Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers

You found this. Be the first one here.

Christmas afternoon is the one day of the year when the entire country watches basketball at the same time, and this building has been the centre of it for as long as the tradition has existed. A two o'clock tip means the morning belongs to whatever your family does with mornings and the evening belongs to dinner, and the middle of the day belongs to this. The room feels different: people in new sweaters they were given four hours earlier, a national audience that makes the players noticeably sharper, and an occasion that everybody in the building has consciously chosen over sitting at home. Philadelphia is the visitor, which is a proper opponent rather than a scheduling courtesy. This is the hardest regular-season ticket of the year here and the only one where the date matters more than the result. Decide about it early. It does not get cheaper, ever.