Basketball is “Indiana’s Game,” says the slogan of the state’s NBA franchise, the Pacers. It’s not Hoosier imagery of burnished hoops nailed to barn doors, the scent of popcorn inside a gym, keeping warm in winter with the exhalations of 5,000 spectators under the same rafters. It’s two of those 5,000: a father and child from the county over, the elder teaching his little one the sport, pointing out No. 31, the stereotypical deadeye jump shooter, and how his elbow always bends at a 90-degree angle, doesn’t chicken wing, and how the rest of his body is so still as he rises to release the ball, powered by his legs and core so all his wrist has to do is flick. As dad points, the kid reaches into the popcorn bag and thinks about practicing outside the barn back home.
There’ll be more to learn than shooting mechanics one day: the fundamentals, the little things that don’t show up in the box score, which are neither little nor without statistical consequence, but the things that complete a basketball player. Knowing when to run above or below a screen on defense, when to switch onto a different offensive player, how it’s all driven by communicating with teammates on that end of the floor. Knowing what goes into a great score on offense, all the coordinated, moving parts; the sneakiness of the guy away from the ball darting to the basket and the passer timing the delivery just right. Forget the motto you’ve heard. In 49 states, they say “nice dunk.” But this is Indiana—they say “nice cut.”
It’s the state that produced Larry Bird, who surpassed his average athleticism with Leonardo levels of creativity and basketball IQ such that he’s one of the five best players ever. It’s the state that produced another Celtic great-in-the-making, Brad Stevens: the 41-year-old head coach who previously guided seemingly overmatched teams at Butler University in Indianapolis to top-10 rankings and two national championship games. There’s a Yogi Berra-like truism in here somewhere: You win games by playing basketball.
Many casual fans of the sport are deceived that this no longer applies in the pros—that the NBA is one big highlight reel of freaks with size-20 shoes jumping out of the stadium, making pro ball nothing more than an all-star spectacle. But anecdotally, this is easily rebutted: The last two men to be trendsetters league-wide, LeBron James and Steph Curry, are known respectively for their all-around game and jump shooting. James is at least as much a descendant of Magic Johnson as he is of Michael Jordan, for all his assisted baskets and ability to orchestrate an offense. The defining play of LBJ’s career thus far was a blocked shot—this in a sport whose biggest detractors say there isn’t enough defense.
The best way to compare teams statistically across generations is to evaluate points scored and surrendered per possession, or per 100 possessions to make the numbers neater. In 1987, amid the NBA’s “Golden Era” with Jordan, Johnson, and Bird, the league’s best defensive team gave up 103.7 points per 100 possessions, and its worst 112.3. This year, the top unit allows 102.9, and the bottom 111.3. Both the best and worst defensive teams this year are marginally better than the ones from 1987—and the biggest variance since, in the early 2000s, featured dreadful offense and physical hand-checking defense since disallowed by rules changes.
Complaining about too many slams and too much “hero ball”? The most coveted profile of a modern NBA player is the so-called “three-and-D” wing: a mid-size body who shoots and defends multiple positions. The team with the league’s best winning percentage heading into Christmas, the Houston Rockets, were built on the three-and-D concept.
This is the “game”—fundamentals, shooting, defense—the Pacers claim. They traded their best player in the offseason, Paul George, and have improved with a more efficient team. The Knicks traded their best man, too, Carmelo Anthony, and they’re actually watchable. George and Anthony are now teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder—who had a worse record before this weekend than both the Pacers and the Knicks.
Team basketball and the basics succeed in the NBA. When they’re practiced by phenomenal individual talents, which they are in the league, the product is superb. And the NBA wisely showcases some of its best examples on Christmas Day, scheduling rivalries and matchups between winning and up-and-coming clubs for a quintet of games rating alongside the best days of sport of the year.
Noon: Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks
Philly is a team for fans who like to wonder about the future. Its point guard, Ben Simmons, is a lefty LeBron without a jump shot—at age 21, he has plenty of time to develop one. Its center, Joel Embiid, is one of those rare players who elicits a reaction of, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before”: He’s a powerful 7-footer, not a slight one, with a unique offensive set that stretches beyond the three-point line. He brought shades of Hakeem Olajuwon in a recent game against the Los Angeles Lakers. (Seriously, just watch this.) He averages 24 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks—and he’s still raw in some respects. (Say “ooh” when he jukes two defenders for a dunk one possession and say “eww” when he audaciously fires a 25-foot jump shot early in the shot clock the next.) Like Simmons, he has some years to learn: He’s 23. If only he could stay healthy.
The Knicks have their own superweapon, the 7-foot-3 (no typo) Kristaps Porzingis, who is a good three-point shooter (again, no typo) and still in search of a ceiling to his game. He’s just 22. Call this Sixers-Knicks contest the Youth Bowl and enjoy a look at some young superstars (particularly if Embiid suits up), who also happen to play for playoff-contending teams.
The pick: The Knicks, who are quite good at home, in a clunker with some moments of awe, 107-100.
3 p.m.: Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors
For the fourth consecutive year, this is the odds-on favorite to be an NBA Finals preview, though the Celtics and Rockets (Finals opponents from yore themselves) had posted the the best records in their respective conferences leading into the weekend. No rivalry featuring the league’s two best players, James and Golden State’s Kevin Durant, needs sprucing up. Their face-off on Christmas Day last year ended up being one of the year’s best regular-season games.
But even the top NBA teams reload, and the Cavs this offseason added LeBron’s former Miami Heat running mate Dwyane Wade, still effective on the last legs of a Hall of Fame career, and Derrick Rose, an MVP this decade whose legacy and season to-date have been derailed by injury and mystery. They traded to Boston Kyrie Irving, Cleveland’s franchise player before LeBron’s arrival three years ago, for all-NBA-offense-inside-a-
On Christmas Day, Curry is sitting out for Golden State, making Durant even more the focal point of a defense and elevating shooting guard Klay Thompson to the No. 2 option on offense. Their offseason additions weren’t splashy; former Lakers guard Nick Young was the biggest. But long-term, their trading for draft pick Jordan Bell may be the most important. Bell, a 6-foot-9 defensive showman who starred at Oregon, inexplicably fell all the way to the Bulls in the middle of the second round, and bafflingly was dealt to the Warriors, as if they needed another asset. Even down Curry, their 1(b) player, Golden State is still the favorite at home.
The pick: Warriors 119-111. LeBron keeps it fun, because #LeBron.
5:30 p.m. Washington Wizards at Boston Celtics
The Cs have been one of the stories of the season thus far, losing prized acquisition Gordon Hayward on opening night to a gruesome leg injury with ipecac-inducing effects, but still bolting to the East’s top record. They’re led by Irving, who played like an MVP candidate through November because he finally showed up on defense; do-it-all power forward Al Horford; and a stable of young talent maturing far ahead of schedule. Oh, and Stevens, their coach. Boston’s D is the NBA’s best, but its offense is struggling mightily—a remarkable shift for a squad that succeeded the other way around last year. The Celts are in the middle of a 5-5 stretch and seem to be in a midseason lull. But they’re also missing Hayward and starter Marcus Morris, and Horford and young guard Jaylen Brown have been in and out of the lineup in recent weeks. At full strength—for this team’s standards, having everyone but Hayward—this is one of the league’s five best teams, able to stretch the floor a bit more on offense with Morris, who is a capable shooter for a big fella, and Brown, a two-way player adding to Boston’s roster of genuinely talented individual players. At present, though, they’re as vulnerable as they’ve been all year.
The Wiz Kids haven’t found their stride yet, though being in the NBA’s middle class (an 18-14 record) is enough to be positioned for the playoffs. All-Star point guard John Wall has missed time with a knee injury, but is working himself back to game speed and should be closer to his normal blinding stride by tip-off in Beantown. The rest of his supporting cast is familiar: Scorer Bradley Beal, getting the most usage of his five-year career, and former Georgetown forward Otto Porter, Jr., are his top deputies. But don’t sleep on Mike Scott, a former University of Virginia standout experiencing a mid-career breakout.
The pick: THEY PLAY DEFENSE IN THE NBA. Boston 97, Washington 91.
8 p.m.: Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder
The Rockets have big plans: as in winning the championship this year, an unthinkable goal for anyone competing against the Warriors but plausible now that Houston’s glorious offense is intact, with the good health of offseason acquisition Chris Paul. Paul is one of the greatest statistical point guards in league history and arguably a member of “The Association’s” informal 50 greatest list. Pairing him with James Harden—the league’s best offensive player—had the makings of a low-risk, interesting experiment. But defenses need a heat shield to guard this duo. With center Clint Capela evolving into one of the league’s best centers, the Rockets have the look of a possible juggernaut. They’re also the most enjoyable team to watch in the NBA—they have all the Warriors’ flair and added freshness.
The Thunder were supposed to have that new-car smell, too, after trading for George and Anthony to form a “big three” with reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. But this is hoops, not The Avengers. An echo chamber of basketball writers is suggesting Anthony, a 14-year-vet, be converted into a bench player; he’s been brutal this year, playing below the level of a league-average player through 32 games. But George hasn’t provided great offensive value himself, and each of the trio is shooting a terrible 40 percent from the floor. Include veteran point guard Raymond Felton, and the four Thunder who hoist the most field goal attempts per game don’t collectively break 41 percent shooting. They’re the league’s most prominent disappointment.
But . . . they’ve won 10 of 13 (eight of the victories were within two possessions) to crawl above the .500 mark. They have a top-five defense. And there’s so much offensive talent on this team. Anthony is no longer one of the game’s top one-on-one scorers, but almost every club in the league would take him as its No. 3 option. (Perhaps not at his $26 million salary.) George is a top-15 player in his prime. Westbrook is a bottle of Mountain Dew on a thrill ride. There’s enough dynamic skill here to threaten every NBA defense, from Boston on down. There’s also still more than half the season left to figure it out. But doing so to keep pace with Houston on Christmas will be a tall order.
The pick: Houston 122-118 in the game of the day.
10:30 p.m.: Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers
A month ago, this would’ve been a garbage matchup. Now, the young Lakers appear to be growing into their shoes: They’ve played the Warriors an anomalous three times the last month, taking them to overtime twice, and beat the Rockets on the road last week. Lonzo, of House Ball, commander of the armies of California hoops, loyal servant to Staples Center, son of a loud father, husband of an estranged jump shot, may have his vengeance on the basket in this season or the next. But for now, he’d posted a 34/27/50 split from the field, the three-point line, and the foul line headed into Saturday’s contest against Portland. That’s so bad it’s astonishing. Ball has genius court vision and is a terrific rebounder for the point guard position. But he’s not an “all-around” threat if he can’t hit a jumper. Some unexpected help from fellow rookie Kyle Kuzma—shooting a Dirk Nowitzki-like 51 percent overall and 41 percent from three—has boosted the L.A. offense. This is a fun team with particularly bright flashes of creativity. It’s not very good—but it’s easy to see how it could be soon.
Minnesota is intriguing for more reasons than the Lakers used to play in Minneapolis. The Wolves have one of the NBA’s best centers, Karl Anthony Towns—he soon may be the top dog—an elite two-way wing in Jimmy Butler, a highlight-reel-in-waiting in former No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins, and top-level head coach Tom R. Lee Ermey Thibodeau. Minny is a surefire playoff team and the most intriguing bunch of the Western Conference’s second tier, which includes an oft-thrilling Denver Nuggets squad and the unpredictable New Orleans Pelicans, who employ the league’s most fascinating pair, twin towers and former University of Kentucky standouts DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. Minnesota’s offense is elite. Butler is the only thing keeping its defense above “oh my,” as the late Dick Enberg said, and not in an impressive way. That makes Lakers-Wolves the perfect nightcap: Once you’ve stopped caring that late in the evening, you drink whatever’s left on the counter and watch Wiggins play defense.
The pick: The day’s only upset, with the Lakers torching the nets for a 117-106 win.
