While we are all still suffering from our Christmas Day Food Coma, the NBA World has been ever so kind to us, giving us 5 action packed games back to back to back to back to back on Boxing Day!
If you’re one like me who will be getting to bed on Christmas night super early to watch all of them LIVE, then you won’t want to miss the first game at 4am.
New Orleans travel to South Beach, as Zion and the Pelicans face off against last season’s NBA Finalists, Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.
Plenty of young stars will be on show in this contest, as Zion and Brandon Ingram will look to show the world they’re ready to take the next step, but Miami’s young core may have something to say about that!
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro were huge in the bubble for a team on the rise, and they’ll be pushed on by Jimmy Butler to go one step further this season and take home some jewellery.
Golden State travel to the cold of Milwaukee to face a Bucks team that’ll be bitterly disappointed with how their bubble experience finished up.
The Bucks had the Number 1 overall seed and were flying before the pandemic hit. But once inside the bubble, things were never the same for one of the hottest teams in the league.
Giannis and Khris Middleton have a new friend this season, as Jrue Holiday makes his way to Milwaukee and forms a new Big 3 out East!
Golden State were very disappointing on opening night, running into a buzz saw in Brooklyn, and will be hoping they can get their floor general in Draymond Green back into their line up on Christmas Day to get a little stability within the playing group.
Arguably the game of the day tips off at 9am, as the red hot Nets travel to Boston for their Christmas Day match up.
This could very well be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals, as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be looking for a statement win in their young careers.
Boston will be without the services of Kemba Walker for the opening few weeks of the season, so they’ll be looking for Marcus Smart to show us the form he displayed last season and continue to take the next step as an offensive floor general (as well as a defensive weapon).
Brooklyn looked even more impressive than we could’ve imagined on Opening Night, with KD reminding all of us just how good he is!
Having LeVert come off the bench has added another dimension to this team, as someone who could be starting for 90% of the league leading the second unit, gives everyone around the league no rest after having to deal with KD and Kyrie for the opening quarter!
Dallas heads to LA-LA Land at Midday, with Luka Doncic looking to stake his claims for MVP this season, as we all saw how special he was in the bubble!
Luka’s performance in his first playoffs against the Clippers will be something we will always remember, and he will be without Kristaps Porzingis to start the season, so it’ll all once again fall on the young Slovenian’s shoulders to carry this team over the line this season.
Something tells me he is up to it!
LeBron and the Lakers were ambushed early on against the Clippers, with Paul George showing us this could be a little redemption season.
LeBron and AD were put on ice a little on opening night, playing less than 30 minutes each, and after a short off season for this team it’s understandable.
But everyone knows how much of a show LeBron loves to put on Christmas Day, so look for a big night from him to get this team to 1-1 on the season.
Our last game of the day at 2.30pm is a match up that gave the Basketball World so much joy last season, as the Denver Nuggets host a Clippers team who blew a 3-1 2nd Round playoff lead to them in the bubble, creating a twitter melt down!
Tuck into some left over Pavlova and enjoy this contest, as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray will be out to show that last season’s playoff run was no fluke!
Denver will also be hoping that Michael Porter Jr takes the next step this season, as we all saw flashes of brilliance last season, but want the consistency from him to be a stud next to Denver’s two stars.
The Clippers got their opening night campaign off to a flyer as mentioned above, and will want to redeem themselves for last season’s collapse against the Nuggets in the playoffs, and show everyone they are that team again that everyone feared last season!
Bring on the Boxing Day Madness and Merry Christmas to all!
Bauky