Happy Holidays, Enjoyers!

There may be no NBA games on today, but with 28 teams playing last night, there’s plenty of hoop holiday cheer to go around. 🎄 🌟

Today’s Lineup

🎉 Happy birthday Will Richard, Paul Pressey, and PJ Hairston! 🎉

Game Recaps

Spurs defeat OKC for second time in two weeks, win 130-110 

Two weeks ago, OKC had yet to lose twice all season. Fast forward two weeks later, they’ve now lost twice to the same team. 😳

The top two seeds in the west were going back and forth in the first half, but it was a dominate second half for San Antonio, including a 43-28 fourth quarter. The most encouraging part for Spurs fans has to be the fact their team blew out the best team in the league with De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama combining for just 18 points!

It was Keldon Johnson (25 PTS, 10/16 FG), Stephon Castle (24 PTS, 7/12 FG), and Harrison Barnes (20 PTS, 6/9 FG) who carried the offensive load Tuesday night, scoring with ease on all three levels:

For OKC, they’ve now lost three of their last five games. In the long run, this will likely just be a bump in the road, but last night’s loss does take a massive hit on their chances of breaking the all-time 73-9 regular season record.

Fortunately for them (and us enjoyers) they’ll have their chance to redeem themselves on Christmas day as these two top dogs will square off yet again. 🙌

Pelicans defeat Mavericks 119-113, Continue Winning Ways

Pelicans fans, if you asked for some extra wins for Christmas, it looks like Santa heard you. New Orleans picked up its fifth win in six games on Monday night over Dallas, and are starting to find a real rhythm.

After trailing by 10 going into the fourth, it was Zion Williamson, once again coming off the bench, who got busy down the stretch. He put up 24 for the game, but he ripped off 10 in a row in just about a two-minute span late in the fourth that put the Pels ahead for good. 🔥

Based on his play lately, maybe Zion should fully lean into the sixth man arc…. 👀

Elsewhere for the Pels, rookie Derik Queen (19 PTS, 11 REB) more than held up his own against former Pelican Anthony Davis (35 PTS), and Saddiq Bey also poured in 19. Trey Murphy III (11 PTS) sunk the two free throws that sealed the deal late in the fourth.

After starting the season 3-22, this latest turnaround has given new-life to the fans and players of New Orleans. If they keep this up, there’s still a lottt of season left, and plenty of time to get back into the play-in race in the western conference.

Elsewhere around the NBA:

• The rumors of the Nets tanking this season may have slipped through Michael Porter Jr’s ears, because he’s been playing a lot of winning basketball as of late. His 28 points on five made threes lifted Brooklyn past the Sixers in Philly, 114-106, to give the Nets their third win in four games.

• Since the major KAT-Randle trade two seasons ago, Minnesota had yet to beat KAT and the Knicks…..until last night. The Wolves picked up a huge 115-104 win over the recent NBA Cup champs. Anthony Edwards (38 PTS), and Julius Randle (25 PTS, 17 in 4th) lead the way for the rolling Wolves, who are slowly creeping up the standings at the top of the west. 😎

• It seems like the Celtics always find a way, and Monday night was no different as the C’s rallied from 20 points down to defeat the Pacers 103-95. Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his 31 points in the fourth to initiate the comeback, while Derrick White chipped in 19 of his own. Indiana might want to ask Santa last-minute for some better shooting luck going forward, as they missed 19 of their 20 attempts from three in the second half… 😅

• Basketball is a game of runs, and the Denver Nuggets put that theory to the ultimate test on Monday, putting up a dominant 33-5 run in the first seven minutes of the game in their 135-112 win over the Jazz. The hoop was the size of the ocean for Denver tonight, as they tied a franchise record with 24 made threes. Jamal Murray (27 PTS, 6 3PT) continues his 2026 All-Star campaign, and Cam Johnson (20 PTS, 6/6 3PT) looks more comfortable on his new team by the minute.

Wayback Wednesday

In the spirit of the Holidays, let’s show some love to a player who was an absolute gift to the NBA in the 2000s - Baron Davis! 🔥

The Charlotte Hornets drafted Davis third overall in the ‘99 draft with the hopes he could reignite the flame the franchise was playing with in the early ‘90s with Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson.

It didn’t take long for him to blow past that expectation. By his third season in 2001-02, he made his first All-Star team (18.1 PTS, 8.5 AST, 2.4 STL) at just the age of 22. The Hornets made the playoffs in all five seasons in his time there, including being just one win away from the conference finals in 2001. Talk about a quick turnaround! 😎

After exploding onto the scene with the Hornets, the peak of Baron’s career came at his next stop with the Warriors. We all know how dominant GSW has been over the past decade, but when Davis arrived in 2005, Golden State hadn’t made the playoffs in over 12 years. To say the franchise was going through a rough patch would be an understatement…..

In just his second season with the team, Davis turned the culture around and led the Warriors back to the playoffs. However, they finished eighth in the west and awaiting them in the first round were the 67-win Dallas Mavericks with League MVP Dirk Nowitzki. No one gave them a shot to even win a game in that series.

Good thing you don’t play the games on paper.

The Warriors ended up pulling off one of the greatest upsets in NBA playoff history, defeating the Mavs in six and becoming the first eight seed ever to defeat a number one seed in a seven game series.

Though the “We Believe” Warriors run ended in the next round against Utah, Davis still gave us one of the greatest playoff dunks you’ll ever see in that series, take a look: 😳

Following his unreal Warriors’ run, he made a few more stops with the Clippers, Cavs, and Knicks before calling it a career in 2012. A 15-year career filled with multiple All-Star appearances, several steals titles, and a few legendary moments that will stay in the NBA history books forever, Baron Davis was one of the coldest PGs of his era!

Three in the Key

Signing Off

That’s all for today, Enjoyers! Thanks for making us a part of your holiday week. We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Enjoy tomorrow’s NBA Christmas slate! 🎄

Bobby Kasmire