As we rank the 10 teams playing this holiday season, it’s an interesting question after the NBA Cup, which made early-season games feel more meaningful.
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Unlike the NFL’s three-game Christmas Day schedule, which features just two playoff-bound teams in three mostly meaningless games, the NBA’s five-game slate features 10 potential playoff teams, including nine of the top 10 betting favorites to win the championship.
Only a few games separate the vast majority of guaranteed playoff spots in both conferences, leaving the playoff picture open. Each of these games half something.
Beyond that, they should be good games to watch (all-time East)…
Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks (12:00 p.m., ABC, ESPN)
The two preseason favorites to exit the Eastern Conference. While the Cavs are struggling, this is a fascinating early test of their mettle, or lack thereof. Can they be hung?
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San Antonio Spurs against Oklahoma City Thunder (2:30 p.m., ABC, ESPN)
A rivalry in the making. After starting the season 24-1, the Thunder have lost three of their last five games, with two of those losses coming to Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs.
Dallas Mavericks vs. Golden State Warriors (5 p.m., ABC, ESPN)
Cooper Flagg vs. Stephen Curry. This year’s number one pick, a future face of the league, against the most impressive talent in the league, undoubtedly one of the few defining players of this century.
Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers (8 p.m., ABC, ESPN)
Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James, with plenty of talent around him, including Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. Simply a powerful game.
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets (10:30 p.m., ABC, ESPN)
The Wolves, led by Anthony Edwards, have reached two consecutive Western Conference finals, and the Nuggets, led by the incredible Nikola Jokić, won the 2023 title. A battle in the west.
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Now, let’s classify them.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
A new motto for the once-proud Warriors, via coach Steve Kerr: “There’s something beautiful about the quest. Because we love it so much, because we love what we do, there really is a beauty in the collaboration, the journey, the quest to endure and maybe reach the top of the mountain one more time. It just can’t be quantified. But we all know deep down what that journey means to us.”
Cooper Flagg celebrated his 19th birthday. No one other than LeBron James and Kobe Bryant scored more points in the NBA at such a young age. “He’s playing high-level basketball at the age of 18,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Throughout Duke and his first few weeks here, he’s been playing extremely well and we think at the age of 19 things are going to get better.” Careful.
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Coach Kenny Atkinson is downplaying his Cavs’ problems. “I call it ‘the fall,’” he said. You have to manage the fall. It’s really important. It’s very rare that (the season) just continues (on an upward trajectory). Maybe OKC this year; That’s a team in this league. …Everyone else, we are going through ups and downs; something normal in an NBA season.” (This is not normal in Cleveland).
Wolves coach Chris Finch has been criticized by officials since their win over the Thunder, but his outburst, which sparked Minnesota’s upset, could be the motivation this team needed to regain its juju from back-to-back Western Conference finals. “I’ve never seen him run on the court,” Naz Reid said. “I’ll take it. It got us going, it changed the script. It was exciting to see.”
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LeBron James has a pretty good idea why the Lakers are so good. “It’s Luka Magic,” he said. “It’s so damn good. It’s ridiculous.” And coach JJ Redick has a pretty good idea of what it takes to succeed with James and Luka Dončić. “Defend and shoot threes,” he said. Now, to compete, the Lakers need more players who can do both. Maybe they too will fall into your laps.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka pulled no punches when his team dropped a game to Sacramento after a big win over Denver the night before. “Yesterday we had a game in which we were much more motivated,” he said. “Just letting the (Kings) walk like we did was largely because of us… I’ve got to do a better job of motivating them in games against lesser opponents.”
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Devin Vassell issued a warning to the NBA for when Victor Wembanyama, who is recovering from a calf strain, returns to his regular workload for the Spurs, who have won six in a row (except the Cup final): “The impact he has on both ends of the floor is just amazing. And to see that he’s doing it on a minutes restriction, the league is in trouble.”
Still fresh off an MVP effort in the NBA Cup, Jalen Brunson shined in another win over Miami. “You want to have an MVP on your side,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “For him to score 47 points, 15 of 26 from the field, 6 of 13 from 3, 11 of 11 from the line and dish out eight assists… that’s what MVPs are supposed to do.” And yes, Brunson is in that conversation.
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Nikola Jokić presents a new entry in the MVP discussion every night. In fact, Jokić (who has already won the award three times) has been so good and so consistent that David Adelman is running out of ways to characterize the best player on the planet. “Efficiency has been through the roof,” the Nugs coach said. “He’s having an amazing season, man. That’s all I can say.”
Meanwhile, reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to be a killer, even as his team stumbles for the first time all season. They are still on track to challenge the Warriors’ record of 73 wins from 2015-16. As Gilgeous-Alexander said, cool as ever, “All I can do is play basketball and that’s all I focus on, trying to win games and championships.”