The Knicks will host the Sixers at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day this year, as shared by Sixers superstar James Harden (Twitter link). Veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein confirmed the tweet with his own social media post.
In addition, Shams Charania of The Athletic relays (via Twitter) that the Celtics will host the Bucks. Boston beat Milwaukee in seven games during the second round of the playoffs last season.
New York hosting teams on Christmas has become a regular occurrence, but with the team missing the playoffs last year, it was fair to wonder if it would happen again. Philadelphia playing Miami also would’ve made sense, as the Sixers signed P.J. Tucker in free agency and the teams met in the postseason.
With these two games confirmed, the NBA’s planned Christmas Day schedule is now released. The other expected games are Grizzlies-Warriors, Lakers-Mavericks and Suns-Nuggets.