Complete history of the Brooklyn Nets playing on Christmas Day

Dec. 25, 1980

New Jersey’s Christmas woes didn’t improve on Dec. 25, 1980 against the Washington Bullets at Capital Centre in Landover, MD. Washington opened up the game on a 10-0 run. The Nets, coached by Bob McKinnon Sr., didn’t score until there was 8:41 left to play in the first quarter.

Entering the second quarter only down by six, New Jersey scored first to put the score at 26-22. The four-point deficit was the closest that the Nets would get to the Bullets for the remainder of the game. Washington cruised to a 109-94 victory over New Jersey.

The Nets didn’t have an answer for Greg Ballard, who scored 24 points. Elvin Hayes led the Bullets on the boards with 15 rebounds, making him the fourth-highest rebounding leader in NBA history.

New Jersey had an all-around poor game. The Nets attempted 100 shots and only made 39 of them for an abysmal 39%. Washington took 25 fewer shots and made 42 of them for 56%. New Jersey only made 16 free throw shots out of 30, while the Bullets knocked down 25 of their 30 attempts. As if that wasn’t enough, Washington also out-rebounded the Nets, 48-41.

Mike Gminski led the Nets with 19 points (7-of-22) and 11 rebounds. Lowes Moore was right behind him with 18 (8-of-13), Edgar Jones added16 (7-of-14), and Bob Elliott chipped in 10 (4-of-6).

New Jersey left Maryland with a 12-25 record, and the Bullets improved to 15-21, though the Nets made them look like All-Stars.