A full recap of each game from the Christmas Day quintupleheader may be a bit much to digest but here are some bullet point thoughts and observations distilled from over 12 hours' worth of holiday hoops:
Game One: Milwaukee Bucks 109, New York Knicks 95
1) Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo has emerged this season as the best in the paint scorer since prime Shaquille O'Neal destroyed defenses (and rims) in the early 2000s. The Knicks are not equipped to slow down, let alone stop, Antetokounmpo's onslaught, as he finished with a game-high 30 points, a team-high 14 rebounds, plus three assists, four steals and two blocked shots. Those numbers do not much exceed his MVP-caliber season averages: 26.2 ppg (ninth in the league), 12.8 rpg (fifth in the league), 6.0 apg (a career-high), 1.4 bpg and 1.2 spg. Antetokounmpo is shooting a career-low .130 from three point range; lack of a consistent jump shot is the only weakness in his game but he is so dominant in the paint that it does not matter much. Of course, it would be ideal if he could shoot three pointers well but if he can even just develop a reliable 15-18 foot jumper he will be unstoppable.
2) The Bucks have the second best record in the Eastern Conference after finishing seventh last season. They rank first in defensive field goal percentage (.435) and first in point differential (8.4 ppg), two statistics that strongly correlate with championship contention.
3) The 9-26 Knicks have the second worst record in the NBA and have been "rebuilding" for the better part of the past two decades. Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas, Larry Brown and Phil Jackson have not been able to turn the franchise around. It has become fashionable to bash one, two or all three of those guys but considering that the problems preceded each of their tenures and then continued after each of them left it might be worth contemplating the notion that the real issue may be the one constant: owner James Dolan.
Game Two: Houston Rockets 113, Oklahoma City Thunder 109
1) James Harden scored 41 points on 15-35 (.429) field goal shooting. We used to be sagely informed that such shooting percentages and points per shot ratios were inefficient but now apparently this is considered efficient--at least when Harden does it. I doubt that a 15-35 shooting performance by Russell Westbrook will ever be viewed with favor.
2) Whenever Kobe Bryant attempted 30 or more shots in a game, ESPN and other media outlets pounded a non-stop drumbeat about how selfish Bryant is and how much better off his team would be if he shot the ball less frequently. I think that evaluating any player's effectiveness by only looking at one statistic is not intelligent but--that being said--it is odd that when James Harden shoots the ball more than 30 times none of Bryant's critics say the same things about Harden that they said about Bryant.
By the way, in case you forgot, Bryant once scored 81 points on 28-46 (.609) field goal shooting. I recall some commentators suggesting that it was never good for a player to shoot 46 shots--and I remember wondering how scoring 81 points on 46 shots could possibly be a bad thing. The "efficient" Harden would need about 70 shots to score 81 points based on how he shot against the Thunder.
If Harden ever scores 81 points in a game I suspect that the media will petition to have him immediately inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame and retroactively named to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List.
Bryant was also widely criticized for scoring 60 points on 22-50 (.440) field goal shooting in the last game of his 20 season career. That is slightly more points per shot spread out over a larger workload that Harden's performance against the Thunder.
3) An interesting moment happened at the 7:29 mark of the second quarter. Eric Gordon jumped into Russell Westbrook while Westbrook attempted a three pointer. Gordon fouled Westbrook on the shot and did not give Westbrook room to land (which would be a foul even if Gordon had not fouled Westbrook on the shot). Westbrook missed the shot and was incensed when no foul was called. Westbrook fouled Gordon and then Westbrook got a technical foul for complaining about the non-call.
Westbrook's foul and technical foul were not smart plays. The Thunder led 35-33 before Gerald Green made the technical free throw and the Thunder later lost a close game in which every possession/shot/free throw mattered. However, it is baffling that Harden is the beneficiary of numerous phantom foul calls yet a Houston defender can get away with two obvious fouls on the same play. It is also baffling that the ESPN announcers did not believe that Gordon committed a foul on the play.
The Thunder went on a run after the bad call to take a 48-38 lead and they were up 60-52 at halftime. At that point, Westbrook had 14 points, five rebounds, six assists, four steals and a game-high +14 plus/minus number. Meanwhile, Harden had a game-high 23 points and a -5 plus/minus number.
Westbrook finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, four steals and a +6 plus/minus number even though his team lost by four points. Harden ended up with 41 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and a +4 plus/minus number.
So, the Thunder led by six points while Westbrook was on the court and trailed by 10 points when he rested, while the Rockets built a small lead during Harden's on-court time and were able to extend it by one point even when he sat.
Yes, this is just one game but this is the kind of thing I am talking about when I suggest that Harden's individual numbers are not strongly correlated with winning.
Harden is an All-Star caliber player. He is a streaky shooter and a crafty scorer.
However, the hype about him is so out of control that I don't think that it will ever get back under control. Maybe 20 years from now dispassionate historians will be able to place his career in proper context but I have given up any hope that Harden will be compared fairly and objectively with his contemporaries, let alone with all-time great players from previous eras. A whole generation of basketball fans is going to be indoctrinated with the false narrative that Harden is the best one on one scorer ever.
4) ESPN's Jalen Rose pointed out that Paul George--who has been touted as an MVP candidate--benefits a lot from playing alongside Westbrook. Rose noted that the opposing team's defense is geared first toward dealing with Westbrook, which gives George a lot of room to operate. Westbrook's lack of shooting prowess is supposed to be a great detriment and yet it is amazing how much defensive attention he draws: George is able to play one on one most of the time and other Thunder players are often wide open when Westbrook collapses the defense by driving.
Westbrook is having an MVP caliber season, averaging a triple double for the third straight season (!), but there is probably zero chance that he will win the MVP; if the Thunder finish with the best record in the West then perhaps George will be a dark horse candidate and if the Thunder fall off then neither Westbrook nor George will get much consideration.
One cautionary note about Westbrook is that he seems to lack his previous explosiveness. Don't forget that he had knee surgery just before the season began. Westbrook is able to get up in the air occasionally for spectacular blocked shots/rebounds/finishes but during the course of an entire game his athleticism seems muted compared to his previous capabilities. Hopefully, this is just a temporary setback and not a permanent change. It is amazing that he is still averaging over 10 rpg despite being somewhat limited. The lack of explosiveness is evident not only when Westbrook tries to finish in the paint but also on his jump shot. However, I don't think this explains his uncharacteristically poor free throw shooting, unless his knee is so stiff that he is not able to bend it normally during his free throw attempts (that does not appear to be the case but it is harder to determine that when watching TV as opposed to seeing a player in person).
5) ESPN's Paul Pierce called this a bad loss for the Thunder, who were not able to finish off a Houston team that has generally been inept with Chris Paul sidelined by injury. While I don't think that any losses are "good," I agree with Pierce that this is the kind of game that the Thunder need to win to establish themselves as legit contenders and separate themselves from the pack of good but not great teams.
Game Three: Boston Celtics 121, Philadelphia 76ers 114 (OT)
1) Kyrie Irving lives for the big moment and his scoring has an impact on his team's success. Irving scored 40 points on 17-33 (.515) field goal shooting and he accumulated a +19 plus/minus number in a game that his team won by just seven points. He had six of Boston's 13 overtime points--back to back three pointers that turned a 114-112 deficit into a 118-114 lead that Boston never relinquished.
2) Ben Simmons, often touted as the next Magic Johnson, had a near-triple double (11 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists). Despite his individual box score stuffing, he had a -17 plus/minus number. On the other hand, Joel Embiid caused all kinds of problems for Boston, finishing with 34 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and a +2 plus/minus number. Jimmy Butler, whose arrival via trade has boosted Philadelphia's record, had decent box score numbers (24 points, five rebounds, four assists) but did not have his usual impact; long stretches passed during which it was easy to forget that he was on the court and he had a -13 plus/minus number. Butler is the key to this team's success, though it does seem like the 76ers should give Embiid more touches in the post.
3) The Celtics have been hard to figure out so far. They blew out the 76ers on opening night, then limped to a 10-10 record before winning eight games in a row. They lost three straight before this victory over Philadelphia. On paper, the Celtics should be no worse than the second best team in the East (behind Toronto) but they are having problems figuring out how to cohesively blend all of their talent; somewhat paradoxically, they looked better last season when injuries forced them to rely on fewer players. I suspect that the Celtics will be a very tough out come playoff time, but there is a chance that they never quite get their act together consistently enough to vie for conference supremacy.
Game Four: L.A. Lakers 127, Golden State Warriors 101
1) LeBron James left Cleveland for L.A. seeking out a better supporting cast (or to make movies or to enroll his kids in a different school or to join forces with Paul George, Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard--the narrative shifts faster than I can follow). So, this game was supposed to be something of a measuring stick. James' Cavaliers faced the Warriors in the NBA Finals four times and lost three times. The seemingly ageless James is having another MVP caliber season, all the while working feverishly to ship out his brothers--I mean, teammates; no, I mean, impediments to James' plans--in order to stack the roster with one or more All-Stars.
Most star players at least pay lip service to the idea of being loyal to their teammates and wanting to go into battle with them but that is not the case with James. His teammates are often mentioned in trade rumors (rumors that are almost certainly being fueled by the actions of James and/or his business team) and James is not very sympathetic. Here is what he said about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who apparently should be renting and not buying in L.A.: "It's a business. If you get traded, that don't mean your paycheck stops. It doesn't matter, you're still going to be in the NBA, just continue to get better and better. If you get traded it's part of the business. It happens. I mean it sucks, that's for sure, but it happens, so you just go about it." I can't imagine why Kyrie Irving did not want to play with James or why Paul George re-signed with the Thunder without even speaking to the Lakers or why Kevin Durant recently described the atmosphere around James as "toxic." ESPN cannot imagine it, either; during its entire Christmas Day coverage no ESPN commentator directly discussed James' recent comparison of NFL team owners to slave owners or James' social media post of rap lyrics containing an anti-Semitic slur. ESPN knows better than to do anything that could restrict access to James.
2) James played very well as the Lakers built a 65-50 halftime lead. He had 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists before a groin muscle pull forced him out of action at the 7:51 mark of the third quarter. The Lakers were up 71-57 at that point. The Warriors cut the margin to 78-76 in the next five minutes but then Rajon Rondo, Ivica Zubac (who started at center due to JaVale McGee's pneumonia) and several Laker reserves took over, extending the lead to 117-94 before the Warriors threw in the towel at the 3:34 mark of the fourth quarter. Rondo contributed 15 points and a game-high 10 assists but the star of the game was Zubac, who had 18 points on 9-10 field goal shooting, 11 rebounds and a gaudy +25 plus/minus number. Zubac was a seldom-used third year player until injuries/illnesses recently created an opportunity for him. In his last three games (including this one), he has shot 25-32 (.781) from the field. He is mobile and skilled offensively and he even has had some good moments defensively (which is unusual for a young big man), including two blocked shots versus the Warriors.
3) For most of the game, the Warriors looked bored and/or mentally fatigued, which is how they have looked for most of this season. Despite being on cruise control, they still have the second best record in the Western Conference. One could argue that not being mentally engaged now is going to come back to haunt them later, but one could also argue that this team is so talented that whenever they decide to play their best no one will be able to beat them. I tend to incline more toward the latter view but I would also say that the Warriors' doldrums are giving some of these young teams confidence and when young players/teams are confident that can be very important. Tiger Woods lost his dominance not only because of his off-course issues and physical maladies but also because his opponents no longer feared him. If the Warriors lose that fear factor then they may find these other teams to be more competitive and harder to beat come playoff time.
Game Five: Utah Jazz 117, Portland Trail Blazers 96
1) I picked Utah to be the second best team in the West but right now they are struggling just to get into the top eight in the standings. The biggest difference is a drastic decline defensively; last season, the Jazz ranked sixth in defensive field goal percentage and first in points allowed but so far this season they rank 19th and 13th respectively in those categories.
2) That defense returned with a vengeance versus Portland, holding the Trail Blazers to .393 field goal shooting. The Jazz routed the Trail Blazers 120-90 on Friday but in their last 10 games the Jazz are just 5-5. They started slowly last season before becoming a force to be reckoned with down the stretch but one would have hoped that they carry that momentum into this season instead of regressing. In addition to the defensive issues, the Jazz have also been hindered by Donovan Mitchell's struggles. Mitchell looked like a star in the making down the stretch last season and during the playoffs but this season he is shooting less than .410 from the field and less than .290 from three point range. He is undoubtedly the first name on the scouting reports for opposing teams, and sometimes young players need some time/tutelage to develop options/counters after teams learn how to take away their primary, preferred attack methods. Mitchell led Utah with 19 points but he shot just 8-19 from the field and only had two assists. The Jazz featured a balanced attack, with seven players scoring in double figures.
3) Portland had a great season in 2017-18 (49-33) only to lose 4-0 in the first round to the New Orleans Pelicans. They do not seem to have suffered a hangover from that setback, and they are currently in that pack of teams jockeying for the fourth through eighth seeds. They are not quite as talented as several of the other West teams, and once the standings sort out I expect them to drop to the bottom tier of the playoff teams.
Analysis of Previous Christmas Day Quintupleheaders:
Christmas Day Quintupleheader Recap (2012)
Comments and Notes About the Christmas Day Quintupleheader (2011)
Thoughts and Observations About the Christmas Day Quintupleheader (2010)
Several Stars Shine During the Christmas Day Quintupleheader
