A meaningful Christmas to one and all!

For the third consecutive year, five Christmas Day games are scheduled in the U.S. National Basketball Association.

All-Star guard Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls will travel to New York to take on the revitalized Knicks at the Madison Square Garden while the revamped Orlando Magic will host the Boston Celtics in a rematch of the 2010 Eastern final playoffs.

Reigning NBA scoring titlist Kevin Durant and high-scoring Carmelo Anthony will shoot it out when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Denver Nuggets.

Out West, the Portland Trail Blazers will be at Golden State to face the struggling Warriors.

In the main attraction on Christmas Day, Kobe Bryant and the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers will host Super Friends LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at the Staples Center in a much-anticipated inaugural showdown between teams that are likely to meet in the NBA Finals next June.

Due to the U.S. time difference (between 13 and 16 hours), the aforementioned games are set for Sunday morning of December 26, Manila time.

The five-game bill on Christmas Day is the most ever in NBA history.

Playing ball on Christmas Day has become a traditional fare in the NBA.

In league annals, only on three occasions have there not been any games on Christmas Day - 1946 (the league's inaugural campaign under the Basketball Association of America ), 1948 and 1998 (the lockout-shortened season).

New York Knicks forward Bernard King owns the all-time NBA record for the highest-scoring Christmas Day game by an individual.

The 6-7 King tallied 60 points against New Jersey , the Knicks' Hudson River rival, on December 25, 1984.

However, the Nets disappointed a huge crowd at the current Madison Square Garden by registering a 120-114 victory.

King's mind-boggling 60-point explosion has never been duplicated - let alone surpassed - by any other Knicks player until now.

The legendary Wilt Chamberlain has the second-highest Christmas Day performance.

In 1961, the 7-1 center tossed in 59 markers for the Philadelphia (now Golden State ) Warriors during a heartbreaking 136-135 double-overtime loss to the Knicks at the old Madison Square Garden.

Five years later in 1966, Rick Barry, another future Hall of Famer from the Warriors (who by the time had relocated to San Francisco), also poured in 50 points in a contest against the Cincinnati Royals (the predecessors of the Sacramento Kings).

The prolific 6-7 Barry went on to capture the NBA scoring championship during the 1966-67 season as a sophomore pro.

Chamberlain, Barry and King were the only players in league history to score 50 points or more on Christmas Day.