This December 25th the NBA will have its annual slate of Christmas matchups so us fans have something to get excited about once all the presents are opened and the Holiday ham is settling in our stomachs.
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Two of the five games stick out as the most exciting matchups: The Knicks host the Bucks at 12 pm Eastern to kick off the day, and LeBron James leads his Lakers north to take on the Warriors.
So, before the big day, head over to our NBA sportsbook and check out all the lines for these and all the X-mas day games. Christmas is a day for giving, and Skybook and the NBA are giving us a chance to rev up the NBA action this year with some fantastic basketball. Check out our up to date lines and make your wager now! Click here to Register or Log In!
While Bucks-Knicks might not be the fairest matchup of the day - the Knicks are a miserable 9-23 and at the bottom of the conference - it does offer fans a good chance to see Milwaukee´s Giannis Antetokounmpo on the big stage. Antetokounmpo is currently 5th in the league in rebounds per game with 13.1 and is 6th with 26.8 points per game. His 1.28 points per shot average is also the third best in the league, behind only Steph Curry and James Hardin.
However, for anyone who has ever watched ‘The Greek Freak’ in action, they know that what makes him stand out are his dunks. The 6’11, 242lb forward is a master at getting the ball to the rim, as he leads the league this year in dunks with 123, which comes out to 4.6 per game. If he keeps that pace up, he will obliterate Dwight Howard’s single-season dunk record of 266 with an estimated total of 364 by the end of this season.
This one-man show alone makes the NBA´s Christmas matinee a must-see, but add in the Bucks are a dominant force in the Eastern Conference, and you have every reason to tune in. At 20-9, very few teams have been able to solve Milwaukee´s attack. They lead the league in points per game with 117.6.
The good news for the Knicks is that the Bucks are an underwhelming 7-6 on the road, and in fact have already lost to the Knicks at MSG earlier this season. In that 136-134 overtime loss, the Bucks watched a 14 point lead slip away in the fourth quarter as the Knicks outscored them 25-11 in the final seven minutes of regulation to force overtime.
With that result, New York knows it has a fighting chance for the Christmas game tilt, whereas Milwaukee will be coming with guns blazing in an effort to enact some revenge. Make sure you have made your wager for this one because there is a lot to be gained from a possible upset! Our sportsbook is open and waiting!
Lebron vs. Curry
Check out the latest betting odds for the Lakers vs. Warriors game right here.
The biggest matchup of the day, however, will be the 4th consecutive installment of LeBron vs. the Warriors on Christmas day. This will be the first time that the matchup features LeBron wearing a Lakers uniform, which will add an extra bit of flair to the event. In the previous three meetings, King James had been a member of the Cavaliers, and all three of those matchups were nail-biters with the Warriors getting the best of the Cavs in ’15 and 17’. The Cavs only win was the 2016 matchup, when they edged Golden State 109-108 on Kyrie Irving´s last-second jumper.
With that history coming into the matchup, this is indeed a new chapter with a new team for LeBron, but with a cross-state rivalry now in the works, things will still be interesting. Golden State and Los Angeles are 2nd and 4th in the Western Conference, and they have yet to play each other in the regular season this year.
LA has had the kind of turnaround from last season that one could expect after hiring the NBA´s prominent superstar in LeBron James. As of this writing, they have won seven of their last ten games and sit only 2.5 games behind the first place Denver Nuggets. They average 113.4 points per game, which ranks them 9th in the league in scoring.
The Warriors, on the other hand, stumbled a bit out of the gate, and around Thanksgiving lost four straight games, which was the longest losing streak of Steve Kerr´s tenure as coach. Since then, the Warriors have won 9 of 12 and sit in second place in the West. Steph Curry recorded his 15,000 career point against the Grizzlies on the 17th of December and is not slowing down any time soon.
This game has all the makings of a great showdown, with the potential to set the stage for what should be a great rivalry in the years to come. Be sure to be there when it all starts on Christmas Day 2018!