NBA Christmas Day Games: Dates, Tickets & Venue (New York)

A Finals rematch to open the day

On Christmas morning the whole NBA schedule runs through Manhattan. The 2026 edition of the NBA Christmas Day Games opens at Madison Square Garden. The San Antonio Spurs play the New York Knicks there, the same two teams that met in the 2026 NBA Finals.

That makes the Garden the first stop of a five-game day. After New York, the slate moves to Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Anyone watching from a couch can stay with it from late morning until well after midnight on the East Coast.

For anyone in the building, though, this is a single game. It’s also one with a score left over from June, and the crowd knows it.

Why the Knicks own December 25

Christmas basketball in New York goes back to 1947. That was the year the Knicks played the first NBA-era Christmas game. No franchise has played on the holiday more often, and the Garden has hosted more Christmas games than any other arena.

This is why the league keeps handing the Knicks the opening slot. A home game on December 25 is part of the city’s holiday calendar, in the same way the tree at Rockefeller Center is. Plenty of local families treat the tickets as the present itself.

The 2026 matchup adds a rivalry on top of that tradition. A Finals rematch on the league’s most-watched regular-season day is about as loud as a December game at the Garden gets.

The Garden itself

Madison Square Garden fills the block between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and West 31st and 33rd Streets. Its round drum sits on top of Penn Station. You don’t step off the street into the seating bowl. Escalators carry you up several floors from the entrance plazas to the arena level.

This Garden opened in 1968, the fourth building to carry the name. A full renovation finished in 2013. It added the Chase Bridges, two walkways hung from the ceiling that look straight down onto the court.

Seating rises steeply on every side. That’s why even the upper levels feel close to the floor.

Getting to Seventh and 33rd

Few arenas anywhere are easier to reach by train. Every route ends within a block of the doors:

• Subway 1, 2, 3: 34 St–Penn Station on Seventh Avenue, right at the Garden’s east side.
• Subway A, C, E: 34 St–Penn Station on Eighth Avenue, on the west side.
• Subway B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, W: 34 St–Herald Square, two avenues east.
• PATH from New Jersey: 33rd Street station at Sixth Avenue.
• LIRR, NJ Transit, Amtrak: Penn Station underneath the arena, plus Moynihan Train Hall across Eighth Avenue.

On December 25 the subway and commuter rail run holiday schedules, so trains come less often than on a working weekday. Driving into Midtown on Christmas is possible, but garages near Penn Station are few and expensive. Most fans come in by rail.

Getting through the Garden on a holiday

The building runs on phones. Knicks tickets at the Garden are mobile, sold through Ticketmaster, the arena’s long-standing ticketing partner. The Garden is also a cashless venue, so concessions and merchandise take cards and mobile wallets only.

Security uses walk-through screening at each entrance. The bag rules are strict, and large bags are not allowed inside. Most regulars bring only a phone, a wallet and a jacket they’re happy to hold on their lap.

Fans typically come in with time to spare before tip-off. Holiday trains run less often, and the upper-level escalators get crowded. The warm-ups are worth watching too, because the Garden shows them on the big screen above centre court.

A few other habits are common inside the Garden:

• Fans wear Knicks orange and blue, usually with a Santa hat or holiday sweater on top.
• The upper bowl stands for big defensive stands, so expect to be on your feet.
• Seats in the Chase Bridges are sold separately from regular sections, which shows up clearly on the seating map.

Christmas around Penn Station

You come out into a Midtown that is part shut and part full. Offices are dark, but the big holiday sights are packed with visitors. A lot of them sit within a short walk of the arena:

• Macy’s Herald Square: Broadway at 34th Street, one block east, with its famous holiday windows.
• Empire State Building: Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, about a ten-minute walk.
• Bryant Park Winter Village: 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth, with an ice rink and holiday market stalls.
• Rockefeller Center tree: between 49th and 50th Streets, a short subway ride north.
• Koreatown: West 32nd Street between Fifth and Sixth, where many restaurants stay open on the holiday.

Many Midtown restaurants close on December 25 or serve fixed holiday menus. Koreatown and the stretch of Chinatown downtown are the usual choices for a post-game meal on the holiday.

Where the rest of the slate plays

The Garden game is one part of the league’s five-game holiday showcase. The other four matchups are hosted in Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Each arena runs its own ticketing through its home team.

The NBA publishes the full Christmas Day schedule, tip-off times and broadcast details on its official site, NBA.com. The Knicks list their home game and ticket links on the team’s official site.

Most fans leaving the Garden head to a bar near Penn Station or straight home, and the later games stay on in the background for the rest of the day.