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- The New York Knicks have played on most Christmas Days dating back to 1947
- Celebrities always show out for the holiday contest, with most sitting courtside
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
The A-list stars celebrated Christmas courtside as the likes of 50 Cent and Chris Rock brought the festive cheer to the NBA on Monday.
The Knicks gifted New York fans with the perfect present on Christmas Day as they stunned the Milwaukee Bucks 129-22 at Madison Square Garden.
And the Christmas decorations weren’t the only stars adorning the infamous arena as the celebrities turned out for the annual holiday game.
Queens native 50 Cent and comedians Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock soaked up the action as that sat courtside for the NBA matchup.
The rapper was joined by his 10-year-old son Sire Jackson as he wrapped up for the festive occasion in a oversized denim jacket with patches of white fur and represented another New York team with a Yankees baseball cap.
Meanwhile, Rock and Morgan, who are renowned Knicks fans and regularly attend games, sat together with the latter wearing the team’s colors on his t-shirt, which was covered in Knicks patches.
Morgan was joined by his daughter Maven, who at one point appeared fed up with the on-court action, laying her head in her dad’s lap and drawing a laugh from the two comedians.
Singer John Legend and model wife Chrissy Teigen were also in attendance with their two eldest children Luna, 7, and Miles, 5.
The adorable family, who appeared to have left their two youngest, Esti, who they welcomed in January, and Wren, who was born in June, snuggled up courtside with Miles sitting on his mom’s lap.
Luna and Miles also wore Santa hats, while Teigen stunned in a black cutout dress, long blazer-style jacket and racy lacy tights.
Rapper Fat Joe was spotted at the game as well and posed for photo with Rock, Morgan and 50 Cent.
The Knicks played a fellow Eastern Conference rival in the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
New York has hosted a game on Christmas Day for most years since 1947.
The Knicks first Christmas Day game was against the Providence Steamrollers, who folded in 1949 and were the most recent professional sports team from Rhode Island.
Entering Monday’s game against the Bucks, the Knicks are 23-31 all-time on Christmas Day.
The Charlotte Hornets are the only active NBA franchise to never play on Christmas Day since their inception in 1988.
The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule typically features the league’s biggest stars as well as both teams that made it to the previous season’s finals.
And the celebrities in attendance at this year’s game were treated to a show as the Knicks defeated the Bucks 129-122.
They snapped Milwaukee’s seven-game winning streak and ended their lengthy skid against the Bucks.
The Knicks had dropped nine straight meetings, including a 130-111 loss on Saturday in the opener of this two-game series.
The Bucks had routed New York twice while rolling through their December schedule, but they haven’t solved Jalen Brunson all season, and the point guard got plenty of help from his teammates this time.
‘They´re a good team. We feel like we´re a good team as well, so just kind of taking that challenge, accepting that challenge that we hadn´t got them yet,’ guard Immanuel Quickley said. ‘It had been a while, so this was a good one to get.’
Julius Randle added 24 points and nine rebounds, RJ Barrett bounced back from a poor game Saturday with 21 points and Quickley came off the bench for 20.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard each scored 32 points for the Bucks, who fell to 9-2 this month. Khris Middleton added 24.
The Bucks rang up 146 points against the Knicks in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament on Dec. 5 and didn’t cool off much Saturday. But they seemed short on energy Monday in the middle of an extended Christmas stay in New York, with still another game remaining in the city when they visit Brooklyn on Wednesday.
‘We knew coming in everything that we were lined up for and it is what it is,’ Lillard said. ‘We got the first one, we came in for this one, they got off to a good start, they played a great game and we just got outplayed.’
Milwaukee came in averaging 132.4 points in December but couldn´t even break 40 until there were less than four minutes remaining in the first half. The Bucks trailed by 16 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the game before a late flurry that made the score closer than the game felt.
‘I thought they out-competed us today for the most part,’ Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said. ‘I thought offensively we got some good looks, but we just couldn´t knock them down. And when you´re on the road, you get clean looks, you´ve got to knock them down.’
Brunson went 15 for 28 from the field, following up games of 45 and 36 points against the Bucks this season. Isaiah Hartenstein had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Josh Hart came off the bench for 10 points and nine rebounds.
Antetokounmpo had 13 rebounds and six assists, but the Bucks fell to 3-3 in their sixth straight Christmas appearance.
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