Christmas lineup features Lakers-Warriors duel

MANILA, Philippines — There’s no NBA Finals rematch this year on Christmas. Not technically, anyway. It’s LeBron James vs the Golden State Warriors for the fourth consecutive year on Dec. 25, though James will be wearing a Los Angeles Lakers uniform this time.

It was a predictable matchup.

It isn’t, however, a break from tradition.

That’s one of the biggest misnomers about the NBA and the schedule. An NBA Finals rematch is not common, not the norm, not a guarantee for the last two teams that were standing the previous season. The league has crowned a champion every year since 1947, and the tradition of Christmas Day games started later that same year. (They’ve been an annual fixture since, with the exception of 1998, when a lockout didn’t allow that season to begin until February).

But there have been only nine NBA Finals rematches on Dec. 25. The recent Golden State-Cleveland history may make it seem like more.

James has been in five Finals rematches on Christmas, all since 2011: Miami vs Dallas that year, Oklahoma City vs Miami the following year, and Cleveland vs Golden State in each of the last three years.

The other four rematches on the holiday: Orlando vs Houston in 1995, Philadelphia vs the Lakers in 2001, San Antonio vs Detroit in 2005 and Boston vs the Lakers in 2008.

So instead of a Cavs-Warriors rematch, getting Lakers vs Warriors – for the first time in the LeBron LA era – makes perfect sense.

“Bron is Bron,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “They’re going to be tough, a tough matchup on Christmas Day, but we’re looking forward to it.”

Inevitably, so will James. Even with the Lakers having lost four of their last six games, they’re off to a 19-14 start – their best since the 2011-12 season.

“We’ve got a long way to go to get to Golden State,” James said in September.

He’s about to get his first look at how the Lakers measure up with the champs.

Christmas lineup

Tuesday’s slate starts with Milwaukee at New York, followed by Oklahoma City at Houston, Philadelphia at Boston, the Lakers at the Warriors and then Portland at Utah. It’s Milwaukee’s first Christmas game since 1977, which will end what was by far the league’s longest Dec. 25 drought. Utah hasn’t played on Christmas since 1997.