The NBA being the featured sport on Christmas has been a tradition nearly as strong as the NFL on Thanksgiving. But for six hours on Wednesday, football took some of the shine away from the usual basketball mania, by featuring two games between playoff-bound AFC teams.
LeBron Has A Message For The NFL On Christmas
Neither contest was particularly close, as the Ravens blew out the Texans, and the Steelers were handled easily by the Chiefs. The marquee sporting event of the day became the duel between Steph Curry and LeBron James during the prime time window, and the latter had something to say to the NFL after the instant classic.
A late flurry by the Warriors got them back into a game that was controlled mostly by the Lakers. It featured a pair of vintage clutch three pointers from Curry that eventually tied the game, but it was Austin Reeves’ last-second heroics that won the game for Los Angeles.
LeBron to the NFL: pic.twitter.com/6rvo5OncTt
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 26, 2024
During his postgame interview, James answered the usual questions about playing on Christmas Day and against Curry. After a send-off of wishing his family a merry Christmas, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer had a message:
“I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”
There has been plenty of talk recently about the decline in ratings for the NBA, and the watchability of teams shooting 50+ three pointers a game. Fans having football as an alternative on a day typically owned by basketball was a gut punch in itself, but James and Curry did their best to bring the NBA back into the forefront for the day.
Anthony Davis was lost to injury in the first half and did not return. James picked up the slack, scoring 30+ points on Christmas for the 7th time in his career, and Reeves posted an impressive triple double to go along with his game-winning basket. Curry finished with 38 points.
