Top 5 Takeaways from the NBA’s Christmas Day Games
The NBA's Christmas Day games always give us fans a variety of truly intriguing matchups. Christmas Day usually marks that the NBA season is about a third of the way done, giving us insight into who the top players, top teams, and who will be fighting for a playoff spot come April. There’s plenty of action still left to happen during this 2023-2024 season. Let’s take a look at the top five takeaways coming from the NBA’s Christmas Day matchups.
1. Jalen Brunson Is One of the Best Guards in the Eastern Conference Right Now
If you know anything about basketball you know that the Milwaukee Bucks are currently one of the most talented teams in the whole NBA. They have two top fifteen scorers in the league in power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and point guard Damian Lillard, who have been averaging around 31 and 26 points per game this season, respectively. With these two guys on the roster, there are very few teams they play where they are not the favorites to win, and the New York Knicks are not one of the teams the Bucks are not normally favored to beat this season. Since this is the case, how did the New York Knicks win this matchup yesterday? The New York Knicks won this game because they have one of the best guards in the whole Eastern Conference right now with Jalen Brunson on their roster. Brunson is having an incredible season averaging nearly 26 points a game, but he is averaging an even more ridiculous close to 36 points this year when the Knicks have played the Milwaukee Bucks. Brunson dropped 38 points to lead his team to victory in this Christmas Day game and it begs the question: If he keeps playing this way will the Knicks be able to secure themselves in one of the top six playoff spots for the Eastern Conference come playoff time?
2. The Denver Nuggets Are Still the Best Team in the Western Conference
The biggest concern for the Denver Nuggets coming into this season off of their recent NBA Championship win was that they lost their best bench player from last year in July of free agency as small forward Bruce Brown signed a two-year, 45-million-dollar deal with the Indiana Pacers. While Brown played a huge role for the Nuggets last year, especially in the playoffs, the Nuggets are still the best team in the Western Conference this season without him. Yes, the Minnesota Timberwolves might have the best record in the Western Conference with their current record of 22-6 right now, but Denver is only two games back knocking on their doorstep every day and we all know that if the two teams play in a seven-game series in the playoff this year, it will be Denver who will most likely come out on top. Yesterday, as the Nuggets took on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Christmas, they showed their starting five is second to none except maybe the Boston Celtics, as every member had at least 16 points. Point guard Jamal Murray led the way offensively finishing with 28 points, while Nuggets center Nikola Jokic had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead Denver to a 120-114 victory. When the Nuggets play this well you just can't but wonder: We know no team could last season, but has anything changed and can anyone beat this team in a seven-game series this year?
3. The Boston Celtics Are the Best Team in the NBA Today
If you tuned into the age-old rivalry matchup game between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers yesterday, you know the Celtics came ready to play. They started the game on a 12-0 run as the Lakers seemed helpless to get any sort of stop against them on the defensive end. While the Lakers did make this a competitive game as the Celtics were only up by 1-point, 58-57 at halftime and Anthony Davis would finish the game with 40 points, it was still not enough as Boston got the win 126-115 on Christmas. Celtics starting center Kristaps Porzingis led the way offensively as he had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Boston to victory. Games like this show everyone how the Celtics are the best team in the NBA right now not only with their 23-6 record but also the fact that their best player Jayson Tatum doesn’t have to be the leading scorer or necessarily even have a great game for them to get a win. All five of their starters contributed heavily in this one all scoring at least 18 points, and if this continues it is going to be nearly impossible for a team to beat them in a seven-game series come the postseason.
4. Jaime Jaquez Jr. Is One of the Best Rookies in the Whole League
Going into this year's 2023 NBA draft all eyes were mainly on three players. Those players were the three players who would end up being the top three picks, Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, and Scott Henderson. While these three guys were all much deserving of their media attention, no one had their eyes on the man who wound up going 18th overall to the Miami Heat, Jaime Jaquez Jr. Jaquez had an amazing career playing college basketball at UCLA, where he scored over 1800 points for the Bruins. If you had any opinion about whether or not Jaquez’s game would translate well to the professional level, the theory that it would not translate well has all but been destroyed by now as he has been having a great rookie season averaging nearly 14 points a game so far. In his NBA Christmas Day debut yesterday, he dropped 31 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Miami Heat to a win over the Philadelphia 76ers. With the Miami Heat winning games like this without their star Jimmy Butler, as he is currently dealing with a calf injury, it makes everyone wonder will the Heat once again claim a high Eastern Conference playoff spot and make a run for the NBA Finals?
5. The Phoenix Suns Are Not the Team This Season People Thought They Would Be
One of and arguably the biggest moves in NBA free agency this past summer was made by the Phoenix Suns when they were able to trade for shooting guard Bradley Beal. The Suns traded Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, four first-round pick swaps, and six second-round picks to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, and Isaiah Todd. Later in the offseason Phoenix pulled in more players via trade as they received Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, Jusuf Nurkic, and Keon Johnson as a part of a three-team trade that’s main goal was to send Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, but also sent Toumani Camara, a 2029 first-round draft pick, Deandre Ayton, and Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers. All of these moves were made by the Suns to make Phoenix a better team this year, but through twenty-nine games played this season they have collected a below-average record of 14-15 and are currently not even a top-ten team record-wise in the whole Western Conference. Yes, Beal has only played in six games so far with Phoenix as he has been dealing with lower back tightness and now a recent ankle injury, but the Suns are still not nearly as good as they should be without him. Frustration seemed to be mounting in the game last night on many occasions but specifically on one possession as Suns power forward Chimezie Metu turned over the ball and was then screamed at by Phoenix star Devin Booker as Booker said, “Why aren’t you running back? You just turn the ball over and don’t run back?” It seems like that is exactly what Metu does, as the Suns lost another game as Dallas Mavericks star and MVP candidate Luka Doncic dropped 50 points and 15 assists to lead Dallas to a 128-114 victory. If there is even still a debate as to whether or not this Phoenix Suns team is a super team or just a dream, for now, it is without question just a dream.
