The most predicted scheduling announcement in the history of scheduling announcements will be made official later today. According to ESPN, LeBron James will make his return to Miami, where he won two championships, with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the league’s Christmas Day showcase. (Imagine typing that sentence five years ago.) And here I thought they would save it for the second new moon of the new year.
Much like Thanksgiving Day belongs to the NFL, Christmas Day is the NBA’s day to have the nation to themselves. The ratings for Christmas Day games are traditionally higher than anything else the NBA will draw during the regular season. And if there’s one regular season game the casual sports fan wants to see for the storylines involved, it is Cavs at Heat. As a star-driven league, the NBA is always going to put the biggest names forward for their national showcase. But when you look at the numbers, it’s amazing just how often that happens.
LeBron James has played on Christmas Day 8 times in his career. Kobe Bryant has played on Christmas Day 15 times.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) August 13, 2014
Given the general apathy of Miami sports fans, it’ll be great to see just how close Heat fans to come to this level of spite dished out by Cavs fans in LeBron’s return to Cleveland:
Cavs-Heat could realistically contend for one of the highest-rated regular season games in recent NBA history with the storyline of James coming back home firmly cementing him in the good graces of the nation once again. The rest of the rumored Christmas Day lineup looks pretty decent… except for having to be subjected to the Knicks and Lakers again.
Oh, and hey, the Spurs are there too! Remember them?
So based on all the reports out there, Christmas Day will have Cavs/Heat, Spurs/OKC, Clips/Dubs, Bulls/LAL & Knicks/Wiz. Mouth watering
— Joseph Casciaro (@JosephCasciaro) August 13, 2014
[ESPN]
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