On Christmas Day in 1984, Bernard King scored a Madison Square Garden-record 60 points against the then-New Jersey Nets.
This Christmas, Brooklyn’s most famous Knicks fan, Spike Lee, reminisces about that performance in a commercial that will air throughout the day’s slate of five NBA games, including the Nets against the Celtics in Brooklyn at noon and the Knicks versus the Lakers in Los Angeles at 3 p.m.
Lee, who wears a special edition Christmas Carmelo Anthony jersey in the commercial, remembers being in the stands for King’s spectacular performance that day against the Nets, though New Jersey came away with the 120-114 win.
King, the Brooklyn-born scoring machine, finished the game 19-for-30 from the field and 22-for-26 from the free-throw line to set a scoring record for Christmas Day, which still stands, and a Garden record that stood for more than 24 years, until Kobe Bryant scored 61 against the Knicks on Feb. 2, 2009.
* After Wednesday night’s loss to the Knicks, the Nets are now 4-11 against teams with winning records this season, with their victories coming over the Knicks, Clippers and the Celtics (twice).
Conversely, they are 9-1 against below .500 teams, with their only loss coming in Los Angeles against the Lakers.