The Miami Heat will face the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night on Christmas Day in a huge Eastern Conference matchup. It will be Miami's 14th Christmas game and have had major success on the holiday with a 11-2 record, which is the best winning percentage of any team on the event.
It has been a couple of seasons since the Heat made an appearance on Christmas as for star Bam Adebayo, he calls it a “privilege.” He said after the win to the Atlanta Hawks last Friday that having a game like this in Miami will be exciting.
“It is definitely a privilege. Definitely going to enjoy that moment,” Adebayo said. “First time it happened, it was the COVID type of ordeal. So it is going to be good to have a Christmas game in Miami.”
Heat's Kevin Love, others talk about playing on Christmas
Adebayo should be in line to have an exceptional night against the Sixers as superstar Joel Embiid will miss the matchup with an ankle sprain. Another Miami player in Kevin Love has a ton of experience in Christmas Day games as he has played in four, all with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I think it’s a big matchup for us,” Love said. “[Sixers are] ahead of us in the standings. But I think it’s just another opportunity for us, knowing that you grow up and you want to play on Christmas Day.”
While the Sixers will be without Embiid, they still have key players like Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris that can cause some troubles for Miami. Duncan Robinson said to the media after Friday's win that it will be a “great challenge.”
“We’re excited for it,” Duncan Robinson said. “They’re playing really well right now. It will be a great challenge to get a home game here on Christmas. So we’re excited to play here and just get out there and compete.”
For a player like Caleb Martin, it will be his first Christmas game and said that “every NBA player wants” to play on a platform like the holiday.
“It’s always exciting to play a game like that,” Heat forward Caleb Martin said. “Every NBA player wants to be able to play on a stage like that, where everybody is going to be watching. I think it will be a cool experience.”
Spo does not take the Christmas games for granted
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra also said to the media that he told the team how much of an honor it is. He even recalls the time where the team would be playing on the holiday a lot when they had the big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, and said “you almost took it for granted.”
“I always mention it to our locker room that it is an honor to have that opportunity to play on Christmas,” Spoelstra said. “The whole league doesn’t play on the holiday. There were several years in a row, where we were never considered for playing on Christmas. Then you go back before, you almost took it for granted that we were always going to play on Christmas. So I don’t want any of our guys to [take it for granted], and I know they don’t.”
While it is great to play on Christmas Day, the task at hand is getting a win. Spoelstra expressed to the media he considers the holiday a “win,” but they have to make sure to get “the win.”
“That’s a special day and a special opportunity to compete and do what we love on a great holiday,” Spoelstra said. “We get the morning, we get Christmas Eve, these are a bunch of wins. But we just got to make sure that we get the win.”
The Heat are looking for their third straight win, but they will be without Jimmy Butler, Haywood Highsmith, and Josh Richardson. They face the Sixers tonight at the Kaseya Center as Miami is 17-12 which puts them at fifth in the Eastern Conference.
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