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.