By Mike Prada, Shakeia Taylor, Jared Weiss, Law Murray, William Guillory, James L. Edwards III and Nick Friedell
The NBA’s annual Christmas Day showcase featured a stirring rally in New York, a defensive letdown by the home team in Los Angeles and a balanced scoring effort in San Francisco. But the biggest story of the day took place in Oklahoma City, where the defending champions must face an uncomfortable truth.
Once might be a fluke. Twice could be coincidence. Three times? That’s a pattern.
In the marquee matchup of the five-game Christmas slate, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-102, handing the Thunder their first home defeat of the season and their third loss to San Antonio in 13 days.
The Spurs (23-7) took a double-digit lead with four and a half minutes left in the second quarter, and the Thunder (26-5) never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. De’Aaron Fox led the Spurs with 29 points, while Victor Wembanyama tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench. The Spurs shot nearly 54 percent from the field, committed just 12 turnovers against the Thunder’s ferocious defense and held Oklahoma City to just 38.6 percent shooting.
Since opening their defense of last season’s championship with 24 wins in their first 25 games, the Thunder have lost four of six, including three defeats to the Spurs. The Christmas matchup offered a chance for the Thunder to redeem themselves against their budding rivals at Paycom Center, where the Thunder had lost just six times this calendar year. Instead, they were on the back foot for the majority of the final three quarters against an opponent that is now appears to have their number.
Earlier, the Christmas slate opened with a classic matchup between the East’s two preseason favorites. Led by superstar Jalen Brunson and standout performances from reserves Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson, the New York Knicks rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers, 126-124, at Madison Square Garden.
The Cavaliers (17-15) led by 17 points with 10:26 remaining and appeared to be on the verge of a pivotal victory to jumpstart their uneven season. Instead, Clarkson, Kolek and Robinson spurred a comeback reminiscent of the one that secured the Knicks’ NBA Cup championship earlier this month.
That opened the door for Brunson, last season’s Clutch Player of the Year, to close things out. He scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, including a pull-up 3 with a minute left that gave New York (21-9) the lead for good.
Elsewhere, the Houston Rockets spoiled LeBron James’ 20th Christmas appearance with a dominating 119-96 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, while the Golden State Warriors overcame an off shooting afternoon from Steph Curry and a standout Christmas debut from Cooper Flagg to defeat the Dallas Mavericks 126-116.
Houston’s athleticism overwhelmed the Lakers on both ends of the floor. The Rockets (18-10) took a 10-point lead at halftime, then maintained a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter. Third-year forward Amen Thompson led the way with 27 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, while Kevin Durant added 25 points and 9 assists in his first Christmas appearance with the Rockets. James scored 18 points for the Lakers (19-10), who have lost three straight games and saw rising star Austin Reaves leave the game with a calf injury.
Curry, James’ longtime rival, continued his custom of struggling on Christmas with a 6-of-18 shooting performance, though he led the team with 23 points. The rest of the Warriors (16-15) picked up the slack. Six other Warriors scored in double figures, including Al Horford, who notched 14 points in his return from sciatic nerve irritation after missing 10 of the previous 11 games.
Flagg led the Mavericks (12-20) with 27 points while adding six rebounds and five assists. His running mate, Anthony Davis, scored just three points before leaving the game with a groin injury.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will visit the Denver Nuggets to close out the five-game slate.
Here’s what we learned from the action.
The Thunder have a big problem
It was all good just a week ago.
Many thought the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t be beaten and would cruise their way to another championship. But in less than a week’s time, Victor Wembanyama — on limited minutes — and the San Antonio Spurs have dismantled the idea. Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his 20-point game streak Thursday, but the Thunder got down early in the first quarter and San Antonio never relinquished the lead.
The Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets were already strong contenders to dethrone the Thunder out West, but the Spurs have shown other teams that OKC isn’t invincible. It turns out Gilgeous-Alexander won’t always sit out fourth quarters because the Thunder are up by 20.
In a game where the Thunder needed all of their starters to be as good as possible, shots just weren’t falling. No one other than Gilgeous-Alexander scored more than 13 points.
The last couple of games should serve as a wake up call for the Thunder. They’re going to need to figure out their very big San Antonio problem. —Shakeia Taylor, NBA staff writer
Are the Spurs the new team to beat?
When was the last time the balance of power in the NBA was reconfigured so swiftly like this?
Usually, it takes a catastrophic injury to rewrite the league’s story so suddenly. But after three consecutive wins over the Thunder in two weeks, the Spurs are unquestionably a title contender. It’s a shocking revelation for a team that was aiming for somewhere around the Play-In entering the season. But the results at this point are undeniable.
The Spurs are making a case for the best team in the NBA. They are designed for maximum depth and flexibility around Victor Wembanyama, to the point that he is no longer vital to their offense over the course of the game. Figuring out how he fits into their system is more of a luxury than a necessity at this point.
San Antonio was able to open a lead in the first half Thursday because Wembanyama abandoned Alex Caruso in the corner as the Thunder guard missed his first nine 3s. While Oklahoma City missed too many wide-open 3s to close the gap, it played well enough overall to show this would remain an even matchup over the course of a seven-game series. But in what has been effectively a playoff series simulation — something we rarely get to see with the way the NBA schedule works — the Spurs have pushed the Thunder to the brink of theoretical elimination with three straight wins.
San Antonio has beaten the defending champions with such consistency that you cannot ignore the fact that, right now, the Spurs are the better team. Considering the high esteem the world was holding the Thunder in just two weeks ago, that means the Spurs are arguably the best team in the NBA right now.
Somehow, they are only just beginning to figure things out. — Jared Weiss, Spurs staff writer
Lakers’ warts are starting to show
Remember November? The Los Angeles Lakers were rolling, winning 11 out of 13 games. They eventually built a nice cushion of wins with a 15-5 start while easing LeBron James back into the lineup.
Now it’s Christmas night, and the Lakers are on their first losing streak of the season, with three blowouts defeats to boot. The Rockets, like the LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns, are in the bottom-10 in pace and prefer to operate in the half court. But the Lakers’s lack of a supporting cast stresses their stars offensively and gets run off the floor whenever there are turnovers or missed shots.
It doesn’t help that the Lakers can’t guard with their three best players on the court. Entering Christmas, the Lakers allowed 117.0 points per 100 possessions with Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves on the floor. For context, that would rank 23rd in the NBA if that unit played every minute of every game. The twist with these Lakers is they can’t guard when those players aren’t together either.
Houston was happy to beat on both versions of the Lakers on Christmas. While the Rockets made only 8-of-24 from 3, they still found 119 points on 53.3 percent shooting from the field, bolstered by 68 paint points and their customary 17 offensive rebounds.
In the last week, the Lakers have lost to a team at the bottom of the West (Clippers), one in the middle of the conference (Suns) and now one closer to the top of it. Their defense is bad, and not just because of the stars. But the Lakers are easier to defend as well, and the supporting cast isn’t augmenting the strength of their roster. —Law Murray, NBA staff writer
Kevin Durant got his Christmas present early this year
It came in June when he was traded to a Houston Rockets team that boasts the kind of size and athleticism that make life much easier for one of the greatest scorers in NBA history.
The Rockets have suffered some rough losses this month as they figure out how all the pieces on this unorthodox roster fit together. But Houston was the healthiest it’s been all season in Thursday’s blowout win over the Lakers, and it put on display just how difficult a matchup they will be for anyone forced to deal them come playoff time.
Along with the supersized froncourt that features Durant, Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith Jr. and Steven Adams, the Rockets also had forwards Tari Eason and Dorian Finney-Smith both healthy for the first time all season, adding even more versatility and tenacity to a group that has emphasized those traits more than ever under head coach Ime Udoka. The 22-year-old Thompson was also a force on Thursday night, getting to the rim at will and being disruptive on defense.
Up to this point, we’ve seen glimpses of the vision Houston had when it put this roster together and added Durant as the star atop the tree. But this Christmas Day rout in Crypto.com Arena showed just how scary a Durant-led team can still be when he has all these versatile wings and big-body centers at his disposal. —William Guillory, NBA staff writer
These Knicks win with depth
The Knicks have too many weapons, as made evident in the Christmas Day comeback victory over the Cavaliers.
New York found itself down 18-3 to start the game. The Knicks were outscored by 15 in the first quarter. They followed that up by outscoring the Cavaliers by 17 in the second quarter behind 14 first-half points from Clarkson.
New York took a lead into halftime but was equally as bad in the third quarter as it was to open the game. The Cavaliers outscored the Knicks by 14 in the third quarter.
However, behind a billion offensive rebounds from Robinson in the fourth quarter, all of which led to Knicks baskets, and the 3-point shooting of Kolek and Brunson, the Knicks were able to pull out the win when they looked dead in the water. The Knicks are 21-9 through Christmas Day, which is one game better than they were this time last year.
The contributions of bench players like Robinson, Clarkson, Kolek, Landry Shamet and Miles McBride have been a huge factor as to why New York finds itself with the No. 2 seed in the East. All of those players have won a game or two for the Knicks this season with big performances.
New York appears to be more than a top-heavy team. It has the depth to win multiple ways. — James L. Edwards III, Knicks senior writer
Warriors need that version of Al Horford
Al Horford came into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks having played one game in a month. The 39-year-old’s first season with the Warriors has not played out the way the proud veteran had hoped. He’s been inconsistent. He’s been hurt. Yet the toughest part for Horford is that he just hasn’t been very good in the 13 games he played before Thursday.
For one of the first times all season, that changed. Horford, who has been dealing with a sciatica issue, came off the bench in the first quarter in his first game since Dec. 14 and knocked down four 3s to spark the Warriors. He finished the game with 14 points, going 5-of-7 from the field for 14 points, four rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes.
It was a solid step back for Horford in what has otherwise been a forgettable first half of the season. — Nick Friedell, Warriors senior writer
This story will be updated.
