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Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Festivus! Happy holidays to all who celebrate! And if you don’t, we hope today and tomorrow are just good days for you. Today, we’re previewing the NBA’s annual high-profile Christmas Day slate. There won’t be a Bounce edition on Thursday, but we’ll be back Friday. Enjoy the hoops!
Meals and dunks
Eat up the Christmas Day games
It’s Christmas time in Hollis, Queens, right here on The Bounce and in the NBA! This is the big day of the regular season, with the biggest spotlight on 10 teams given the honor of playing on Christmas Day. This is also the day a lot of casual sports fans start paying attention to the NBA. For some people, this is when the season starts, even though we’re already one-third of the way through it.
The holiday (if you celebrate it) is also heavy on eating special meals and food items. With the help of our resident scribe/editor/world-class baker James Jackson, we’re pairing each game with a dish, appetizer, dessert or drink from the often ballyhooed New York Times Cooking. We’re picking an item or two for each game and letting you know how much eggnog it’ll take to get through the game. The more eggnog, the more help you need.
Remember: All games are on ABC and ESPN on Thursday. All times listed here are ET.
Overnight French toast could be a great way to start a day of basketball. (Craig Lee / New York Times)
🌲 Cavaliers at Knicks, Noon: I love the idea of overnight French toast to start the day. We need to give ourselves a good base. We’re not sure which Cavs team is going to show up, so the incredibly high ceiling of this French toast will make sure the first game is great no matter what.
Eggnog meter: 🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛. Tough in the morning, but needed for this Cavs experience.
🌲 Spurs at Thunder, 2:30 p.m.: Baked brie puffs with chile crisp for the appetizer to the dinner later. Even though this feels like the main course of the day. We’re celebrating the Frenchness of Victor Wembanyama with the baked brie, but we’re overindulging with these snackable finger foods like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander loading up on points.
Eggnog meter: 🥛. We’re locked in here.
🌲 Mavericks at Warriors, 5 p.m.: Smoked prime rib and jerk chicken pot pie for the main meal. Some good beef here for the main meal of watching Cooper Flagg and Steph Curry on Christmas Day. And yes, I took the jerk chicken pot pie for the obvious Draymond Green joke here. I wonder if Steve Kerr would secretly agree?
Eggnog meter: 🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛. This is not as fun as it sounded in the preseason, so let’s load up.
Olive oil cake for the win. (Bobbi Lin / New York Times)
🌲 Rockets at Lakers, 8 p.m.: Olive oil pumpkin cake with salted maple cream and pecan pralines for the dessert of the day. We don’t know how many more games of Kevin Durant against LeBron James we’ll have. So let’s really get decadent with big-time desserts everybody will love.
Eggnog meter: 🥛🥛🥛. This is only because it’ll pair well with the cake and pralines. We’re locked in.
🌲 Timberwolves at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.: Grab a second plate of the dinner and appetizer. A little dessert. And top it off with an old fashioned and/or some mulled wine. 🍷🍷🍷🍷. An old fashioned is my favorite nightcap drink for watching my favorite current player, Anthony Edwards. Mulled wine is a delight, much like the international flair of Nikola Jokić’s game.
Eggnog meter: 🥛. Perfect end to a great day of basketball.
Up next, after some quick news links, let’s break down these games in non-food detail.
The last 24
Which TV partner is doing the best job?
📺 Must-see TV. Ratings are up in the NBA, and we’ve had our new platforms for a minute. Is anybody doing a better job than Prime?
🎅 Family time. The Christmas Day games are great, but Steve Buckley argues that the NBA and NFL should chill out on the holiday.
🎣 New Year, new me. Ben Simmons has found his next venture after basketball. He bought into a professional fishing team.
🤔 A new strategy? We hate when teams are allowed to foul up three in a tight game. But should teams foul when up two?
🏀 Winners and losers. Women’s hoops in 2025 had a massive year. Does the biggest gift go to A’ja Wilson?
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Meaning of Christmas
Which teams need a win on the holiday?
Tomorrow isn’t just about food to eat all day while we indulge in some national hoops. There are actual basketball storylines and stakes to prepare for. Let’s take a look at each matchup and see what the national spotlight means for each participant. Also, whether or not we think the NBA would rather have someone else competing in one or both of the spots.
Cavs (17-14) at Knicks (20-9): Going into the season, most people expected the Cavs and Knicks to vie for the top spot in the wide-open Eastern Conference. The Knicks have held up their part. The Cavs have struggled.
- Do the Cavs need to shine? Absolutely. This is not the team we expected to see, and they need to snap out of this funk. Cleveland needs a signature win to build some momentum and confidence.
- Do the Knicks need to shine? Need to? No. But stomping down Cleveland further would really be a flex.
- Does the league regret it? As long as we get a duel between Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson, the answer is no. But if Cleveland is still blah on the court, they’ll wish they didn’t believe in the Cavs.
- Is there a better replacement for either team? The Pistons would be awesome in this spot against the Knicks.
Spurs (22-7) at Thunder (26-4): The Thunder are 26-2 against all teams not named the Spurs. They’re 0-2 against San Antonio and just lost to them Tuesday night. This is becoming a real rivalry to consume on Christmas.
- Do the Spurs need to shine? At this point, they’ve already bested the Thunder on the NBA Cup stage. As long as they don’t get blown out, it’s all gravy. A win makes us start asking some tough questions.
- Do the Thunder need to shine? It would behoove them to get a win and dominate in the process. I can’t believe I said that about a team that started 24-1.
- Does the league regret it? Not in the slightest.
- Is there a better replacement for either team? Not in the slightest.
Mavericks (12-19) at Warriors (15-15): Neither team is having the season they planned on. But both teams have stars everybody wants to see. Flagg gets his first Christmas game, and Curry remains in the spotlight.
- Do the Mavs need to shine? They’ve played better as of late, so as long as Flagg has a good showing, Dallas will be just fine nationally.
- Do the Warriors need to shine? Absolutely. This team has been teetering for weeks and can’t lose to a team like Dallas on Christmas.
- Does the league regret it? Probably. Everybody is still shocked this wasn’t Luka Dončić against the Mavericks.
- Is there a better replacement for either team? Maybe the Warriors against Phoenix would have been a better matchup? But the point is getting Curry and Flagg.
Rockets (17-10) at Lakers (19-9): We really need Dončić to play in this one so we get the full effect. But regardless, having Durant against LeBron will always bring the fanfare.
- Do the Rockets need to shine? I wouldn’t say shine, but they’ve been struggling a bit lately. A strong win against the Lakers would be a great message.
- Do the Lakers need to shine? Depends on whether Luka plays. If he doesn’t, then this becomes all about LeBron against KD. The Lakers beating Houston would maybe raise an eyebrow toward the postseason.
- Does the league regret it? You’ll never regret putting KD against LeBron on Christmas.
- Is there a better replacement for either team? Maybe the Lakers against Minnesota and Denver against Houston are better matchups considering recent history? But this is a good game.
Wolves (20-10) at Nuggets (21-8): Both of these teams have developed a fun rivalry over the last few seasons. The Wolves have owned the advantage the last two seasons, but Jokić has the horses now to pull ahead.
- Do the Wolves need to shine? Minnesota never gets taken seriously until it makes the conference finals. So a big win would definitely help that national perception.
- Do the Nuggets need to shine? A convincing win over Minnesota would remind everybody how good Denver has been.
- Does the league regret it? No way.
- Is there a better replacement for either team? See above, but I think the league ends the night properly.
About last night
Quick-hitters from Christmas Eve Eve
Spurs 130, Thunder 110: San Antonio set the stage for tomorrow by lighting up the best defense in the NBA. The Spurs made 57 percent of their shots against a full Thunder squad.
Mavs 131, Nuggets 130: Flagg and Anthony Davis combined for 64 points to take down Jokić and Jamal Murray’s combined 60. But scary news might be coming for Nuggets forward Cam Johnson.
Wolves 115, Knicks 104: No Jalen Brunson, so Karl-Anthony Towns (40) had to battle Edwards (38) and his old team.
Suns 132, Lakers 108: No Dončić, no chance for the Lakers against Phoenix (16-13). But all anybody will talk about is the latest Dillon Brooks-LeBron incident.
Bulls 126, Hawks 123: It wasn’t 300-plus points again, but Chicago (14-15) and Atlanta (15-16) played another stellar game. The Bulls had a furious fourth-quarter comeback (34-18) behind Josh Giddey’s 19-11-15 locker combination.
Clippers 128, Rockets 108: Houston should be a little concerned that it dropped games to the Pelicans (8-23), Kings (7-23) and Clippers (8-21) in the last week. Kawhi Leonard went for 41.