{"id":373369,"date":"2025-12-26T16:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T16:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373369\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T16:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T16:57:07","slug":"nba-shootaround-five-christmas-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373369\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Shootaround: Five Christmas Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spurs are here, Jokic is downright absurd, and the Knicks demand our respect<\/p>\n

Despite Roger Goodell\u2019s best efforts, Christmas Day once again belonged to the NBA this year. A marquee five-game showcase more than lived up to the hype, with each game dishing something to chew on for hoops revelers. In honor of the holiday festivities, The Ringer\u2019s NBA team (briefly) put down the dessert to give you one take from each Christmas game. From Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs\u2019 shell-shocking of the Thunder to Nikola Jokic\u2019s mind-boggling master class of a triple-double, let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n

The Spurs just gave the Thunder a 7-foot-4 reality check.<\/p>\n

Michael Pina:<\/a> A few weeks ago, I wrote this piece<\/a> in which I wondered whether the Oklahoma City Thunder were an inevitable force of nature that is virtually guaranteed to win a second straight championship. My TL;DR conclusion: We should probably pump the brakes. I believe that the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets are good enough to win it all, and I said: \u201cI also think that the San Antonio Spurs (with a healthy Victor Wembanyama) can give OKC legitimate fits much sooner rather than later.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, the Spurs have gone 3-0 against a team that\u2019s now 26-2 against the rest of the league. In all three wins\u2014including Thursday\u2019s 117-102 Christmas Day beatdown\u2014Wembanyama has come off the bench with a minutes restriction. In all three wins, San Antonio has looked comfortable, spry, and completely unafraid against the Thunder defense, which has suffocated every other team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obviously too soon to crown a young core that has never even been to the postseason, but the Spurs are clearly built to defeat the Thunder in a playoff series this year. It\u2019s honestly remarkable. In the span of a week, pundits who wondered whether Oklahoma City could win 75 games must now consider the fact that it may not even enter the playoffs with the no. 1 seed. (San Antonio is currently two games back in the loss column.) That doesn\u2019t mean OKC shouldn\u2019t be considered the favorite, but the Spurs are an absolute monster in their own right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you watch Stephon Castle get into the paint at will while successfully harassing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the other end, or you see Wemby wall off the rim for eight straight minutes and then drill a couple of movement 3s, or you remember that De\u2019Aaron Fox is a game-breaking heat check who isn\u2019t scared of anyone or anything, a Finals run doesn\u2019t seem outside the realm of possibility.<\/p>\n

What happened on Christmas was not a fluke. It was a slap-in-the-face reality check for anyone who doesn\u2019t think that the Spurs are already prepared to win it all this year. Age is nothing but a number.<\/p>\n

Nikola Jokic is the new Santa.<\/p>\n

Matt Dollinger:<\/a> I\u2019m sorry to peel back the curtain like this, but as a community, sportswriters are facing an existential crisis. Sure, artificial intelligence is coming and will absolutely wipe us all out one day, but I\u2019m actually talking about more pressing matters. The walls are closing in on this one. It\u2019s officially time to panic. I\u2019ll just admit it. We\u2019re desperately and hopelessly running out of cool things to say about Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

I mean, come on. A 56-point triple-double in an overtime win on Christmas Day against arguably the Denver Nuggets\u2019 biggest nemesis? Setting the NBA record with 18 points scored in overtime? Chipping in with 16 rebounds and 15 assists just for shits and giggles? Staring down a 15-point deficit in the final six minutes, then coming back in overtime again? The third-most points ever on Christmas Day? What the hell. People, this is a serious problem. He\u2019s won three of the last five MVP awards, and half of our staff would argue that he deserved all five. In the past two years, we\u2019ve run headlines like: \u201cThe Genius of Jokic<\/a>,\u201d \u201cNikola Jokic Was Already the Best Basketball Player Alive. Somehow, He\u2019s Even Better Now.<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cThe NBA Still Hasn\u2019t Found an Answer for Nikola Jokic<\/a>.\u201d He\u2019s been no. 1 on our NBA, Ranked<\/a> project for years. Are you starting to see what I\u2019m talking about? The bar for saying something impressive about this guy has become impossibly high.<\/p>\n

The good news is that Jokic is the last person who could possibly care. He\u2019s not basking in the glory of a 56-point triple-double; he\u2019s likely worried that his Nuggets needed overtime to thwart the Timberwolves. There’s simply no denying that Jokic is the best player in the league at this point; the question is whether his supporting cast is good enough for him to win a second title. With Cam Johnson out four to six weeks, things will be tight for Denver leading up to the trade deadline. Is there a win-now move it can make to add a splash of depth? The Thunder and Spurs are mighty foes, but the Nuggets front office knows what everyone else in the league does, too: With Jokic, all things are possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 defensive heart shrank three sizes on Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny Chau:<\/a> When did the Rockets\u2019 119-96 drubbing of the Lakers on Christmas night start to feel like a cruel time loop? Was it on Amen Thompson\u2019s fourth layup attempt, with more than six minutes left in the first quarter? Or maybe it was on his 10th, with 5:08 remaining in the third, when he split both Luka Doncic and Deandre Ayton for a tough left-handed finish. Thompson had a game-high 19 field goal attempts, with 13 of them coming around the rim. Amen moves<\/a> unlike just about any player in basketball history (other than his twin brother), but the way he knifed through the Lakers defense, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking that a demigod had descended upon us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lakers entered their Christmas-night matchup against the Rockets with the sixth-best win percentage in the league, but they have almost no recourse when they aren\u2019t able to overwhelm teams with their offensive efficiency. (Which might be a more difficult ask in the coming weeks, with Austin Reaves apparently reaggravating a left calf injury that had sidelined him for the three previous games in December.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rockets\u2019 assembly line of hyper-athletic replicant wings was perhaps the worst matchup for the Lakers in a high-profile national showcase. L.A.\u2019s starting lineup is hopeless at the point of attack, every player on the floor a step slow to contain penetration for a concerning number of reasons\u2014a surplus in age, a deficit in foot speed, an absence of focus and effort. From that area of clear vulnerability, there was a trickle-down effect that put Houston in the driver\u2019s seat all night. The Rockets, already proving to be one of the best offensive rebounding teams ever, had just one fewer second-chance opportunity (17) than the Lakers\u2019 total number of defensive boards (18)\u2014a feat that Houston has matched or surpassed in three other games this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a perfect storm of factors that accentuated all of Houston\u2019s strengths and underlined all of L.A.\u2019s weaknesses. The Lakers\u2019 10 losses this season have come by an average of 18.6 points. Los Angeles may not have the climate or topography to lead to lake-effect snow<\/a>, but the Lakers Effect on opposing offenses has been just as torrential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Put some respect on the Knicks\u2019 name.<\/p>\n

Howard Beck:<\/a> Sometime last spring\u2014after we\u2019d all watched in horror as various superstars blew out their Achilles tendons, scrambling the power structure of the Eastern Conference\u2014a consensus formed about the following season. The East would be (say it with me now) \u2026 wide open.<\/p>\n

No Tyrese Haliburton to lead the Indiana Pacers back to the Finals. No Jayson Tatum to anchor the perennial contender in Boston. Control of the East would fall to Cleveland or New York, or perhaps to the budding powers in Detroit, Orlando, or Atlanta. Optimists could squint and envision a resurgence in Milwaukee or even [gasp] in Philadelphia. Because, you see, the East was wide open.<\/p>\n

But two months into the regular season, that premise might need a reassessment. Because the Knicks are fast emerging as the preeminent team of the NBA\u2019s junior varsity division\u2014a notion underscored by their methodical come-from-behind 126-124 victory over the Cavaliers on Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. After a sluggish start, the Knicks wiped out a 17-point deficit and recorded the third-biggest Christmas comeback in the play-by-play era<\/p>\n

The Knicks are now 2-0 against their presumed rivals. They\u2019ve won 13 of their past 16 games, including two victories over the Magic, two against the upstart Toronto Raptors, and one against the gritty Miami Heat. Along the way (and for what it\u2019s worth) New York also won the NBA Cup with a spirited takedown of Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, who suddenly look like the most dangerous team in the league<\/p>\n

Is there a better clutch player right now than Jalen Brunson, who put up 13 points in the Knicks\u2019 fourth-quarter surge on Thursday? Is there a better perimeter defender than OG Anunoby? Or a better defensive tandem than Anunoby and Mikal Bridges? Or a better glue guy and hustle player than Josh Hart? Heck, under new head coach Mike Brown, the Knicks even have a bench now, led on Thursday by second-year guard (and soon-to-be New York folk hero) Tyler Kolek, who scored 11 points in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Detroit has the East\u2019s best record at the moment (24-6), but New York has more proven talent and playoff experience. The Knicks are more seasoned than the Magic, Hawks, and Raptors; more well rounded than the Sixers, Bucks, and Heat; deeper than the Tatum-less Celtics; and, frankly, much tougher than the Cavaliers, who continue to shrink when the lights are brightest<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of season left, of course. The Pistons could trade for a veteran star. Tatum could return ahead of schedule. The Magic could get healthy. Maybe the playoffs will indeed give us a wide-open race. But as of today? It\u2019s the Knicks\u2019 conference to lose.<\/p>\n

This is why the Mavericks can\u2019t have nice things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Isaac Levy-Rubinett:<\/a> The Warriors\u2019 126-116 rout of the Mavericks on Christmas was a tale of two teams: an old squad that knows exactly who it is, making its 13th straight Christmas Day appearance against a youngish team that is starting to find itself\u2014or had been starting to find itself, until Anthony Davis left the game in the second quarter due to a groin strain. Adding extra pain: AD\u2019s injury comes exactly one year after Luka Doncic strained his calf in what ended up being his final game with the Mavericks. Nobody needs another rehashing of everything that has befallen the Mavs since, but Thursday\u2019s setback is a fresh wound for a team that had been trending in the right direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis and Cooper Flagg have developed some promising frontcourt chemistry, and starting a more traditional point guard in Ryan Nembhard has organized the Mavs offense and brought out the best in Flagg. In his last 12 games, the no. 1 pick has averaged 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists, right in line with what he did against Golden State. Flagg attacked the Warriors relentlessly, scoring nine buckets inside the paint and making an impressive array of strong and creative finishes around the rim. He looked comfortable and at home in the Christmas Day spotlight, which is really all that matters in the long term for the Mavs. But AD’s health continues to cloud the picture heading into 2026, as the NBA trade deadline approaches. How much trade value does Davis have? And if the answer isn’t much and AD can’t stay on the floor, what avenue do the Mavs have to build a more talented team around their surging rookie?<\/p>\n

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