NBA

Heat-Lakers Christmas Game Does Huge Ratings

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson can whine all he wants about playing games on Christmas, but the Christmas day tradition isn’t likely to disappear.

NBA teams played five games on Christmas, including a doubleheader featuring the Lakers against the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics against the Orlando Magic. The doubleheader earned a 5.5 rating, while the 6.4 rating for the Heat-Lakers game the highest-rated regular season game since the Heat played the Lakers on Christmas in 2004 in Shaquille O’Neal‘s first game against his former team.

While the Christmas games have certainly been lucrative, they have been controversial among some coaches and players. Jackson recently said:

“It’s like Christian holidays don’t mean anything to them anymore,” said Jackson. “We just go out and play and entertain the TV. It’s really weird.”

In yet another difference of opinion between the Celtics and Lakers, Boston coach Doc Rivers disagreed with Jackson, saying he was honored to take part in the game. From ESPN:

“Honestly, when you play on Christmas Day, some guys are upset over it because you can’t spend time with your family,” Rivers said. “I look at it as a privilege. The fact that they asked us to play on Christmas means we’re one of the good teams, one of the featured teams.”

Several Celtics players also disagreed with Jackson’s reasoning. Of course, when it comes to reasoning, it’s never a bad idea to listen Lakers forward Ron Artest‘s logic. If we all think like Artest, we might agree that the only problem Jesus would have with games on Christmas is that he isn’t able to play. When asked about Jesus’ box scores, Artest said: “No ejections. He was 10 for 10s, a lot of 20 for 20s (in shooting). Perfect from the free-throw line. Infinity rebounding stats.”

Just imagine how high the Christmas ratings would be with J.C. at center.

[Largest Audience Ever for NBA Chritmas Day on ABC & ESPN] ESPN