The NBA season officially opened Oct. 28, but many consider Christmas to be the real opening day for the league.
College and NFL football dominates the sports landscape during the fall, and NFL fantasy leagues also do plenty to distract away from the first portion of the NBA season. There are definitely many that still do their best to casually keep up with the NBA during it’s fall schedule, but by the end of December, most of the distractions are gone and all eyes are on basketball.
There are some that believe that the season should in fact actually begin on Christmas. The anticipation and increased attention that built towards Christmas Day in 2011, when a lockout forced a late opening to the season on the holiday, provided an unintentional example of how it could be a positive.
“There could be an argument, and a strong argument, to starting our season later and do it on Christmas Day and go into the summer,” ABC analyst and former head coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “I think there could be a strong argument to do that and avoid a lot of the NFL and college football season.”
That may be true, but for now, Christmas will remain the unofficial season debut. The league has made sure that there will be plenty of basketball to see by scheduling five back-to-back games full of intriguing storylines and matchups, ensuring that fans have a chance to at least catch some of the action in between a day of holiday festivities.
Washington Wizards at New York Knicks
Time: 12:00 pm ET
TV: ESPN
Previous matchup this season: Wizards defeated the Knicks 98-83 in New York on Nov. 4th.
The Wizards are winning lots of games and find themselves relevant for the first time since the mid-2000’s when Gilbert Arenas was nailing game-winning threes, walking off the court triumphant before the ball had even gone in. Washington is 19-8 and sit at third place in the Eastern Conference, matching their best start since 1974. A big reason for that would be point guard John Wall, who is scoring 17.8 points per game while ranking second in the league in assists per game with 10.5 per game.
Meanwhile, the Knicks are a mess, with rumors of locker room dissent, a ball-hogging Carmelo Anthony, and a 7-25 record. This current season has quickly turned into one that first-year head coach Derek Fisher will basically have to just sleepwalk through until team president Phil Jackson can retool the roster in the offseason. Volatile Knicks guard J.R. Smith is injured currently, so half of the reason to even watch this game is missing. His unpredictable shot selection, posterizing dunks, and tantrums will be missed dearly. The Carmelo vs. Paul Pierce matchup would be intriguing if the Knicks weren’t awful, but the truth is that this game really only matters to one team.
Watch the little ones play around with their remote control cars new Xbox games during this one.
Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs
Time: 2:30 pm ET
TV: ABC
Previous matchup this season: None.
The Thunder have won seven-of-ten to reach 13-16 since Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant both returned from injury. Unfortunately, Durant made the mistake of stepping on Marreese Speights’ giant foot during a loss against Golden State last week and has missed the last three games from the resulting sprained ankle. The Thunder missed Durant badly in a close loss at home to New Orleans on Sunday, and with him missing the team’s overtime loss against Portland on Tuesday, there is no telling if he’ll be good to go on Christmas. OKC sure hopes so, with every game crucial as the team digs out of the early season hole created by the loss of their two stars.
After losing four straight games, including two in wild back-to-back overtime games, the Spurs picked up a solid win against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday to get to 18-11. The Spurs have been the Spurs this year yet again, and despite the usual rumors of their coming demise, have continued their signature balanced attack on both ends of the floor while relying on the age-less Tim Duncan and elusive Tony Parker. Surely coach Gregg Popovich won’t sit his aging starters for a game like this…right?
Sneak away to watch this one while the family takes their inevitable naps.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat
Time: 5 pm ET
TV: ABC
Previous matchup this season: Some preseason game in October that nobody cares about.
And here it is. LeBron James will make his first regular season return to Miami since returning to Cleveland in July. The Cavs struggled early in the season while the team found it’s chemistry, but have won nine of twelve to reach 17-10. the new Big Three of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and James have finally meshed offensively, but still need to pick up the effort more on the defensive end if they want to challenge in the East.
The Heat (13-16), haven’t fared as well since James returned to his home state, but they still have two thirds of the original Big Three members in Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Bosh is still nursing a calf injury and there is no telling whether or not he’ll be able to suit up for this one, which would be a shame. The Heat dropped a home loss to the tanking 76ers without him on Tuesday night after blowing a 23-point lead. Miami has been having trouble on offense this season, and with Bosh still out, the Heat will struggle even more to score. This one could get ugly.
Stick around after the Spurs-Thunder game to catch the first half and LeBron drama. Turn off at halftime to reheat some leftovers and clean up the wrapping paper.
Los Angeles Lakers at Chicago Bulls
Time: 8:00 pm ET
TV: TNT
Previous matchup this season: Nope.
The Lakers are struggling despite Kobe Bryant’s high offensive output coming via 297 shot attempts per game. L.A. somehow beat Golden State on Tuesday night, with Kobe sitting the game out. Even after the impressive win, the Lakers remain near the bottom of the Western Conference standings at 9-19, and will likely stick around there the rest of the season, unless the Lakers decide it fit to orchestrate a trade. Kobe probably wishes he still had Pau Gasol, but he’s in Chicago now, and this game happens to be his first game back in L.A. after leaving for the Windy City.
The Chicago Bulls have ridden a 19-9 record to fourth place in the wide open Eastern Conference. Everyone knows about Derrick Rose, Gasol, and Joakim Noah, but the key factor in the Bulls’ play this year has been the emergence of the young Jimmy Butler. The third-year guard leads the team in points with 22.1 per game, and also chips in 1.6 steals on the defensive end. Kobe will do his best to pick on him, but it’s Butler who should walk away from this one with the last laugh.
Watch this one if you haven’t seen Butler in action yet. Catch the yearly Christmas Story marathon instead if you have.
Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers
Time: 10:30 pm ET
TV: TNT
Previous matchup this season: The Warriors defeated the Clippers, 121-104 in Oakland on Nov. 5th.
This is by far the best matchup of the day. First-year coach Steve Kerr and his league-leading Warriors (23-4) have been nearly unbeatable this year. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have continued their backcourt dominance while accounting for over 40 percent of Golden State’s 108.3 points per game. The Warriors won the earlier matchup this season, but are now without Andrew Bogut again, just like they were last year when the Clippers took out Golden State in a closely-contested first round playoff series. They’ll surely be looking to rebound after the loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Clippers (19-10), have managed to keep pace in the Western Conference all season with the usual stellar play from Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. DeAndre Jordan has been an important piece as well, and leads the team in both rebounds (13.1) and blocks (2.4) this season. Paul will also no doubt be looking to show up Curry as much as he is able. There really is not telling how this one will turn out, especially with Bogut’s absence.
Drink some coffee with that pumpkin pie if you’re feeling weary at this point, you’ll want to stay up for this, at least to catch the likely technical foul from Griffin. He loathes the Warriors, Christmas or not.
