The New York Knicks are no strangers to playing on Christmas Day.
But few of their holiday games have come with the anticipation that accompanies Wednesday’s clash against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Knicks will look to remain hot, while second-year Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama will play at Madison Square Garden for the second time in his career Wednesday afternoon.
Both teams were off Tuesday after playing on Monday night. The Knicks beat the visiting Toronto Raptors 139-125 and the Spurs’ late comeback fell short in a 111-106 loss to the host Philadelphia 76ers.
The lopsided victory was the latest evidence a new mix is starting to gel for the Knicks, who have won four straight and have gone 9-2 since Nov. 29 to move into third place in the Eastern Conference.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who was acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 2, and OG Anunoby shared the team lead with 31 points each on Monday night.
“It’s great vibes right now,” the Knicks’ Josh Hart said. “So we’ve just got to make sure we continue to bring that to the game.”
Anunoby became the fifth different player in the last 11 games to at least share the team lead in scoring. The only player to pace the Knicks in scoring in consecutive games over that span is Towns, who scored 23 points in a 121-106 win over the Orlando Magic on Dec. 3 and 27 points two nights later in a 125-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
“We’re a very talented team, so it could be anyone’s night, for sure,” Anunoby said.
Few players in the NBA are as talented as Wembanyama, the versatile 7-foot-3 star who already has collected three triple-doubles in 95 NBA games. Wembanyama earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors last week after collecting 72 points, 14 blocks, 13 rebounds and eight assists in a pair of wins.
“He has helped put us in a lot of cool positions, especially this year,” Spurs point guard Tre Jones told the San Antonio Express-News.
Wembanyama finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks Monday, when the Spurs overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to take a pair of late leads. Wembanyama missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:08 left for San Antonio, which went ahead once more at 103-102 before the 76ers ended the game on a 9-3 run.
The loss was just the second in the last six games for the Spurs, who are in ninth place in the Western Conference but just 1 1/2 games behind the sixth-place Los Angeles Clippers in the race for the final guaranteed playoff spot. San Antonio has missed the playoffs in each of the last five seasons.
While Wembanyama struggled in his first game in New York on Nov. 8, 2023 (14 points on 4-of-14 shooting), his breakout game against the Knicks in San Antonio on March 29 — when he had 40 points and 20 rebounds in a 130-126 overtime victory — has increased the intrigue surrounding the Christmas meeting.
“The first time I’m going to play on Christmas,” Wembanyama told the Express-News. “I’m super excited.”
The Knicks will be playing on Christmas Day for the fourth straight season and an NBA-high 57th time overall. They improved to 24-32 on the holiday last Dec. 25 with a 129-122 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Spurs are playing on Christmas Day for the first time since 2016, when they beat the Chicago Bulls 119-100 to improve to 6-5 all-time on the holiday.
