NBA Christmas Day 2016 Schedule: Game-by-Game Preview and Analysis
It's not the most wonderful time of the year just yet, but the NBA's Thursday schedule release means fans across the world can begin to plan out their Christmas Day festivities now that the slate for one of the most anticipated days of the regular season is official.
The Dec. 25 action will be headlined by an NBA Finals rematch between LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors, but there's plenty of compelling action across the board.
The new-look New York Knicks and Boston Celtics will collide in an Atlantic Division showdown that could potentially renew a Northeast rivalry, while Russell Westbrook's Oklahoma City Thunder will play host to Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and the up-and-coming Minnesota Timberwolves.
Elsewhere, Dwyane Wade's Chicago Bulls will clash with the San Antonio Spurs in Texas as Pau Gasol gets slated to square off against his former team.
Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are penciled in for a duel at Staples Center as head coach Doc Rivers' club seeks to assert its dominance as the king of Hollywood.
With all of that sorted out, it's time to break down this year's Christmas Day slate and preview all of the thrilling hardwood hoopla on the horizon.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.
Boston Celtics at New York Knicks (Noon ET, ESPN)
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The Atlantic Division has been on the rise in recent years thanks to the emergence of head coach Brad Stevens' Celtics and Dwane Casey's Toronto Raptors, and a restocked Knicks roster only stands to bolster intrigue along the I-95 corridor.
As if the Big Apple ballers weren't compelling enough entering Year 2 of Kristaps Porzingis' development, the team made moves aplenty in free agency to try to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
Chief among the team's additions were point guard Derrick Rose—who was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Bulls—center Joakim Noah, swingman Courtney Lee and backup floor general Brandon Jennings.
However, the acclimation process almost assuredly won't be seamless.
Not only is three-fifths of the team's starting lineup brand-new, but head coach Jeff Hornacek will also be seeking to implement a hybrid offense that features pace-and-space and triangle elements to appease president of basketball operations Phil Jackson.
"It will be a part of our offense. It's something that has worked; it has won championships," Hornacek said of running the triangle in New York, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley. "You can space the court [with the triangle] and run a lot of the different things that I did in Phoenix. So there will be aspects of the triangle."
What will be most fascinating to watch will be the tempo at which the Knicks operate.
New York ranked 26th in pace last season with 93.4 possessions per 48 minutes, but Hornacek's Phoenix Suns teams were among the speediest in the league.
During Hornacek's first two seasons in the desert, his clubs ranked eighth and third, respectively, in pace.
Matched up against a Celtics defense that finished last season No. 4 overall in terms of efficiency, the Knicks should use their Christmas Day contest as an early litmus test to judge how their reformed effort is progressing.
Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers (2:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
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As was the case a year ago, the Warriors and Cavaliers will engage in a holiday battle when the defending Western Conference champions travel to the Rust Belt for a meeting with the reigning NBA champs.
However, Golden State's quest for vengeance after blowing a 3-1 NBA Finals lead figures to be just one of several compelling storylines when the two teams meet at Quicken Loans Arena.
Although the Warriors will undoubtedly still be seething after they let James, Kyrie Irving and friends mount one of the most impressive comebacks in league history, the arrival of Kevin Durant figures to add a new wrinkle to the rivalry.
Following Durant's arrival, the Warriors instantly moved to the top of the list of title odds at minus-130 (bet $130 to win $100), per Odds Shark. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, occupy the No. 2 spot at plus-275.
"What the Cavs have going for them, besides James, is that unlike some NBA champs who have trouble repeating because they never play with the same mental edge, the Cavs will spend the next year hearing how Golden State is the heavy favorite to win," Cleveland.com's Bud Shaw wrote. "That wouldn't have been the case without Durant."
In other words, the Cavaliers should be armed with motivation aplenty as they seek to defend the franchise's first title.
Chicago Bulls at San Antonio Spurs (5 p.m. ET, ABC)
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Tim Duncan may be out and Gasol may be in, but the Spurs are still a known quantity despite experiencing a legendary departure.
The Bulls, however, are not.
After shipping Rose to the Knicks and losing Gasol to head coach Gregg Popovich, the Bulls sought to reform their lineup in a curious way.
Not only did they add Wade in one of the most surprising moves of the summer, but they also tabbed the ball-dominant Rajon Rondo as their new point guard.
While a Big Three of Wade, Rondo and Jimmy Butler is fascinating on paper, their fit on the court is curious, to say the least, considering none of the superstars are above-average floor-spacers or particularly effective off-ball shooters, as The Ringer's Danny Chau pointed out:
"Maybe the best way to understand the Wade, Rondo, and Butler triangulation isn’t in a vacuum, but as a vacuum — as a space completely void. The trio made a combined 133 3-pointers last season, a figure met or exceeded by 30 individual players. Of the three, Rondo was by far the most accurate (36.5 percent), a notion that is legitimately horrifying.
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For a team that ranked third in three-point percentage (37.1) last season, the Bulls should prepare for a drop-off of epic proportions.
Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott and rookie Denzel Valentine may provide relief in doses, but it's difficult to imagine the team wielding anything close to the run-and-gun offense head coach Fred Hoiberg gushed about upon his arrival.
And since the Bulls will be only two months into their new experiment when they travel to San Antonio for Christmas, the Spurs could be primed for a comfortable win if Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker and Gasol are able to execute some traditional tactical brilliance.
Minnesota Timberwolves at Oklahoma City Thunder (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
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Whatever you do, make sure your schedule is clear when the Timberwolves and Thunder meet at Chesapeake Energy Arena for the evening's penultimate showdown.
Between Westbrook, Towns, Wiggins, Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Victor Oladipo, the Thunder and Timberwolves wield enough athleticism to field their own Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend.
You know what that means: an abundance of Vine-worthy throwdowns that should serve as a delectable bit of dessert as celebratory dinners wind down.
In addition to the highlight-reel plays that should litter the evening's premier contest, the Timberwolves will be able to use the clash as a way to measure their development against one of the Western Conference's better—albeit in flux—competitors.
The Timberwolves improved their win total by 13 games last season, and similar improvement could be in order this year if Towns takes a leap following his Rookie of the Year campaign.
When it comes to the Thunder, it's all about Westbrook.
Following Durant's exodus, the ferocious floor general inked a renegotiated three-year contract extension worth up to $85.7 million over the next three seasons.
And now that the Thunder are Westbrook's team, the buzzy ball-handler should pile up MVP-caliber numbers as he seeks to keep Oklahoma City in the thick of the Western Conference playoff conversation.
"The 2014-15 Thunder team is a great litmus test for how great Westbrook can be, as Durant was limited to just 27 games that year due to injury," numberFire's Brad Leibfried wrote. "In that season, Westbrook had the second-highest usage rate of all time at 38.3 while positing 28.1 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 rebounds per game."
July 4 will be months away, but expect fireworks galore when Westbrook steps onto the floor against the Timberwolves.
Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
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The Clippers dispatched the Lakers, 94-84, on Christmas Day last season, and it will be up to the Purple and Gold's mishmash of youngsters and veterans to reverse course and pull out a win in front of a divided Staples Center crowd.
After adding former Warriors assistant Luke Walton as the team's new head coach, the Lakers stayed busy through the summer. Not only did they bring Timofey Mozgov aboard to anchor the middle of their defense, but they also added Luol Deng to the mix after selecting Brandon Ingram at No. 2 overall in June's draft.
Those additions amounted to a successful offseason for the Lakers, but there's still plenty of work to do.
D'Angelo Russell remains rough around the edges as an offensive orchestrator and on-ball defender, and Julius Randle has yet to flash star-caliber upside since being selected with the seventh pick two years ago.
That crew will be tasked with taming a star-studded Clippers squad that is seeking to rebound in a big way after getting knocked out of the postseason by the Portland Trail Blazers.
And while the Clippers were able to make only minor additions—such as the signings of Brandon Bass, Marreese Speights and Alan Anderson—because of limited financial flexibility, they kept the core of their roster intact and will be primed to compete with the West's elite once Blake Griffin returns to full strength following a 2015-16 season that was marred by hand and quad injuries.
Taming the Lakers with Griffin flanking Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford and DeAndre Jordan shouldn't represent a particularly daunting challenge, but it should afford them a quality opportunity to re-establish some chemistry before the calendar flips to 2017.
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