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Over the past few years, the NBA has made a conscious effort to headline their Christmas Day schedule with only the best of the best. Now, teams like the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers have played the past few seasons despite their lackluster team but that's more to appease the league's fans in the huge market of Los Angeles and New York.
At the same time, the San Antonio Spurs don't always get a Christmas Day game despite being immensely consistent over the past two decades. Yes, you read that right, decades not just years. They faced off against the Chicago Bulls at home last year but were not allotted a game this year.
This is how the schedule looked:
With the results of these games already known, let's have a look at the best and worst of the league's 2017 Christmas Day slate:
Best: The Christmas Day sneakers
If watch arguably the best basketball of the season on Christmas isn't enough, fans also get a glimpse of some crazy custom sneakers. Almost every player that took the court put on creative and wacky sneakers.
Here's Klay Thompson with his personal colorways of the Anta K3 when he played against the Cleveland Cavaliers:
There are plenty of sneakers to show but Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns takes the prize when it comes to creativity:
Meanwhile, Draymond Green decided to take a friendly shot at LeBron James by donning these sneakers for the Finals rematch.
Different colorways of shoes are one thing but Green's teammate Nick Young went a step ahead:
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Worst: Boston Celtics regress to the mean?
Despite losing All-Star Gordon Hayward on opening night, the Boston Celtics surprised everybody by still being among the league's elite. After losing the first two games of the season, they went on a charge winning 22 of the next 24 games, including a 16-game win streak. But, now the team is surprising the league once again, however, this time for the wrong reasons.
Over the past 11 games, the Celtics have been below par with a record of 5-6. They rank second in defensive rating (101.0), only behind the Golden State Warriors. However, over the past 11 games, their defense has slipped to the middle of the pack (15th, 106.4).
Now, this could just be regressing to the mean for the young and relatively inexperienced Celtics squad or it could be their schedule. Boston has played 37 games so far, the next best is 34 played by a handful of teams. That has been to accommodate some rest period before and after their London fixture against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Is their recent form a sign of regression or just being overwhelmed by the compressed schedule over the past two-and-a-half weeks (11 games in 17 days)?
Best: Has OKC figured out their offense?
Over the last 15 days, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won seven of their last eight games, improving their record from 12-14 to 19-15. The latest victory coming against a reeling but commendable Houston Rockets squad on Christmas Day.
The defense was never a problem for this team, it was always their offense. They ranked at the bottom of the league in terms of assists per game, passes made per game and so forth. Even now, they are ranked 18th in the league in offensive rating (104.0), 25th in the assists per game with an average of 20.8 and 29th in the league in passes made per game (262.0).
However, check the numbers through their ongoing five-game winning streak, currently the longest in the Western Conference, the team's image changes.
Over the last five games, their offense is best in the league (115.0), even better than the Rockets. Can this be credited to the recognizable decrease in the number of shots that Carmelo Anthony has taken? Maybe and maybe not.
Only time will tell but there seems to be a definition of roles starting to take place within the Thunder squad.
Worst: No Christmas Day jerseys
Maybe for a few years, the Christmas jerseys weren't up to the mark but even those could be better than what the league had this year - nothing. If playing on Christmas Day is considered a sign of respect, then there has to be something standout about the attire for those 10 teams on that festive day but we had nothing this year.
Now whether that was because NIKE couldn't provide one, with the number of options they have given for the regular season, isn't known yet but it is certainly disappointing to not have any special Christmas Day jerseys for the 10 teams playing on the 25th.
Best: Nothing like a Warriors-Cavs Finals rematch
Both reigning Conference champions - the Warriors and the Cavaliers - have had their fair share of early-season struggles and injuries but both seemed to have found their stride as they readied themselves for a rematch of the 2017 Finals.
Golden State was missing Stephen Curry, while the visiting Cleveland squad was without a rehabbing Isaiah Thomas but the action on the court was not short of drama and class.Role players for both teams stepped up to provide a thrilling contest that was dominated by defense and highlighted by the sloppy play from both teams.
By his standards, LeBron James had a sub-par game with just 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. On the other hand, the reigning Finals MVP Kevin Durant had 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 5 blocks. A re-energized Draymond Green recorded his first triple-double of the season - 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. Kevin Love, who hasn't been given a lot of attention, had a monster double-double of 31 points and 18 rebounds
It was easily the best game of the day.
