When you're a Jew, there's not a whole lot to do on Christmas Day other than hang out at home playing board games, go to a movie or watch NBA basketball games. Over the last few years, the latter has become a tradition for me - two years ago I went to Madison Square Garden to watch the green-uniform-clad Knicks drop a close one to the pre-LeBron Miami Heat, and last year I watched a number of games on TV. This season the league rushed to start the post-lockout NBA season on the 25th, understanding that Christmas Day professional hoops has become a big deal to fans everywhere.
In a way, you can't blame the NBA for shortening the pre-season to a meager two games in an effort to start the regular season on December 25 - failure to do so would mean losing a lot of revenue and disrupting an entertaining annual tradition. But if the rushed pre-season turns Christmas Day basketball into a collection of errant passes, blown defensive coverages and missed mid-range jumpers, will the league come to regret its decision to get the players back on the court by Christmas? Will the fans care if their Christmas Day hoops aren't mid-season quality?
I've now watched both of the Knicks' pre-season games against the New Jersey Nets, and if these games are any indication of what Sunday's game versus Boston is going to be like, I'm not too excited about it. The players look extremely rusty, as virtually every basketball sportswriter has pointed out ad nauseum, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. The sloppy play has been exacerbated by the fact that the lockout compressed the free agent signing period so that teams are still filling out their rosters with just hours to go before the start of the regular season. Between the lack of continuity and the lack of repititions, the current quality of NBA basketball is far below what I've come to expect from Christmas Day pro hoops.
As much as I've grown to enjoy college basketball, I've always preferred the NBA because the quality of play is much higher. The NBA typically features fewer missed shots, fewer bad passes and fewer dropped rebounds. While the NCAA is all about who makes fewer mistakes, the NBA is supposed to be about who makes the most great plays. This year, however, the Christmas Day winners might well be the teams who can cut down the most on their sloppiness and most closely resemble an actual basketball team. While I'm still pumped for Knicks versus Celtics on Sunday at noon, I'm prepared for a game that's more fit for Rucker Park than for MSG.
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