Merry Christmas from the Hoops Rumors staff!
As usual, the NBA has a five-game slate on tap for Christmas Day, with many of the league’s top teams and biggest stars in action on December 25. Here’s today’s schedule:
- 11:00 am CT: San Antonio Spurs (15-14) at New York Knicks (19-10)
- 1:30 pm CT: Minnesota Timberwolves (14-14) at Dallas Mavericks (19-10)
- 4:00 pm CT: Philadelphia 76ers (10-17) at Boston Celtics (22-7)
- 7:00 pm CT: Los Angeles Lakers (16-13) at Golden State Warriors (15-13)
- 9:30 pm CT: Denver Nuggets (16-11) at Phoenix Suns (14-14)
While the goal on Christmas Day is generally to showcase some of the day’s biggest stars and best teams, this year’s schedule is a little lacking in the latter.
Despite featuring seven teams from the Western Conference, today’s slate of games doesn’t include any of the West’s top three seeds, the Thunder, Rockets, and Grizzlies. While Houston and Memphis weren’t necessarily expected to be this good, Oklahoma City’s absence is conspicuous, given that the Thunder were the No. 1 seed in the West last season.
Over in the East, we’ve got the No. 2 and 3 seeds in action today, but the NBA’s best team, the 26-4 Cavaliers, won’t be part of the Christmas Day slate. Instead, the third Eastern club is the 12th-seeded Sixers, who have been plagued by injuries but at least will have their big three available on Wednesday — Tyrese Maxey and Paul George aren’t on the injury report, and Joel Embiid is listed as available.
Despite the absence of so many top teams, each matchup still has something going for it, with plenty of star power on display.
The afternoon will feature rising phenom Victor Wembanyama visiting Madison Square Garden and the streaking Knicks, who have won four games in a row; a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals between the Timberwolves and Mavericks, who should have star guards Kyrie Irving (available) and Luka Doncic (probable) active today; and those aforementioned three Sixers stars going up against the defending champions in Boston.
The first evening contest between the Lakers and Warriors pits the No. 7 seed in the West against No. 8, but it also could be one of the last few times that NBA legends LeBron James and Stephen Curry face one another. James is considered questionable due to left foot injury management, but I’d be shocked if he didn’t play. A couple more would-be Western contenders who have had up-and-down starts will wrap up the day when the Nuggets visit Phoenix in a game that will feature a pair of former MVPs in Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant.
We want to know what you think. Are there any teams you wish were or weren’t part of today’s schedule? Which of these five games are you most looking forward to? Which five teams are you picking to win this year’s Christmas Day matchups?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in, and feel free to use it as an open thread to discuss today’s games.