It's a little hard to believe, but the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers have not played yet in the 2024-25 NBA season.
That will change Wednesday, when one of the sport's best rivalries is renewed at TD Garden in a Christmas Day matchup.
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It's the ninth consecutive year that the Celtics are playing on Christmas -- a date often reserved for the league's marquee teams and players. The Celtics have a 17-20 record all time on Christmas, but Wednesday's matchup will be just their fifth home game on Christmas.
The Celtics have played very well on Christmas in recent years, winning six of their previous nine matchups on this holiday.
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Boston defeated LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on the road in last year's Christmas Day game. Kristaps Porzingis scored 28 points with 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Here's a recap of the Celtics' last nine Christmas games:
- at Lakers, 2023: 126-115 win
- vs. Bucks, 2022: 139-118 win
- at Bucks, 2021: 117-113 loss
- vs. Nets, 2020: 123-95 loss
- at Raptors, 2019: 118-102 win
- vs. 76ers, 2018: 121-114 win (OT)
- vs. Wizards, 2017: 111-103 loss
- at Knicks, 2016: 119-114 win
- at Nets, 2012: 93-76 win
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The Celtics are no strangers to Christmas games. Jaylen Brown has the most experience on the team with eight Christmas Day games, and he's averaging 17.8 points in those matchups.
Brown needs three points to pass John Havlicek for fourth place on the team's all-time Christmas scoring list. The reigning NBA Finals MVP also needs two rebounds to pass Havlicek for fourth place on the Celtics' all-time Christmas rebounding leaderboard.
Jayson Tatum is averaging 23.6 points over seven Christmas games. He needs 23 points to pass Bill Sharman for second place on the team's all-time Christmas scoring leaderboard. Bob Cousy is No. 1 with 223 points in 11 games.
Tatum's 41 points against the Bucks in 2022 is the second-highest scoring output by a Celtics player on Christmas, trailing only Tommy Heinsohn's 45 points against Syracuse in 1961.
The 76ers have played better of late, but their 10-17 record is way below expectations for a team considered a legit title contender before the season. A convincing win over the Celtics on Christmas potentially could serve as a catalyst for Philly to turn its season around.
That's one reason why this game is important for the Celtics. They can halt the Sixers' momentum and send a message to the rest of the league that the road to the Eastern Conference title still goes through Boston.
