ESPN has leaked the Christmas Day schedule, and according to the New York Times' Marc Stein, the games will be as follows:
New Orleans Pelicans at Miami Heat
Golden State Warriors at Milwaukee Bucks
Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics
Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets
Some thoughts:
New Orleans and Miami matches a team in New Orleans who could be a playoff team this year, even in the tough and loaded western conference. The Pelicans inked budding star Brandon Ingram to a 5-year, $158.3 million extension, and his matchup with the Heat's Jimmy Butler will be something to watch. The contrast of Ingram's length versus Butler's strength will make for a really good back and forth duel. Zion Williamson gets his first career Christmas Day game, and he and Steven Adams will be tough for the Heat to handle in the paint.
Golden State and Milwaukee is fascinating, with Stephen Curry soon embarking on what I believe will be a tremendous comeback season for him. He will want to remind everyone, in this era of recency bias, just how great he is and how quickly people forget. Obviously, the Bucks are coming off a season in which they were the best east team in the regular season, and Giannis Antetekounmpo is always required viewing. I love this matchup for its contrasting styles and the fact that we rarely get to see an East/West battle on Christmas Day.
Brooklyn and Boston is Kyrie Irving versus his former team, but it's also a very good matchup of a team (Brooklyn) presumed to be an east favorite barring health, and a Boston team that has taken a step back this off-season but still has the league's top young duo in Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown. Brooklyn is the team with the better depth, and I am excited to see them on the national stage on that day. The Celtics' Kemba Walker is presumed to be out with a lingering knee issue, which will hamper the Celtics at the point guard position. The off-season isn't over yet, so they could make more moves (they gained a $27.9 million trade exception with the Gordon Hayward to Charlotte deal), but as of now they look to have taken a step back.
Dallas and the Lakers is the most intriguing of the day, with Luka Doncic leading a Mavericks' team that quite possibly could have beaten the Clippers in the first round if not for Kristaps Porzingis' injury, against the defending champion Lakers. Watching the new age versus the older age is always a spectacular show, and it will be awesome seeing Luka vs Lebron. Porzingis and Anthony Davis is a great matchup as well.
Denver and the Clippers is a rematch of this past Western Conference semi-finals, where the Nuggets stunned the basketball world defeating the Clippers in six games. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will look to exact revenge, as both combined for just 24 points in the deciding Game 7. Doc Rivers is out and Tyronn Lue is in as Clippers' head coach, so the Clippers will have a new look this year. Serge Ibaka is now in the fold, and gives them a big who can not only protect the paint but also stretch the floor and hit from the outside. He will be a mismatch for Paul Millsap. Let's also see if Jamal Murray can continue the success he had against the Clippers in the playoffs. He averaged 22.6/6.4 assists/4.4 rebounds on 45% in the series. Nikola Jokic was flat out dominant in the series, averaging 24.4/13.4/6.6. I look for the Clippers to counter him with Ibaka to give Jokic a more athletic and rangy look defensively than what former Clipper now-Laker Montrezl Harrell gave Jokic in the playoffs.
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