TORONTO — Christmas Day is a lot of things to many different people, but to fans of the NBA it’s generally seen as a sign of respect that the team they cheer for gets to play on one of the most coveted days on the basketball calendar.
Annually, only 10 teams get to play on Christmas Day, with a slate of games that, generally speaking, are representative of the very best the league has to offer as a national showcase.
Or, at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.
“No,” said Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet when asked if he sees playing on Christmas as a sign of respect. “There’s bad teams that play on Christmas every year. It’s a business, and we’ve watched bad teams play on Christmas every year.”
This Grinch-like response from VanVleet is representative of the feelings Raptors fans have had over being snubbed from the Christmas showcase for every year during what has been a six-season (and counting) run of success.
This year, however, Raptors fans finally got their wish and were recognized by the NBA to not only play on Christmas, the first time the team will do so since 2001, but host one for the first time as they take on the Boston Celtics at 12:00 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena.
Go figure, all it took was for the Raptors to win a championship to get the big showcase game.
Sarcasm aside, though, this is still a big deal for the Raptors organization and for the players involved as a lot of guys grew up watching the Christmas games on TV.
“I was a big basketball fan, so that was a staple for a lot of kids growing up,” said VanVleet who, despite his salty comments about the Christmas game was also wearing his own FVV-branded ugly Christmas sweater.
“You’re not really doing anything else on Christmas. You open your presents in the morning and/or the night before and then you’re with family the whole day. So everybody’s together, hanging around, eating food and unless you’re gonna watch Christmas carols and parades and movies, basketball with family, that’s what you’re watching.”
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Added Raptors rookie Terence Davis: “It’s definitely something that I grew up watching. Basketball was on all the time, every Christmas I was watching basketball, so just to be part of a Christmas game is just special.”
And fellow Raptors guard Malcolm Miller: “It was always nice seeing the Christmas games. Football has Thanksgiving, so basketball has Christmas. And I’ve always been a basketball fan, so seeing basketball on Christmas was great.”
But as much as players watched the Christmas games growing up, actually playing on the day, perhaps, hasn’t fully sunk in yet for much of the Raptors’ locker room. A lot of guys downplayed the game’s actual importance.
“I mean, it’s cool. It’s Christmas, it’s something to check off the checklist, but it’s not that big of a deal,” said VanVleet. “I mean, we won a championship, so the bar is pretty high.”
“To me, really, it’s just another game,” said Miller. “I’m sure my family will be watching me and supporting me, so that’s a special moment about it, but other than that it’s just like another game, another tough opponent you have to prepare for.”
“It’s never happened for me, so it’s definitely a first but it’s not really gonna change my day,” said Raptors centre Chris Boucher. “I’m just gonna enjoy it. My family is going to be over and I’m going to play a game and then have the festivities.”
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All of these players are rookies to the Christmas day game, but one of the only guys in Toronto’s locker room who has gone through it says it’s par for the course to downplay the day’s significance until you actually do it.
“When it was my first time I was like, ‘Why do people make it so special if it’s a midday game?’ But it was great and it was almost like a playoff game,” said Serge Ibaka, a veteran of six Christmas Day games.
Ibaka and Patrick McCaw are the only two players on the Raptors to ever have the honour to play on Christmas and the Raptors’ big man says it’s probably the best thing an NBA player can do short of winning a championship.
“Man, playing on Christmas Day is a special moment,” said Ibaka. “It’s a moment you know where you’ve got all of your family here to support you because you know that they’re going to be watching. And it’s not every day you have a chance to participate on Christmas Day. I mean, it’s only one game a year, right?”
Speaking with a twinkle in his eye like the one from ol’ Saint Nick himself and a thousand-watt smile, Ibaka was effusive and downright giddy about the prospect of suiting up for his seventh Christmas Day game.
“Oh man, I’m blessed man. I’m thankful for that,” he said. “It never gets old. You’re playing on Christmas day man, you’ve got to get up for it! It’s Christmas Day! It’s a beautiful day! Christmas!”
It’s a day many in Toronto have been asking for, and it’s finally here.
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