NBA Christmas history littered with standout Knicks performances
The Knicks have played Christmas Day basketball more than any other team in NBA history.
So how do their players stack against the best to ever do it on Dec. 25?
And which players could Julius Randle or Jalen Brunson join with an explosive performance against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday?
The Daily News has got you covered.
HISTORY
The Knicks are set to play their 56th Christmas Day game at Madison Square Garden against the Bucks on Monday. It is a matinee game with a tip-off time at noon. The Knicks have a 23-32 (.442) record on Christmas. The Los Angeles Lakers’ hold the current NBA record with 24 wins all-time on the holiday.
ALL-TIME SCORERS
Because they have played so frequently on Christmas, the Knicks are heavily featured among the top-25 scorers on the holiday since NBA Christmas began 76 years ago in 1947.
LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, will continue to add to his record with 460 Christmas points and counting, when the Lakers matchup against the Boston Celtics on Monday.
Walt Bellamy is the closest Knick to James.
Bellamy ranks 10th all-time in total Christmas points scored (237 points in nine games). He scored 28 and 30 points, respectively, in back-to-back Christmas appearances in 1966 and 1967 during this stint with the Knicks.
Richie Guerin ranks 11th on the all-time total points scored list, Walt Frazier comes in 14th (204 points in 11 games), Dick Barnett ranks 21st and Willis Reed checks in 22nd.
Carmelo Anthony sits 16th all-time in Christmas Day points scored, but he averaged 29 points per game over his career when suiting up on Dec. 25.
Anthony ranks fifth all-time in Christmas points per game (29), behind Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robinson and Kevin Durant and is one slot ahead of Michael Jordan.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Knicks history is rife with standout performances on Christmas Day. Richie Guerin, for example, staved off a 59-point night from Wilt Chamberlain to score 40 points of his own in a 1961 Knicks victory over the Philadelphia Warriors.
Bernard King has held the NBA’s Christmas Day scoring record since 1984, when he scored 60 points against the New Jersey Nets. King, Chamberlain and Rick Barry are the only players to ever score 50 or more on the holiday.
A year later, a rookie Patrick Ewing put up 32 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Draft Lottery-bound Knicks to a stunning victory over the eventual 1985 NBA champion Boston Celtics.
In 1986, Ewing lifted the Knicks to a victory on a game-winner to overcome a 30-point Christmas Day performance from Michael Jordan.
More recently, Melo logged 37 points against the Celtics in 2011, and the Knicks had three players record a double-double (Amar’e Stoudemire, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton) in a Christmas Day win ahead of the trade that sent Anthony to the Knicks later that season.
A Christmas Day 2021 miracle, an aging Kemba Walker recorded his third career triple-double — just the seventh ever on Christmas and first in Knicks history — with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against the Atlanta Hawks.
And in 2022, Julius Randle scored 35 points albeit in a loss to the Sixers. Randle has tallied 90 points across five Christmas Day games and is averaging 18 points per game on the holiday, but he has only played twice on Christmas since his ascent to stardom in New York.
Jalen Brunson has scored 54 points through three Christmas Day games but put up 23 points and 11 assists last season against the Sixers and hung 27 points on the Utah Jazz in a 2021 Christmas appearance for the Dallas Mavericks.
