If there’s truly no place like home for the holidays, the New York Knicks are in the perfect place on Christmas Day.
Dec. 25, 2025: Matchup
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The Knicks are back in their near-annual spot on the Yuletide hardwood slate as the 2025 edition features a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s the first of five games on the NBA’s holiday ledger and the Association record-extending 58th Christmas game the Knicks have played (and the franchise’s 50th at Madison Square Garden).
New York has successfully defended MSG on 14 of its first 16 tries this season, but it enters this game looking to get back on track after falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Tuesday night. Despite a sterling 40-point showing from Karl-Anthony Towns in his return to Target Center and a near-triple-double for Tyler Kolek, the Knicks dropped a 115-104 decision in Minneapolis.
The Knicks played without OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson, who both sat out with minor ailments. Both are off the injury report and are expected to play on Thursday afternoon.
Cleveland is enduring a disappointing follow-up to a season that saw them top the Eastern Conference, placing seventh at the Christmas landmark. The Cavs have won two in a row coming into the holiday haunt, with the latter being a 141-118 shellacking of the New Orleans Pelicans at home. Donovan Mitchell led way with 27 points on a night where nine difference Cavaliers reached double-figures in scoring. Cleveland may also be destined for some good news on the injury front: Evan Mobley, who has not played since Dec. 12 due to a calf strain, was upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game.
This will be the second of three meetings between the Knicks and Cavs this season, the first being a 119-111 New York victory on opening night at MSG back on Oct. 22. Anunoby led the way with a 24-point, 14-rebound double-double that helped start atoning for a four-game sweep to the Cavs last time around. One more battle in Cleveland is scheduled to go down on Feb. 24.
What: Cleveland Cavaliers (17-14) @ New York Knicks (20-9)
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
When: Thursday, 12 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
Who’s Favored: NYK -5.5
Keep An Eye On: Mikal Bridges
While engaging in the annual Christmas movie marathon, some viewers complain that the Manhattan-based “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” is far too similar to its predecessor. Knicks fans, however, will be perfectly content if Bridges breaks out a duplicate form of Christmas magic on Thursday.
Thursday marks the first anniversary of Bridges’ coming-out party as a New Yorker, when he went blow-for-blow with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in a 41-point masterpiece.
While somewhat buried amidst other metropolitan developments, Bridges has kept the offensive prowess rolling this December by shooting over 52 percent from the field, including just below 43 percent from three-point range, while maintaining his defensive prowess. Opening night hinted at this sterling season to come, as Bridges sank 6-of-11 while stealing three and blocking two.
Cav to Watch: Donovan Mitchell
Each passing week grants the Knicks further vindication for removing themselves from the Mitchell sweepstakes in the fateful summer of 2022. The Knicks’ recent resume, which memorably features a postseason victory over the Cavs, was one that many envisioned Cleveland carrying at this point in time.
To be fair to Mitchell, some of the Cavs’ shortcomings (i.e. back-to-back playoff trips marred by injury) were far from his control, but it was fair to expect that the team would be better than seventh-place in an Eastern Conference that many saw open after contenders from Boston, Indiana, and more opted to engage in mini-fire sales after injuries to a franchise face. Mitchell has plenty of time to make things right but if he’s going to lay out the journey’s first steps, Christmas against the Knicks carries out a small sense of now or never.
They Said It
“He takes care of his body. He does a great job taking care of his body. I don’t know what his sleep patterns are like, but I know that he works extremely hard with his preparation, and when you work as hard as he does with your preparation, usually good things happen … Then [he has] probably got good genes. So thanks, mama.”—Knicks head coach Mike Brown on Bridges (h/t Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News)
“Mentally, we got to find it. We’re 29 games in. We’re not a playoff team right now. We’re not playing like it. We have the talent. We have the group, but we’re not playing like it and that’s on the 15 of us. We have to find it collectively … We’re at that crossroad, right? Now it’s on us to go out there and say, ‘Hey, we want to change this.’”—Mitchell on this crucial point of the Cavs’ season (h/t Andscape)
Prediction
Knicks 120, Cavaliers 112
Christmas is widely viewed as the unofficial official opening day of the NBA season, but it could well serve as a turning point for the participants in the first two games: Cleveland is looking to get its season back on track while the Knicks have a brilliant opportunity to showcase their championship mettle with a convincing win in the most prominent regular season showcase.
The Cavs are attempting to pull off all the stops they can, potentially bringing Mobley back from injury and making the holiday a landmark that returns them to prominence. But, even with depth stars Miles McBride and Landry Shamet still missing, the Knicks feel closer to a team capable of competing such a task, especially in what have been the very friendly confines of Madison Square Garden.
