The NBA’s Christmas Day slate has come and gone again, another excellent rendition of some of the league’s most popular best teams duking it out in holiday tradition. If you didn’t immediately turn on the television, or passed out too early thanks to the nog and wrapping paper, here’s everything you should know about the five games played on Thursday’s annual showdown.
WINNERS: Those of us who stayed up
The Denver Nuggets’ 142-138 win in overtime against the Minnesota Timberwolves was Christmas’ best game. Nikola Jokić (56) and Anthony Edwards (44) combined for 100 points; Edwards made it possible with a tying 3 at the regulation’s end, a frantic comeback to erase what had been a 14-point lead for Denver entering the final period, but Jokić closed it out, his 3 with just under three minutes remaining in the period proving to be the momentum Denver needed to avoid dropping what should have been a more comfortable win. Denver also hit 11 free throws in the final 30 seconds, a necessary maneuver from Minnesota, of course, but one that speaks poorly of the league’s current end-of-game strategy. But that’s another topic for another day.
I undersold Jokić’s night: He had 56 points, 16 rebounds, and 15 assists, the second 50-15-15 triple-double ever recorded after James Harden’s in 2016, a game in which he tallied just 53 points. Denver, of course, is missing three starters right now in Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Cam Johnson. This was a game that required Jokić at his best to close it out. This is every shot Denver made in the game’s final 12 minutes, after Jokić checked back in with 6:53 remaining in the fourth quarter:
- Jamal Murray 3-pointer (Jokić assists)
- Jokić 2-pointer
- Jokić 2-pointer
- Murray 3-pointer (Jokić assists)
- Spencer Jones 2-pointer
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić 3-pointer
- Tim Hardaway Jr. 3-pointer (Jokić assists)
- Jokić 3-pointer
- Jokić 2-pointer
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Murray 3-pointer
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Murray free throw
- Peyton Watson free throw
- Watson free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
- Jokić free throw
Denver’s offseason was about the team’s depth, and it’s working right now in the exact opposite manner that the Nuggets hoped for: Rather than ascending thanks to the extra depth provided by players like Hardaway and Bruce Brown, plus the ascension of Jones, Denver’s having to rely on them in starter roles far beyond what the team would want. But that’s just as much the point of depth as anything else, of course, and Denver’s no stranger to injury crises hampering their seasons. And, when that has happened in the past, it’s Jokić who leads them through it. What a player, what a performance, and what a lovely nightcap to this Christmas slate.
LOSER: Cleveland’s ticking clock
It’s a bleak season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead in Christmas’ opening game to the New York Knicks. The 126-124 defeat drops Cleveland to 17-15, a ho-hum record that currently has them in the Play-In Tournament, a far cry from last season’s No. 1 overall finish in the Eastern Conference. This was supposed to be the conference’s best team, at least according to some, like me, who thought they’d carry over last year’s success. In retrospect, the Cavaliers’ defeat to the Indiana Pacers last spring wasn’t so bad given Cleveland’s injuries in that series and Indiana’s marvelous Finals run. But it hasn’t looked anything like that, to the point that the team’s continued injuries can’t wholly explain it away. To blow this game, in this fashion, is another mark against a roster that has long had questions about its fit and whether it’s time to move pieces around.
WINNER: The NBA’s wish for parity
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s start to this season was so dominant that we were close to embracing doomerism. What’s the point, really, if the league’s overwhelmingly best team also has the best draft picks, youngest stars, brightest future? It turns out that was slightly premature. There’s already an indisputable challenger to them this season, the San Antonio Spurs, which now have three wins in three tries against them this month, capped by this 117-102 Christmas victory that was never all that much in question.
Why have the Spurs had this success? I have a few reasons:
- Oklahoma City is a paint-driven team, and Victor Wembanyama is the ultimate denier of a rim-based attack. In three matchups, the Thunder are averaging about 57 paint points per 100 possessions whenever Wembanyama doesn’t play, which has been limited by his minutes restriction. When he checks in, that number falls to 33 points per 100 possessions. It’s a complete disruption of the Thunder’s primary offensive identity.
- Obviously, the solution is to get Wembanyama out of the paint, something the Thunder simply haven’t been able to do. They do not have elite shooters, and those shooters have underperformed on the shots they’ve gotten. Per Second Spectrum’s tracking stats, Oklahoma City is shooting more than 12 percent worse than expected on 3s in these three matchups, which partially just points to natural shooting variance going San Antonio’s way. But when you disrupt a team’s offense this blatantly, it’s also no surprise that the easier shots become harder.
- San Antonio clearly does not respect Oklahoma City’s best attempts to play five-out basketball, too, which would be another method to move Wembanyama around the court that the Thunder could have control over. Even if Oklahoma City sits Isaiah Hartenstein, San Antonio has designated other players — most often Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren, and Kenrich Williams — as non-shooters that they will happily help off of to clog the paint. (Lead assistant coach Sean Sweeney, who joined San Antonio this past summer, was known for his defenses aggressively leaving shooters open during his time with the Dallas Mavericks, too.) So far, between the variance and the way that the paint attack has been stymied, there’s no reason to rethink this strategy.
- Lastly, Oklahoma City doesn’t have the clear athleticism edge over San Antonio that they have against most teams. This dunk from Dylan Harper was a stunner for me, honestly.
There’s a lot of time to go. Oklahoma City is still the league’s title favorites. But they are, clearly, no longer the league’s undisputed best team, and we can put aside any idea that this year’s championship has some predetermined ending.
WINNERS: The Wemby dance watchers
One of the most delightful things in basketball is watching, in real time, players reconsider shots they’ve always taken without hesitation just because Wembanyama is lurking in the vicinity. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pass out of this jumper.
I wrote, last year, about this experience, which Wembanyama’s then-Spurs teammate Tre Jones described as him “taking back the space.” As Jones said then, “The red light in your head goes off. You definitely have the awareness when he’s around and know where he is at all times.” That’s most true for drivers, but it applies to jump shooters, too. “(He’s defying physics) as I did understand them,” said Pat Connaughton, who had one of his 3-pointers fall victim to a Wembanyama block. “Now I’m recalibrating.”
I find it just as engaging, though, when players do succeed against Wembanyama. It’s delightful when players still challenge him, fascinating when they succeed. Here’s Alex Caruso managing to sneak a layup past him.
I’m not entirely sure how he did it, and that’s the beauty of it.
LOSER: The Lakers’ unidentified chemistry problem
The Los Angeles Lakers fell 119-96 to the Houston Rockets in their Christmas clash, and J.J. Redick yet again laid into his team’s effort in the defeat’s wake, saying, “I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Redick didn’t identify what, exactly, was the issue. He’s surely bothered by Luka Dončić’s continued defensive lapses, but there’s blame to lay on LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Deandre Ayton, too. The starting lineup, almost certainly, will change as soon as the team’s next game. Beyond that, I’d expect, at this point, that the Lakers end up being one of the trade deadline’s most active movers.
WINNER: Cooper Flagg, future superstar
Cooper Flagg never really played point guard. It’s the most common talking point for his early season struggles, one reiterated yet again on the national broadcast, which points to how the Mavericks finally moved a traditional point guard — first D’Angelo Russell, then Brandon Williams, now Ryan Nembhard — into its starting five in early November. In those first seven games without them, Flagg brought the ball up the court about 24 times per game, a number that has fallen to 20 ever since that change happened. But Flagg’s touches have leapt from 61 per game to 68; he’s touching the ball more often, more centrally to the offense as a primary option, ever since he’s been given someone alongside him to more consistently help create advantages.
In other words, Flagg might have brought the ball up the court more often to begin this season, but Dallas has turned him into the team’s true lead scorer ever since they relieved some of those duties from him. Because, at the end of the day, he’s not a point guard. What he is, actually, is a soon-to-be superstar.
Flagg wasn’t quite brilliant enough for the Dallas Mavericks to win their Christmas matchup, which ended as a 126-116 defeat to the Golden State Warriors, but there’s no doubt he was superb: 27 points on 13-of-21 shooting, six rebounds, five assists, and just one turnover. Steve Kerr praised him effusively after his team’s win, saying, “You can literally see him growing day by day.” And it takes nothing more than a quick look at Flagg’s month-by-month splits to see how true that is:
- Flagg’s October: 13.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 50.2 percent True Shooting
- Flagg’s November: 17.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 54.8 percent True Shooting
- Flagg’s December: 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 60.7 percent True Shooting
There’s virtually no limit to Flagg, who turned 19 just last week and has still dominated NBA defenses despite a faulty 3-pointer that will take him some time to figure out. Or, given his exponential growth thus far, maybe it won’t. Maybe, just like at Duke, he’ll flip that same switch he did in the new year. (When January began, Flagg shot almost 45 percent on 3s during his one collegiate season.) It’s hard to say exactly how high Flagg will ascend in the coming years except to say: Really, really high.