Carmelo Anthony on his Knicks: ‘We should’ve been on Christmas’

For years, even the NBA’s top commentators have complained about the abundance of nationally televised New York Knick games. The team hasn’t been a championship contender since the fin de siècle and only once acted as a credible playoff participant since then, and yet they remained a staple on your television’s dial.

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This also included Christmas Day games, much to the consternation of most NBA fans. The league put an end to part of this in 2015-16, however, as no Knick game will be featured on Christmas Day’s slate of games.

This rankles Knick forward Carmelo Anthony. From Marc Berman at the New York Post:

“We should’ve been on Christmas. Christmas in New York. That’s what it should’ve been.’’

[…]

“Of course we want to play on Christmas,’’ Anthony said. “I love that. That’s showtime, especially in New York. But we’ll get our shot at it. They’ll come back to us. I don’t know what they were looking at. The past is the past. But New York is one of those teams that should always be on Christmas.’’

What’s ironic about Melo’s assertion is the reminder that Knicks prez Phil Jackson was one of the first to criticize the NBA for playing games on Christmas Day – an understandable critique that Jackson took to an offensive degree during his time as Lakers coach. Jackson’s squads have played Christmas games dating back to 1989, and the benefit of having coached MJ, Pippen, Shaq and Kobe carried over into yearly Christmas Day matchups for Jackson’s squads.

The Knicks, frankly, were not fun to watch during the team’s lean (probably not the right word, considering the team’s billion dollar payroll) years, and they were hardly a great showcase for a league that frequently re-introduces itself to the sporting world via its Christmas Day games. With that in place, for a lot of us there still is something to hearing that Madison Square Garden organ on Christmas afternoon. To seeing those Knicks colors, even the uniforms have sleeves and a massive advertisement for a mid-priced car company on it.

And, to Melo’s credit, he’s likely saying less about the NBA and more about his own franchise – he wants to be a part of the elite nine (plus the Lakers … burn) that the league tosses out each year. To his team’s credit, they have improved this year and might make the playoffs in a similarly-improved Eastern Conference.

When the NBA announced its schedule last summer, we were all relieved to not see any Knick contests amongst the Christmas Day contests. Now that it’s December, and there’s a glowing tree over our left shoulder … yeah, you kind of miss it.

Keep winning every other game, New York. You’ll probably be back on the tube this time next year.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops