The Commercial Appeal

Ranking each of the NBA’S Christmas games

- Jeff Zillgitt

A Lebron James team will play on Christmas for the 15th consecutiv­e season. It will also be the Los Angeles Lakers' 23rd consecutiv­e holiday appearance.

The Atlanta Hawks get a Dec. 25 game for the first time since 1989 and the Phoenix Suns break through for their first Christmas game since 2009.

The All-stars and championsh­ipcontendi­ng teams are well-represente­d in the five-game Christmas games: Atlanta-new York, Boston-milwaukee, Golden State-phoenix, Brooklynlo­s Angeles Lakers and Dallas-utah.

With 383 career Christmas Day points, James is 13 points shy of passing Lakers great and Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant for first place on the alltime Dec. 25 scoring list.

Let's rank the Christmas games in order of watchabili­ty:

1. Nets-lakers, 8 p.m. ET, ABC/ ESPN.

Is this an NBA Finals preview? Who knows but this matchup is loaded with star power — James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony with the Lakers and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden with the Nets.

Amid all those All-stars and future Hall of Famers, there are connection­s both personal and profession­al.

Durant, Harden and Westbrook played together in Oklahoma City; Anthony and Harden played together briefly in Houston; Harden and Westbrook were on the same Rockets team in 2019-20; Irving and Lebron spent three seasons with Cleveland, winning a championsh­ip in 2016; and while Durant and James are friends, this will be a good time to see how longtime close friends James and Anthony are doing on the same team for the first time in their career.

2. Suns-warriors, 5 p.m. ET, ABC. As the defending Western Conference champions, the Suns earned their first Christmas game since 2009. It's a fun team with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and coach Monty Williams.

There will be pressure on the Suns to equal or build on last season's success, which won't be easy in the West. The Warriors will be interestin­g to watch from the start to see if a healthy group featuring Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and second-year center James Wiseman can propel the Warriors back to the elite in the West.

3. Hawks-knicks, noon ET, ESPN. Hawks-knicks at Madison Square Garden on Christmas and the gift of point guards — Kemba Walker and Trae Young. But this game featuring two teams is more than that matchup and more than a rematch of last year's first-round playoff series won by the Hawks.

These are two teams who believe they can compete for the Eastern Conference championsh­ip. The Knicks improved on paper by acquiring Walker and Evan Fournier while retaining free agents Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson and reaching an extension with All-star Julius Randle on a longterm deal.

The Hawks' big moves were keeping John Collins and Lou Williams. Let's see if the Hawks are ready to take the next step. The Hawks last played on Christmas in 1989 when Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb and Moses Malone starred.

4. Mavericks-jazz, 10:30 p.m., ESPN.

Get Luka Doncic on TV and get him on often, including on Christmas. The more people see him, the better. He's already a star, will be one for a long time in the NBA and is a joy to watch.

But beyond Donic and Utah stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, both teams have something to prove this season.

Dallas has lost in the first round of the playoffs the past two seasons, and despite having the best record in the league last season, the Jazz lost in the second round.

5. Bucks-celtics, 2:30 p.m. ET, ABC.

It's a no-brainer to put the defending champion on the Christmas Day schedule. But even if they hadn't won the title, you still put the Bucks and Giannis Antetokoun­mpo on the docket.

This is the fourth consecutiv­e season Milwaukee and Antetokoun­mpo are featured on Dec. 25. The Celtics have something to prove following an offseason of changes. A disappoint­ing regular season followed by a firstround playoff loss followed by a coaching and front-office shakeup leaves Boston in a bit of unknown place in the East.

Brad Stevens replaced Danny Ainge as president of basketball operations, Ime Udoka was hired to replace Stevens and by Christmas, we should have a decent idea of what kind of team the Celtics will be.

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