The 1991 Christmas Day game featured a showdown between the Eastern arch-rivals Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons.
Although fans and the League were very keen on arranging a second Christmas Day game between Gan and Jordan, Portland did not agree.
The 1988 Christmas Day game between the Trail Blazers and Bulls yielded great results, but the players suffered a lot traveling back and forth and missed Christmas Day.
Moreover, the League had promised not to schedule the Trail Blazers for Christmas Day games after 1987 (after doing so for more than ten consecutive years), but they went back on their word in 1988, which caused dissatisfaction within the Portland camp.
After Tang Jianguo became the owner of the Trail Blazers, he declared, "To protect our players' right to celebrate Christmas, I propose canceling the Christmas Day game!"
Therefore, it became even less likely for the League to schedule the Trail Blazers for the Christmas Day game.
