Over the past couple of seasons, the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers has heated up tremendously. Even though the Lakers have historically dominated the Clippers, things have changed up recently with the Clippers winning seven of the eight meetings over the past two seasons.
The NBA will soon be releasing the schedule for the 2015-16 season and according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers and Clippers are tentatively scheduled to meet on Christmas Day:
Lakers will apparently be home for Christmas. Clippers, too. They're tentatively scheduled to play each other Dec. 25 in a Laker home game.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) August 7, 2015
If this does turn out to be the case, it will be a very exciting day for the city of Los Angeles. The Lakers and Clippers have really ramped up the intensity over the past couple of seasons and having a national Christmas Day stage will only bring more attention to the rivalry.
Fans have really gotten into it with many people taking issue with the Clippers covering up the Lakers championship banners with posters of their top players. While the Clippers have finished with a better record each of the last three seasons, Lakers fans counter with the fact that the Lakers have 16 championships while the Clippers have never made it out of the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Christmas Day is one of the biggest days of the NBA calendar and the Lakers being center stage on that day shows how important the franchise remains despite their recent struggles.