Five NBA Things I may or may not have Liked: Christmas Day Edition
My favorite and least least favorite things from NBA Christmas Day
Cavalier Calm
While I’m sure Cavalier fans are despondent over their team blowing a 103-86 fourth-quarter lead, the team’s showing on Christmas Day was their best in weeks. The last time the Cavaliers beat a team with a winning record was on December 5th, and their 3-3 record entering Christmas Day came against the Wizards, Hornets, Bulls, and Pelicans. Needless to say, the Cavaliers should have entered the holiday on a six-game winning streak, and their play over the past two weeks had me worried that this was going to be a laugher. Instead, the Cavaliers looked like a normal good team who lost a tough road game.
There are no moral victories, but this was certainly a morale victory. The Cavaliers had been sleepwalking and were in desperate need of a spark. Sure, they lost to the Knicks, but they also showed they can go into the best team in the Conference’s house and play well enough to walk away with a win. Hopefully, this game jumpstarts the Cavaliers’ season, and they begin to resemble the team that won 64 games.
Spurious Narrative
The San Antonio Spurs are deservedly going to be the hot topic in the NBA after their 117-102 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs have played the Thunder three times, and each time, they’ve convincingly walked away with a win. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the narrative route we’re about to embark on. Except there’s one problem.
In those three games, the Thunder have shot 28.8% from three, while the Spurs have shot 37.4%. It’s not a stretch to suggest that the Spurs have benefited greatly from favorable 3-point variance in those three contests. Additionally, the Spurs have only averaged 13.7 turnovers per game against the Thunder, which is unusual considering their season average is 14.4, and the Thunder lead the league in opponent turnovers per game at 17.8.
The Spurs deserved to beat the Thunder, but it doesn’t look like they possess some intrinsic superpower like the one Harry Potter held against Voldemort. Instead, it just so happens that in the three games the Thunder and Spurs have played, the Thunder have underperformed, while the Spurs have overperformed. It happens, but if they meet in the playoffs, I won’t view the season series as anything more than the small sample it is. The Spurs are really good, and the Thunder are even better.
Planted Flagg
I don’t know if anyone needs to hear this, but Cooper Flagg is that dude. Four days after turning 19, he casually dropped 27 points on 13 of 21 shooting against the league’s third-ranked defense. When you throw in his six rebounds and five assists against one turnover, there’s a case to be made that this was the best teenage Christmas Day performance in NBA history. Apparently, he was the first rookie since Pete Marovich in 1970 to eclipse 25, 5, and 5 on Christmas Day, but Marovich was 22 at the time.
The NBA probably shouldn’t have given the Mavericks a Christmas Day game, but at the same time, setting Flagg up for stardom is a no-brainer. At each interval, Flagg continues to prove that he is a burgeoning superstar. On a team that was constructed by the first general manager to be fired in disgrace for basketball decisions, Flagg has still been able to thrive. We’re about two months away from people becoming sick of hearing how special he is, but sometimes, the shoe fits. Hopefully, the Mavericks’ new regime will build a team that allows Flagg to play on Christmas Day for the next decade and a half, but if he keeps performing like this, it may not even matter.
Rockets’ Red Blur
If you base your analysis on record, you would have thought the Rockets-Lakers matchup was a Western Conference heavyweight fight. However, if you base your analysis on net rating, then the laugher this game became was no surprise. The Rockets are simply in a different class than the Lakers right now. They’re bigger, faster, stronger, harder, better. I think the best metaphor for the gulf in class between these two sides was when Steven Adams set a screen that caused Marcus Smart, the Lakers’ one tough guy, to crumple to the floor and head to the lockerroom in agony, holding his shoulder.
However, the star of the game was Amen Thompson. Thompson has struggled a bit with increased ball-handling duties this season, but the Lakers are perhaps the best matchup for him in the league. His combination of speed, size, and explosiveness was just too much for the Lakers’ lackluster perimeter defenders. He made whoever was in front of him look like a statue to the tune of 26 points on 12 of 19 shooting. The Rockets are a big, mean team, and Thompson fits that description to a tee, but he’s also a complete blur. The Lakers might have a 19-10 record to the Rockets’ 18-10, but I think I know who is going to end ahead in the standings.
It’s All a Jok
Nikola Jokic has made extreme excellence so commonplace that he literally has to be a god for people to notice. For anyone else, a 30/11/13 game on 75% shooting would be the highlight of their career, but for Jokic, it’s just another random Wednesday. Thankfully, Jokic rose to the occasion on Christmas Day and produced one of the greatest games we’ve ever seen.
The Nuggets really had no business winning last night. They were down three starters in Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Cameron Johnson, and Jamal Murray needed 32 field goal attempts to get to 35 points. Usually, when you have that mixture of injuries and inefficiency, you end up on the losing end, but usually, you don’t employ Nikola Jokic.
Jokic scored 56 points on 15 of 21 shooting from the field and 22 of 23 shooting at the line. He also chipped in 16 rebounds and 15 assists against only five turnovers. Sure, he needed overtime to rack up those counting stats, but he still dropped 56 points on a True shooting percentage of 90%. In fact, Jokic’s overtime has to be in the running for the greatest ever.
I shit you not, this was a single overtime game, and Jokic scored 18 points on three of three shooting and 10 of 11 shooting on free throws. While the Nuggets did blow a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, they also overcame a nine-point overtime deficit to win. This was just a silly game, punctuated by a silly-stupid all-time performance from Jokic.
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