Christmas Day in the NBA never lacks entertainment. It’s a time for the league to be on display for the entire country to see. This year, the NBA’s top teams (and the Knicks and Lakers) got together for five games in a row that provided NBA viewers with plenty of cheers and a few laughs as well. Below, in no particular order, are my top five moments from this year’s NBA Christmas Day offerings:
1) Wizards Magic and Melo’s Dismay
Playing their first game on the 25th in six years, the Wiz Kids did not disappoint, leading the Knicks wire-to-wire in a convincing 102-91 victory. John Wall played a brilliant game, and not even a dustup with Quincy Acy (with the help of Cole Aldrich) could slow him down on his way to 24 points and 11 assists. Carmelo Anthony, meanwhile, on his way to another Christmas Day game with 30-plus points, and once again, didn’t care how he got it. Derek Fisher looked to be the most defeated man on the planet. It’s getting very hard to watch the Knicks, and when a team like the 76ers is now being considered more successful, you know you’re in trouble. Good luck, Phil Jackson. You’re going to need it.
2) OKC’s still got it
Even without Kevin Durant, the Thunder still brought it on Christmas Day, turning out a surprisingly efficient performance in their defeat of the Spurs. The most important Thunder player on the court (at least today) was an unfamiliar name: Steven Adams. Adams scored 16 points (including a thunderous dunk) and collected 15 boards in his 31 minutes of play. With depth like that, the Thunder seem to be making a run at the playoffs, and any Thunder team in the playoffs, no matter the seed, could be very dangerous.
3) LeBron’s “Homecoming”
While it wasn’t as severe as when James returned to Cleveland when he was on the Heat, this homecoming of sorts proved to be entertaining for all NBA fans. The Cavs continued to struggle and the Heat, minus Chris Bosh, turned out a complete performance in their 101-91 victory. 30 points from James and 25 from Kyrie Irving couldn’t compete with the total team effort from the new-look Heat, led by Dwyane Wade’s 31 points in a beautiful turn-back-the-clock performance. Once again, the best player in the league is not on the best team in the league, and it will be interesting to see where the Cavs go from here.
4) Clippers Comeback
The Warriors looked unbeatable for the first two months of the season, even garnering comparisons to the Bulls team that finished 72-10. A subpar performance last night against the Clippers proved that this team is not quite on that level, and may not even be the best team in the West. The Clippers looked better than they had in the past few games, and this could be a turning point for them.
5) “Welcome to Temecula”
Even when Kobe Bryant isn’t playing, he still able to steal the spotlight. While the Bulls-Lakers game proved to be largely uneventful, the most exciting part of the day for NBA fans might have been the Twitter beef between two NBA fans (@SnottieDrippen and @MyTweetsRealAF) about Kobe, which culminated in the latter Twitter user driving to Temecula, CA, to engage in fisticuffs with the former. It provided some entertainment for NBA fans, and for anyone who thought Bryant to be irrelevant, it showed that that is simply not true.
Overall it was an entertaining day full of quality basketball, and the League once again did not disappoint.
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