NBA Christmas Day Breakdown

The NBA Cup competition, FWIW, is in the rearview mirror and the Association now moves on to the last meaningful competition until the playoffs start in April. The annual block of games on Christmas marks the unofficial start of the season, when casual fans start to become interested and the country sits around the tree and overeats on hoops.

As usual, there are five games on the schedule. Adam Silver was obviously surprised by Cleveland’s white-hot start this year because the Cavs and their NBA-best record will not be playing. Neither will the Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies or Houston Rockets, who own the first-, second- and third-best records in the Western Conference.

A look at this year's docket:

SAN ANTONIO SPURS @ NEW YORK KNICKS (12pm)

Victor Wembanyama has the Spurs in the mix for a playoff spot, and he’ll be introduced to much of the country when he goes up against the Knicks. America will be seeing a new-look Knicks team, with Julius Randle gone and big man Karl-Anthony Towns in his place. New York is pretty much in the same spot as it was a year ago, and the goal is to finish as high as it can during the regular season, stay healthy and hopefully avoid Boston until the Eastern Conference finals.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES @ DALLAS MAVERICKS (2:30pm)

Did the Timberwolves panic after getting tossed off the bus by the Mavericks in WC playoff finals last spring? The Towns-to-NY deal that brought Julius Randle on board hasn’t had the desired effect – Minnesota is now just another team in the early going, and how they break a log-jam that includes the Lakers, Nuggets, Suns and Warriors is anyone’s guess. How things go the rest of the year depends on whether or not ISO-centric stars Randle and Anthony Edwards can find a way to co-exist on the court

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS @ BOSTON CELTICS (5pm)

Give Adam Silver one wish, and he’d sub Cleveland for Philadelphia. The 76ers just can’t get healthy, and the Big Three (Embiid, George and Maxey) have hardly been on the court together. The result is twice as many losses as wins, and uncomfortable questions about whether they can even make the Play-In Tournament. Boston, meanwhile, is fighting boredom as the Celtics continue to fire up 3-pointer after 3-pointer. If they go in, Boston wins. If they don’t, well Memphis and Chicago proved that the Celtics can be beaten.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS @ GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (8pm)

So the Warriors’ starters (Curry, Green, Looney, Wiggins and new PG Denis Schroder) were a combined minus 173 in a recent loss to Memphis. GS fell behind by 22 in the first before things started getting really bad. Now they get the Lakers, who are actually playing halfway decent. There is probably not enough room for both teams to get into the top 6 and avoid the Play-In, and this game should give us an idea which one has an edge.

DENVER NUGGETS at PHOENIX SUNS (10:30pm)

Keep in mind that the Nuggets are just a middling team when they’re on the road. Two years ago, when they won the title, they actually were below .500 away from Denver during the regular season. They’re 7-7 on the road this year. There won’t be much left on Denver in Jokic gets hurt. Meanwhile, rumors are flying that the Suns would consider breaking up their own Big Three and sending Bradley Beal out of town – possibly to San Antonio.