Picked up pieces from a fun slate of Christmas Day games in the NBA …
The Spurs have arrived
There were signs this was coming. When San Antonio won eight of its first 10 to start the season. When it went 9–3 with Victor Wembanyama out of the lineup with a calf injury. But if you had any doubt that the Spurs were a bona fide title contender this freaking season it’s gone after the Spurs completed a three-game sweep of Oklahoma City in December with a 117–102 win on Thursday.
What a stretch. After squeezing out a two-point win over the Thunder in the NBA Cup semifinals, the Spurs have won the last two by 35. Wembanyama, still on a minutes restriction and still coming off the bench, had 19 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes on Thursday. But it’s not just Wemby. De’Aaron Fox (29 points) is playing like an All-Star. Dylan Harper is a bowling ball going to the rim. The Spurs’ coaching staff—time to give Mitch Johnson & Co. some credit—have figured out how to stall Oklahoma City’s offense while relentlessly attacking the rim on the other end.
“You don’t lose to a team three times in a row,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, “without them being better than you.”
There’s a surliness to this matchup. Wembanyama has taken some thinly veiled shots at Chet Holmgren, along with Oklahoma City’s style of play. After biting on a Holmgren pump fake on Thursday, Wembanyama pushed Holmgren to the ground. When Holmgren missed his first free throw, Wembanyama popped out of the lane to clap for it. Later in the game, Lu Dort knocked Wemby down with a hip check. A Thunder-Spurs rivalry is fantastic for the NBA—two young, rising teams that project to be elite for years to come. That they don’t seem to like each other much makes it even better.
Is there concern in OKC?
A 2–4 stretch isn’t reason for panic—especially when three of those losses are against the Spurs who don’t turn it over and have a 7' 5" menace in the middle—but something has been amiss lately in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are 26th in offensive rating over the last six games, per NBA.com. They are 23rd in scoring during that stretch, 25th in both field goal percentage and from three. They shot 29.8% in the second half against the Spurs, including a ghastly 19.2% from three.
“We have to get better,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “We have to look in the mirror—and that’s everybody from top to bottom—if we want to reach our ultimate goal.”
A thriller in New York
Knicks-Cavs wasn’t the sexiest matchup on the Christmas Day calendar, mainly because Cleveland isn’t the regular-season juggernaut it was last season. But the Cavs came to play on Thursday, pushing New York in a back-and-forth game that was tied five times and had nine lead changes before the Knicks pulled away with a 126–124 win.
The key play: With 1:47 to play and Cleveland holding a one-point lead, Donovan Mitchell picked up a steal and appeared to have an easy dunk. But Mitchell hesitated, which allowed Tyler Kolek to catch him and knock the ball out of bounds. “If he ran and did a regular layup, I wouldn’t have caught up to him,” said Kolek. “He wanted to do some windmill s---.” The Knicks went on a 5–0 run after that to seal the win. Mitchell has had an MVP-caliber season. That’s a play I’m sure he wants back.
And speaking of MVP …
The Jalen Brunson MVP case gets stronger
Marquee games like Christmas Day are chances for stars to make a statement, and Brunson did exactly that, racking up 34 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Brunson has thrived in Mike Brown’s offense, pushing his scoring to a career-best 29.1 points per game with his usual strong efficiency numbers. This could be the most competitive MVP race in years. Brunson is right in the thick of it.
Karl-Anthony Towns wins, twice
Towns followed up an 11-point, 14-rebound effort in the Knicks’ win with an even bigger one: getting a ‘yes’ from longtime girlfriend Jordyn Woods, whom Towns proposed to after the game.
Draymond’s future in Golden State
The Warriors quickly deescalated the standoff between Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr that stemmed from Green storming back to the locker room in the third quarter of Golden State’s win over Orlando. Green apologized for leaving the bench while Kerr did the same for how he handled it afterward. Said Kerr, “I will go to bat for him as long as I’m coaching him here.”
There’s still the matter of Green’s play. Green has struggled mightily this season, with a field goal percentage hovering in the low 40s and a three-point percentage in the low 30s. In the Warriors’ Christmas Day win over Dallas, Green scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting, including 1 of 4 from three-point range. Teams are begging him to shoot and he has not had the impact as an offensive hub as he had in years past. Green had two turnovers against the Mavs and could have had a couple more. Green has offered to move to the bench if Kerr thinks it will spark a flagging offense. Kerr may have to consider it.
Anthony Davis goes out, again
It’s an-all-too familiar sight: Anthony Davis limping to the locker room with a leg injury. That’s what happened in the first half on Thursday, with Davis pulling up lame on a fast break. Officially, Dallas called it a groin strain with Davis sitting out the second half as a precaution. But Davis’s history of lower body injuries—he missed 14 games this season with a calf strain—continues to be a problem for the Mavs, who even with a surging Cooper Flagg have no margin for error.
Lakers’ defensive woes continue
On Tuesday, after the Lakers’ loss to Phoenix, head coach JJ Redick blasted his team’s defensive effort. “We practice this stuff enough,” Redick said. “We review this stuff enough. We show film on this stuff enough that to me, it like comes down to ... just making the choice. It’s making the choice.” The team … didn’t get the message. On Thursday, L.A. allowed Houston to shoot 53% from the floor and pummel it on the glass (48 to 25) in a 119–96 loss.
Said Redick, “Tonight we were a terrible basketball team.”
Fixing the defensive issues won’t be easy. The Lakers’ top three players—Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves—are all below-average defenders. Dončić’s near-constant griping with officials often leaves the team shorthanded on the defensive end. Deandre Ayton isn’t a rim protector. Even when L.A. plays its top defenders (Marcus Smart, Jarred Vanderbilt, who logged 29 and 26 minutes off the bench, respectively) they still get gashed. After the game, Jake LaRavia spoke of a “disconnect” within the team.
There’s no obvious answer. Redick said the team needed to prepare for an uncomfortable practice when they reconvene on Saturday. “I’m not doing another 53 games like this,” said Redick. But personnel in L.A. is a problem. As dynamic as the Lakers are offensively—they shot 51% against Houston—it doesn’t matter if they can’t get stops.
The NBA saved its best for last
Ten ties. Eight lead changes. Haymakers exchanged by a pair of MVP candidates. Kill shots by would-be All-Stars. An improbable comeback by Minnesota in the fourth quarter. An almost equally unlikely one from Denver in overtime. If you didn’t stay up for the late game on Christmas—a 142–138 Nuggets win—you missed out.
What more can you say about Nikola Jokić? Denver has been ravaged by injuries. No Aaron Gordon. No Cam Johnson. No Christian Braun. No problem for Jokić, who scored 56 points—including 18 in overtime—pulled down 16 rebounds and handed out 15 assists. He had backup from Jamal Murray (35 points) who was 9 for 18 from three-point range. Just an outstanding game from arguably the best 1-2 punch in the NBA.
For Minnesota, brutal. The Timberwolves trailed by 15 midway through the fourth quarter. After a furious comeback spearheaded by Anthony Edwards (44 points) and Julius Randle (32), the Wolves trailed by three with four seconds left. Exiting the huddle, Edwards appeared to ask Peyton Watson if he was going to foul. Edwards, surely, didn’t expect an answer—Watson smirked and got into position—but it didn’t matter. Edwards caught an inbounds pass in the corner, spun and knocked down a three that sent the game to overtime.
Minnesota led by nine with three minutes to play in OT before Jokić took over. A three cut it to six. After a Tim Hardaway Jr. triple, Jokić followed up with back-to-back buckets. A Murray three with 35 seconds left gave Denver a lead it would not give back.
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- Steve Kerr Had Saddest Message After Warriors’ Win Over Klay Thompson, Mavericks
- The Stunning Numbers Behind the Spurs’ Dominance Over Thunder to Start 2025-26 Season
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Has Blunt Message for Thunder After Third Loss to Spurs
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Christmas Takeaways: Spurs Make Statement, Lakers’ Defensive Woes.
