Every year, other than opening night, the biggest slate of NBA games in the early stages of the season come on Christmas day. We always see marquee matchups, and they're the main sporting attraction of the holiday that families can enjoy everywhere, as they're all nationally televised. During this 2015-16 NBA season, there are five games and they're below ranked in top-five fashion, with all the important details such as the TV schedule and, of course, a prediction for the final score.
(Note: the betting lines have not yet been established as of this writing; will be updated as soon as they're posted.)
5. New Orleans Pelicans at Miami Heat
Time: 11:00 a.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
The first game of the day when originally scheduled looked like a pretty darn good matchup. The Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans were both expected to take steps up from last season, and while the Heat have mostly held up their end of the bargain at 16-10, the Pelicans have not.
NOLA is just 8-19 this season, and even more putrid on the road at 3-13.
Prediction: Heat 107, Pelicans 96
4. Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers
Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
Now here's the late game for December 25. Back in the day, this game would be kind of a bore due to the Clippers ineptitude. Today, the circumstances are reversed. The one reason this game gets bumped up to No. 4 instead of No. 5 is because of the intrigue of it being Kobe Bryant's final Christmas game. How he plays -- regardless of the 20-point loss his team will likely suffer -- will be a major talking point the next morning.
Prediction: Clippers 113, Lakers 95
3. San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
This is another one that was shaping up to be kind of a bummer -- the parity in the league has grown tremendously this year outside of the top two or three teams. However, the Houston Rockets have picked up their game as of late. After a horrid beginning to the year, a coaching change has actually turned things around as the Rockets are finally back over .500 at 15-14, winning seven of their last 10.
As for the Spurs, we know how great they've been this season. At 24-5, they're far and away the second-best team this season behind the Golden State Warriors. This should be a relatively competitive game.
Prediction: Spurs 99, Rockets 96
2. Chicago Bulls at Oklahoma City Thunder
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
Channel: ABC
The Bulls and Thunder always seems to be an excellent matchup the past few years -- at least when players are healthy. There's the whole storyline of Derrick Rose vs. Russell Westbrook, as they train together in the offseason and have been (at least at one point or another) two of the most explosive point guards in NBA history. Even in their first matchup of the year, when Rose was struggling, he brought his A-game against the Thunder and put up 29 to lead the Bulls to a victory.
Then there's also the Jimmy Butler vs. Kevin Durant aspect of the game. Butler always takes the responsibility of guarding the other team's best wing, and he'll certainly go head-to-head with Durant this year.
All of that considered, the Bulls have simply been playing poorly of late. Joakim Noah got hurt. The Thunder have improved as the season has gone on, and odds are, they'll take this one in a matchup where Chicago will be trying to prove themselves once again.
Prediction: Thunder 102, Bulls 97
1. Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Channel: ABC
Was there any doubt that the first rematch of the two teams from the 2015 NBA Finals were going to be the top game of the day? No longer is the undefeated Warriors aspect of the game alive -- after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks -- but the Cavs are still seeking redemption. Not to mention, Kyrie Irving just came back from injury and hopefully he'll have enough rust shaken off to really put out a good effort against Steph Curry.
All in all, this will be the most highly-anticipated game of the day, and should have plenty of fireworks with two of the best players on the planet being on the same court in Curry and LeBron James.
Prediction: Cavaliers 114, Warriors 111
