Spurs to play on Christmas?

[TD 21]

No rumors or sources; just common sense.

In hearing that the schedule will be released tomorrow, that got me thinking about whether the Spurs will be playing on Christmas. I quickly reached the following conclusion: As long as they go with 5 games, they should be a lock.

There's 14 virtual playoff locks (Spurs, Thunder, Lakers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, Nuggets, Heat, Celtics, Pacers, Bulls, Nets, Knicks, wherever Howard plays). So that leaves 10 spots for 14-15 teams (I say 15 to leave open the possibility they throw in a random team).

By process of elimination: The Bulls figure to be unlikely, as they'll be without Rose, as do the Magic, because no one knows where Howard will be playing. Then there's the Grizzlies and Pacers, neither of whom is in a big market or has anything close to a marquee name, which probably leaves them on the outside looking in, too. That leaves 10-11 (Spurs, Thunder, Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks, Nuggets, Heat, Celtics, Nets, Knicks, plus the possibility they throw in a random team). I'm predicting the match-ups will be as follows: Nets-Knicks, Clippers-Lakers, Thunder-Heat, Celtics-Spurs, Mavericks-Nuggets. Wouldn't surprise me if the Timberwolves find their way into the night cap, though.

Either way, expect the Spurs to figure prominently into the national TV package this season. They won't get the same amount of coverage as the glamor teams of course, but they will be back amongst the marquee teams.

[baseline bum]

5 games? I though Christmas usually had three: an ESPN game and two ABC games. A Spurs/Knicks ESPN early game is a possibility I guess. The ABC early game will likely be Boston at Miami and the later game will almost certainly be OKC at LA.

[TD 21]

5 games? I though Christmas usually had three: an ESPN game and two ABC games. A Spurs/Knicks ESPN early game is a possibility I guess. The ABC early game will likely be Boston at Miami and the later game will almost certainly be OKC at LA.

The past few years, it's usually been five. I think it was three last year, but last year was a weird year for many reasons. The second ABC game is almost always a Finals rematch (I think the O'Neal-Bryant feud upstaged it one year, if I recall correctly), so Thunder-Heat is a lock. The early ESPN game is always two Eastern teams and the other ABC game, if the Lakers aren't in the 2nd one/Finals rematch, is guaranteed to be the Lakers, at home. But once you get past those games, the next two obvious teams to find a spot for are the Spurs and Celtics.

[DesignatedT]

I hope so.

[T Park]

I'm gonna put in a guess that Clippers play on Christmas this year.

[Mel_13]

The Spurs haven't played a home game on Christmas in the Duncan era. They have played three times on the road. At the Lakers in '99, at Detroit in '05 and at Phoenix in '08.

The difference between 3 and 5 games will be huge as the two NY teams, the two LA teams, Miami, and OKC all figure to be higher on the network wish list than San Antonio.

Here's hoping for a Christmas game in San Antonio.

[baseline bum]

The past few years, it's usually been five. I think it was three last year, but last year was a weird year for many reasons. The second ABC game is almost always a Finals rematch (I think the O'Neal-Bryant feud upstaged it one year, if I recall correctly), so Thunder-Heat is a lock. The early ESPN game is always two Eastern teams and the other ABC game, if the Lakers aren't in the 2nd one/Finals rematch, is guaranteed to be the Lakers, at home. But once you get past those games, the next two obvious teams to find a spot for are the Spurs and Celtics.

I think it's the exact opposite: that it's normally 3 since that's all they need to get the glamour teams on, while it was 5 last year as an apology for the lockout.

[timvp]

I think it's the exact opposite: that it's normally 3 since that's all they need to get the glamour teams on, while it was 5 last year as an apology for the lockout.

I didn't know either but ESPN goes back to 1993:

-From 1993 to 2001, there were two games on Christmas. (No games on Christmas of 1998, obviously.)

-2002 and 2003 had two Christmas games.

-2004 and 2005 had three Christmas games.

-2006 had one Christmas game.

-2007 had three Christmas games.

Since then, it's been five Christmas games.

[baseline bum]

^ I like our chances then.

[lefty]

Lol Spur Fan getting excited over a Christmas game

[Floyd Pacquiao]

I hope the spurs don't play an away game on Christmas... I want them to spend time with their families...they deserve it for being so classy

[siraulo23]

Rmj 3...

[Mel_13]

The Lakers do play at home on Christmas against the Knicks --

https://twitter.com/janiscarr

[crc21209]

Last night on SportsCenter they reported the Thunder will play @ Miami on Christmas.

[lefty]

Spur fan jizzing about a possible X-mas game :lmao

Hunting rumors :lmao


Regular season champs :lmao

[TE]

Meh who cares

[ace3g]

schedule show on NBATV just started

[ace3g]

Spurs vs Hornets, Oct 31st

[ace3g]

great we start off with a B2B... against Thunder on Nov 1...

[Pelicans78]

Oh yeah.........

[ace3g]

check out full schedule here:

http://www.nba.com/gameline/spurs/

[Creation88]

the nba schedule format is fucking horrible. anyone else got another version?

[justinandimcool]

mid-January to early-March there are no elite opponents, let's get that 20 game streak back :toast

[Creation88]

http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/sa/san-antonio-spurs much better

[Creation88]

Spurs start with 7 games in 11 days. WTF is that

[TimmehC]

Great, the Unibrow's first pro game is against us.

[justinandimcool]

on first glance....16 B2B total and three sets of 4 games in 5 nights, not bad.

[racm]

Spurs start with 7 games in 11 days. WTF is that

The Spurs' April 2012 schedule was just as packed. Pop is a master of limiting minutes.

None of the first teams except OKC, LAL, and possibly LAC worry me. :flag:

[Hoops Czar]

Of course, the Spurs were bypassed for Christmas. No ABC games this year but 15 nationally televised games ( not inc. Nbatv). The spend practically the entire month of November on the road. Otherwise, it isn't a bad schedule

[Stabula]

Not the best, but certainly not a bad schedule. I'm sure the team is satisfied with it as well.

[TD 21]

Unbelievable that they allowed ABC/ESPN to do this. The Rockets (who figure to be amongst the worst handful of teams in the league) and the Rose-less Bulls are going to play, in addition to the irrelevant Nuggets (not a massive market, zero star power), but not the Spurs? I don't care where those respective markets are located, that's beyond a joke; it's a travesty.

The league should have demanded that the Spurs be playing, if for no other reason than integrity purposes. They enter the season as the third best team in the league and play far and away the most entertaining brand of basketball in the league and they can't make a 5 game Christmas day slate? None of the cliche reasoning can justify this. Its inexplicable and the league should be embarrassed. And to top it off, not one "Sunday showcase" game, either. Pathetic.