season during Christmas, the National Football League only programs Christmas games when Christmas falls on the weekend (and even then only schedules games on Christmas sometimes ) and the National Hockey League’s collective bargaining agreement forbids playing games on Christmas Day (and, except when it falls on a Saturday, Christmas Eve too ). In college football, the only bowl game traditionally scheduled for Christmas has been the defunct Aloha Bowl (and for one season, its replacement, the Hawaii Bowl). Thus, the NBA is the only league.
From the first days closeness dictated the majority of the matchups. Teams would usually perform their competitions to decrease holiday travel and also to let them have more time with their families. According to Dr. Jack Ramsay, who coached the Portland Trail Blazers from 1976–77 (their only championship season) into 1986,”Christmas meant being at home with all the family and having a match we always won. This was a great Christmas for me personally.” He set the record for most coaching victories on Christmas Day with 11, an achievement that Phil Jackson afterwards matched in 2008.
In the early 1980s, the New York Knicks put on a show three years. In one game (1984), hall-of-fame ahead Bernard King scoring 60 points–the most ever scored by a player on Christmas Day, Together with the dawn of television and the excitement brought on by these games, the NBA decided to scheduled games over the vacation that showcased the best teams and players.

Read more: horse racing best odds