Christmas Day means excited children, egg nog, an open fire and the best NBA teams worth watching. This is an important date on the schedule because the league has a monopoly on the sports landscape. Really, this isn't even close. Given a chance to watch Kobe and LeBron or yet another holiday special, what are you doing?
The league has games going day and night on a date that qualifies as the second-biggest basketball showcase, behind All-Star weekend. The star players involved know they'll have a commanding audience on national TV and so they increase their level of play accordingly. Nobody likes to be embarrassed before the nation.
So many games, so many plotlines. Here's what to look for:
Heat at Knicks. How often do you suppose the announcers will remind us that Dwyane Wade is a free agent this summer and that the Knicks have millions to spend? The over and under is 75 mentions. By halftime. That will be the easy angle in this game, and really the only one, because these teams aren't going anywhere special. Wade is already talking about how nice it'd be to have LeBron as a teammate next season. What, no mention of Danilo Gallinari? This game is Wade's chance to drop a big performance and get the Garden, starved for quality basketball, dreaming of getting a belated Christmas gift sometime around next July 1. Oh, and as a sideshow, we get to see if coach Mike D'Antoni will be a Scrooge and keep Nate Robinson on the bench.
Celtics at Magic. This lost a good bit of luster when Paul Pierce pulled up lame with a bum knee; he'll most likely be sidelined for a few weeks. Too bad, because these are the best two teams in the East and they could meet up for bigger stakes in May. At least we get to see Jameer Nelson back in action, squaring off against Rajon Rondo, a good test for both. The key task for the Celtics and Magic is to get through the season in one piece. It's a little trickier for the Celtics because their Big Three are well into their primes and on the other side of 30. Any sustained ache will seriously threaten their aspirations because the competition (Magic, Cavs, Hawks) is too good.
Clippers at Suns. Taylor Griffin doesn't get much playing time for the Suns, but he stands a better chance of seeing minutes than his brother, Blake, still rehabbing from knee surgery. Gail Griffin will probably wear her stitched-together Clipper and Suns jersey, anyway, to support her sons. In the absence of the No. 1 overall pick in last summer's draft, Steve Nash alone is worth watching this one, especially since he'll match up with Baron Davis. The Suns squeezed by the Clippers only by a basket in the opener and if Chris Kaman shows up to play, the audience could stay until the end in this game as well.
Cavs at Lakers. All the other games are mere appetizers. This is the turkey dinner right here. Kobe and LeBron are mutual admirers, but if your hunch is like mine, they'll use this game to send a subtle message to each other. Speaking of which, remember when the Christmas games in the past would slyly promote the chilled relationship between Shaq and Kobe? Well, strange how Shaq isn't even on the marquee in this game. It would be great, purely from a basketball standpoint, to see Kobe and LeBron compete for a championship, but it appears Kobe has a better chance of holding up his end. At the moment, anyway.
Nuggets at Blazers. This could be a game where the spotlight is stolen by someone other than the usual suspects. The two leading candidates are Jerryd Bayless, coming off a career night against the Spurs, getting 31 points and seven assists in place of Brandon Roy, who's questionable for the Nuggets with a sore shoulder. Bayless is making the Blazers look foolish for spending all that money on Andre Miller last summer; he also scored 29 on the Suns a week ago. And the second candidate is J.R. Smith, who dropped 10 3-pointers on the Hawks and scored 41 points Wednesday. Every once in a while Smith has these type of games and relieves Carmelo Anthony of the scoring load. After losing Greg Oden and now Joel Przybilla to season-ending leg injuries, the Blazers just want to get through this game intact. That's their Christmas wish.
Andrew Bogut, Bucks: 40 minutes, 14-for-19 field goals, 3 blocks, 18 rebounds, 31 points against the Pacers.
It was a career night for a center trying not to become the next Kwame Brown. No, Bogut hasn't fallen to those depths, but as a first overall draft selection, his impact has been rather mild before this season. So far in 2009-10, the reviews have been mixed as well. Bogut had 25 and 14 against the Celtics, but also scored 8 points against Ben Wallace, had games of 4 and 7 points against Shaq and shot 6-for-20 against the Kings. The best thing Bogut has going for him is Brandon Jennings, a point guard who can drive the lane and make life easy for a center.
Brad Miller, Bulls: 22 minutes, 0-for-4 field goals, 5 rebounds, 2 fouls, 0 points against the Kings.
Miller wasn't the only one who suffered a meltdown in a historic collapse. But his struggles this season is symbolic for the Bulls, who couldn't hold a 35-point lead at home against a supposedly inferior team. Miller was once a very tough and reliable post player during his first tour with the Bulls and later the Pacers and Kings, but he's evaporating before our eyes here in his twilight days. The scoreless effort against the Kings completed a three-game stretch where Miller contributed a total of 2 points.
• Everybody's still talking about what Tyreke Evans stole the other night in Chicago. Not a comeback victory. The rookie of the year trophy from Brandon Jennings.
• Just to show he indeed has a heart, Bulls GM John Paxson, after firing Bill Cartwright and Scott Skiles around the holidays, apparently is restraining himself with regard to Vinny Del Negro. For a few hours more, anyway.
• Basketball can be a game of inches and Kobe is thankful for that. His left knee came inches away from buckling the wrong way against Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.
• The issue isn't whether the Knicks should release or trade Nate Robinson. The issue is why they gave him a 1-year extension in the first place. He and Mike D'Antoni were never completely on the same page since the coach arrived and the organization grew tired of his maturity issues long ago. In their desire to keep an asset from leaving without getting anything in return, the Knicks handed him another year's salary. Guess what? He'll probably leave and the Knicks will get little to nothing in return.
• Best tip for Nate: Don't call Starbury and ask him for advice on how to handle the situation.
• The Thunder get a decent young point guard, Eric Maynor, to back up Russell Westbrook, and all it cost them was taking on Matt Harpring's contract. As if you needed any more proof that they're building something solid in Oklahoma City, which is coming off an impressive win in Phoenix.
• The Cavaliers traveled to Charlotte on Thanksgiving Day and play on Christmas Day. Such is the burden of having LeBron on your team. At least the schedule-makers gave them the option of traveling to New York on New Year's Eve to celebrate, and enough time recover for their matinee in New Jersey on Jan. 2. As if the Cavs need to be recovered to play that one.
• Why do I suspect that when he's 80 years old and has no referee to target, Rasheed will begin screaming hysterically at himself?
• Mike Dunleavy (the player, not the coach) still hasn't recovered from off-season knee surgery and the fear in Indiana is he'll never be the player who resurrected his career with the Pacers. After shooting 2-for-17 against the Bucks, Dunleavy will have his minutes rationed whenever the Pacers play a heavy schedule.
• Would the Timberwolves draft John Wall, another point guard, next summer if they get the chance? That would make three point guards in two drafts. They may turn into the Detroit Lions of the NBA, drafting the same guy every year and never turning themselves around.
Posts
