The Miami Heat will play on Christmas Day for the first time in three years, as they will travel to Boston to take on the Celtics in the second game of an action-packed holiday slate.
The last time the Heat played on Christmas Day was in 2023, when they prevailed against the Philadelphia 76ers. This time around, they'll rekindle a rivalry with the Celtics. Here is the complete Christmas Day slate for this season:
Spurs @ Knicks
Heat @ Celtics
76ers @ Lakers
Thunder @ Timberwolves
Nuggets @ Warriors
The Heat will likely get the 2:30 p.m. tip-off time in the second slot. Even though both the Heat head into this season with great expectations, this is an offseason that has been quite different for both teams.
Heat are back in the limelight after a successful summer
Interestingly enough, the Heat and Celtics have pretty much gone in opposite directions this summer. Since the bidding war for Giannis Antetokounmpo, which the Heat managed to edge out the Celtics for, it's been a tale of two summers for both teams.
Miami landed Giannis and is back on top of the Eastern Conference conversation. Even though their roster is not yet finalized, the expectations for the Heat will be back at an all-time high. That's the impact of landing a superstar.
But for the Celtics, since missing out on Giannis, it's almost as if nothing has gone right for the franchise. Part of the aftermath of missing out on Giannis led to Jaylen Brown eventually being traded to the Philadelphia76ers. Ironically enough, that may have also been the final move needed to help push LeBron James to Philly.
Not only did the Celtics see two of their rivals, the Heat and 76ers, get much better this offseason, but they also got visibly worse.
Time will ultimately tell whether the Celtics made the right decision or not by dangling Brown in an offer for Giannis, and then trading him to Philly, but it's surely a tough look for now.
The Heat headlining Christmas Day just feels right
And that's only part of why there is going to be much intrigue heading into this Christmas Day clash. Giannis. Jayson Tatum. Erik Spoelstra. Joe Mazzulla. Celtics. Heat. Storylines. History.
This is one of those games that has everything you look for. Even though it's not really a surprise that the Heat got the nod once again for a Christmas Day game, it's great to see it.
It's almost as if everything is right in the world again for Heat fans. They have the superstar and, now, a Christmas Day game.
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