The traditional Christmas season in the NBA opens tonight (Sunday) with two early games. In the first, Philadelphia outplayed the Knicks. Later, Dallas came back from a double-digit deficit for an impressive victory over the Lakers.
Tonight’s games:
New York (16:18) – Philadelphia (12:20) 119:112
Dallas (16:17) – Los Angeles Lakers (19:13) 115:124
New York (16:18) – Philadelphia (12:20) 119:112
After the report that James Harden was considering a return to Houston, the Sixers recorded an eighth straight victory and the beard played a central role as usual. The Knicks started stronger and went up to plus 14, but as the game progressed, Joel Embiid got into things and a 4:19 run in the last quarter allowed the Phillies to escape to a double digit lead. Embiid became the first player in club history to score 30 or more points in three Christmas games, this time he had 35 along with 8 rebounds. Harden added 29 and handed out 13 assists. Julius Randle scored 35 and 8 like Embiid, and Jaylen Bronson scored 23 along with 11 assists, but the host lost a second game in a row.
Dallas (16:17) – Los Angeles Lakers (19:13) 115:124
LeBron James was great from the start, and the Lakers held the host to 43 points in the first half to go into the break at plus 11. But then came a historic and rare third quarter: Dallas scored 51 points, compared to 21 by the visitor from Los Angeles. That’s a league season record for points in one quarter, tied for the Mavericks’ club record in any quarter, and the largest single-quarter margin on Christmas ever. Jason Kidd’s team is the first in history to score 50 or more in one quarter on Christmas Day. It ended in a third straight win for Luka Doncic and co, while the Lakers lost a fourth game in a row. The Slovenian finished with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, Christian Wood contributed 30 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 26 points. LeBron scored 38 points and 6 rebounds which is not comforting for him.