Ringer’s NBA Christmas Day Race Diary

The NBA officially began its regular 2020-21 season on Tuesday, but Christmas Day unofficially serves as the opening night for many fans. With five remarkable games on the schedule, the NBA did its best this year to give everyone the Christmas gifts they wanted. We’ll be recapping all five of today’s Christmas clashes, so be sure to check back.

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Photo by Omar Rawlings / Getty Images

Kevin Durant’s return could put Jayson Tatum’s majority on hold

Justin Verrier: Now that Jayson Tatum is too old to overcome his teenage years, his training with Kobe Bryant quickly became the anecdote of his young career – a tale narrated ad nauseam by Mark Joneses of the world as the 22-year-old marches on to another superstar performance . But there are times when the Kobe System’s influence is genuinely unmistakable, such as when Tatum pierced a thundering turnaround 3 in the second quarter on Friday and gave former teammate Kyrie Irving an affectionate pat on the tuchus …

… Evoking Bryant’s bold touch in the 2010 Western Conference finals:

In most cases, the Tatum clip would be the one you would see repeatedly after the Celtics fight on Christmas Day with the visiting Nets – another example of Tatum as an emerging force in the Eastern Conference. But Kevin Durant now patrols the same conference, and the suddenly healthy ex-MVP would not accept any of that.

The Nets fell three and a half, with Durant opening a modest 2-to-6 from the ground. But then KD made a conscious decision to take over in the third quarter, playing every 12 minutes, scoring 16 of his 29 final points in almost perfect shots (6-to-7), and doing most of the work to limit Tatum to just six points when Brooklyn took control and ended the game. The Nets starters (minus DeAndre Jordan) needed just four minutes in the fourth to finish the 123-95 victory, marking the Nets second dominant performance to usher in the real KD-Kyrie era.

Irving was also sparkling, setting a record point franchise (37) on Christmas Day, with eight assists and six rebounds. But Durant was the difference. All the marks of a classic KD acquisition were on display in the third. He drilled pull-ups over defeated defenders. He used his size and hesitated quickly –out of his surgically repaired leg– run to pass defenders at the perimeter. And he used his cunning to score the fourth foul on both Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. He was also stuck in defense, and his length visibly hindered Tatum in more than one play.

The Nets were the great stranger who entered the season, with most recognizing their immense potential, but yielding to the basketball gods and people with medical training at their destination. In two games, Durant not only looks agile and healthy after Achilles’ break, he is also the best player in the NBA. If that’s true for the rest of this turbulent 2020-21 season, all the simultaneous ways to form across the East – whether from Tatum or even the title conference champion, Heat – may be on hold.

Warriors may not be who we thought they were

Paolo Uggetti: You have to remind yourself periodically that you are not in an alternative reality when watching the Warriors today. How else to explain the short circuit in your brain while watching Steph Curry start the Golden State attack, as you’ve seen a million times, just to have your passes and gravity create an open shot for … Marquese Chriss that ends in an air ball? This should have been a shot for Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant, but it is not, so there is no real mystery why the Warriors were destroyed by Durant’s current team on opening night and by the Bucks, 138-99, on Christmas Day.

There was little aesthetically pleasing about the Milwaukee showdown on Friday afternoon. The Warriors’ white uniforms clashed with the Bucks’ Nickelodeon-blue kits, which clashed with the Bucks’ dark green court. Basketball didn’t help either. In addition to a characteristic performance by Khris Middleton – and by signature I mean extremely effective (10 to 15, 31 points in 26 minutes) and the flashy antithesis – the confrontation lacked emotion. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph had subpar games by their standards, and the only sign of positivity for Golden State was James Wiseman once again looking like he belonged to the team, hitting three 3s and making some notable defensive plays.

In two games, the Warriors look much closer to the Western Conference floor than to their roof. Draymond Green hasn’t played a minute yet, and the sample size is miniscule, but in a season where the West will be a challenge and there will be 10 fewer games in the regular season, frustration and harsh reality can settle in Curry, Steve Kerr and Joe Lacob faster than expected. As they play more games, the Warriors may realize that while Steph is still their cornerstone, leader and guy in the franchise, the team is spiritually closer than Wiseman is now – young and full of potential, but also lacking in growth . Of course, the Steph effect is still real, but it cannot develop young players alone, make players interpret shots, or turn a team in transition into a competitor.

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The heat show with no signs of hangover in the finals on the pelicans route

Rob Mahoney: It was an inspired choice for the NBA to celebrate the giving season with an appearance from the Heat, which took the best of the Pelicans by treating each ball possession as a kind of extra pass. A trip to Miami was never only one unit; it was an excuse for swashbuckler Goran Dragic to steal the defense’s attention for a moment before throwing a pass to André Iguodala, only for him to then whistle the ball to the opposite corner, where she jumped back down the wing and into the hands of a of the Heat’s dangerous and hopeful snipers. In all, Miami scored 76% of its field goals in the 111-98 victory through an assist – enough to let the Pelicans gesticulate wildly at each other when they weren’t shaking their heads in frustration. If you look closely (perhaps with the help of ESPN’s expanded transmission angle), you can see Stan Van Gundy’s hair turning gray in real time.

Smashing long, patient objects was clearly more work than New Orleans wanted on vacation. There is something profoundly admirable about how Miami, just two months from the 2020 playoff marathon, can come up with the kind of energy and pace that suggests your race is not over yet. Jimmy Butler was eliminated from the game at halftime due to an ankle injury, and that didn’t matter. Bam Adebayo submitted with almost eight minutes left, and it didn’t matter. Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram combined to score 60 points for the Pelicans, and it didn’t matter. The Heat just keeps beating through sensible passes and defensive spins even its newest additions – like Avery Bradley, Maurice Harkless and rookie Precious Achiuwa – sit comfortably in the machine. The Pelicans’ attempt to run at the end of the game was rejected by the same kind of collective will that beat Miami East last season. I’d say it’s exciting, but part of what makes Heat special is the kind of Screw it challenge that is not exactly in the spirit of Christmas. Celebrate them anyway, both for the sugar and the spice.