NBA 2018-19: Top performers of the day, Christmas night recap

The NBA Christmas night featured some tantalising matches. We had some of the top teams playing against each other and it was a great night of basketball action.

The Bucks started off the night with a commanding 109-95 victory over the New York Knicks. The Bucks are the second best team in the NBA and are looking really good this year.

Then the Rockets had a tight victory over the very impressive Thunder side. Paul George and Russell Westbrook are quickly becoming a very dangerous duo but the Rockets and James Harden still managed to grasp home a victory despite missing Chris Paul due to a hamstring injury.

The Celtics had a great win in overtime over the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers played a great match throughout but struggled in closing out the deal. The Celtics got great clutch plays from Kyrie Irving and managed to scrape out a Christmas win.

The biggest match of the day featured LeBron James and the Lakers going against the defending champions, Golden State Warriors. James suffered an injury midway into the match but the Lakers still had a blowout win over the Warriors.

In the last match, the Jazz had an easy win over the Trail Blazers.

Here are the top performers:

#3 Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently the leading contender for the NBA MVP award. He has been unstoppable this season and continued his domination against the Knicks in his first ever Christmas match.

Giannis scored 30 points in the match and grabbed 14 boards. He shot 13-21 from the field. This was another match in which Giannis established his control in the MVP race.

#2 James Harden

The defending MVP led the league in scoring last season. He is again leading the league in scoring with his career-best 32 points per game this season and has now scored above 30 points in seven consecutive games.

Harden was again at his scoring best getting 41 points on a night that his team desperately needed him to perform. The Rockets don't have CP3 and Harden had to shoulder the extra responsibility. Harden dropped 41 points on a high flying Thunder side and took his side to victory in a close game.

Over the past 7 games, Harden has been playing at an elite MVP level. He has been averaging 40 points and 9 assists per game and the Rockets are 6-1 during the span. The Rockets need Harden to play at an MVP level if they want to become dominant like last season.

#1 Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving's display dominated the Christmas encounter between the Celtics and 76ers that Boston won in overtime. Irving was on fire and was the definition of clutch in this match.

Firstly, Irving hit a mid-range jumper over Jimmy Butler that tied the game and forced overtime. Then he hit two back to back threes and took over the match in overtime to come away with a 121-114 victory.

Irving scored 40 points in the match and grabbed 10 boards. He shot 17-33 from the field and 5-10 from the 3-point line. Irving has been very clutch for the Celtics this season despite them not performing as per expectations.

He has been averaging 23.3 points and 6.3 assists per game for the season and has bailed his team out with his clutch plays on various occasions. The Celtics will look up to Irving to take them deep in the East.