On Thursday afternoon, the New York Knicks hit the floor at home for an NBA Christmas Day game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game was expected to be a battle of two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, although the Cavs have not exactly held up their end of the bargain thus far, currently sitting at 17-14 on the 2025-26 NBA season.

As part of the festivities, ESPN decided to air an alternate “Dunk the Halls” broadcast on ESPN2 featuring some beloved Disney characters, and before the game, the company released a video of Mickey Mouse and Goofy delivering pregame speeches to the Knicks and Cavaliers.

The bizarre video was met with a mix of reactions from fans in the comment section on X, formerly Twitter.

“I need the full transcript of Mickey’s pregame speech. If he doesn’t end it with ‘Hot Dog!', I’m not sure the team is going to be motivated enough to win,” wrote one fan.

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“Because nothing motivates athletes like cartoon life lessons,” quipped another.

Overall, it remains to be seen what kind of ratings ESPN's alternate cast will draw, or whether it will be something they look to continue to implement in the future, but animated alt-casts have become increasingly popular across a range of sports leagues in recent years.

Meanwhile, on the court, the Christmas Day game was a big contest for both the Cavs and Knicks. The Knicks have been hot in recent weeks, slowly creeping up on the Detroit Pistons for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs, meanwhile, are hoping for a fresh start after having been one of the most disappointing teams in the league up to this point.

In any case, the Cavs and Knicks will meet again one more time this season, on February 24 in Cleveland.