NBA's Christmas Games Overshadow Lackluster NFL Games

NBA provides a day full of close, exciting games while the NFL's two Netflix games were anything but exciting.

San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan (10) grabs a rebound in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

For most of its history, the NBA hasn’t had any competition for viewers on Christmas Day. But that changed this year with the NFL scheduling two games on Christmas and Beyonce halftime show.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for the NFL, the pair of gridiron games paled in comparison the NBA’s all-day slate of games.

Of the five NBA games, four of the games were decided by six points or less and the fifth was a 10-point margin. Furthermore, each game had an exciting ending. The NFL, on Netflix, had two games that were never close with the Chiefs winning 29-10 against the Steelers and Baltimore crushing Houston 31-2.

"I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day," Lebron James told ABC's Lisa Salters after the Lakers' win over the Warriors.

It was about as close of a perfect day for the NBA as it could hope for and it started with San Antonio’s back-and-forth loss to the Knicks and Victor Wembanyama’s incredible performance. He scored the third-most points ever in a Christmas day-game debut and should expect to play in many more Christmas games.

The Spurs and Knicks set the tone for the rest of the NBA’s games and reminded sports fans that basketball can be just as exciting as a football game. It’d be interesting to see the viewership stats and see how many viewers watched NBA games and how many watched the NFL on Netflix. But it’s unlikely Netflix is going to release that stat.

The NFL is a behemoth of a league and doesn’t lose many viewership battles. But while the NFL was giving us coal, the NBA gave us gift on our wish list.

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Spurs Fall Short to Knicks Despite Stellar Performance from Victor Wembanyama