The NBA schedule picks up on Thursday with a full slate of games on Christmas Day and the first matchup has the Chicago Bulls visiting the Brooklyn Nets at 12 pm noon and that game will be on ESPN before the other team in the city plays, as the New York Knicks will be hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder across the water from the Barclays Center at Madison Square Garden and that kicks off the first two of five games on the docket.
The Knicks really need to get back on track this season after starting of 9-18 and now they have one of the toughest teams in the NBA coming to their house in the Oklahoma City Thunder and their stars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The team is coming into the game after a loss against the Toronto Raptors and that game saw Westbrook lead the team in scoring, dishes and rebounds and now he will be up against a Knicks team that ranks in the top 10 in defense this season, but not much else and they likely will need to score over 100 to win and that has been an issue at MSG.
The third game on the schedule has the Miami Heat taking on the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center and that will be missing some star power with Kobe Bryant out and the game is on ABC and will have LeBron James and the champs in the featured game. Miami has been right there with the Indiana Pacers in the eastern conference and they will be matching up against a Lakers team that has been holding on against the west. The Nets and Bulls matchup is a playoffs rematch from last season and then after the Lakers and Heat game, the Houston Rockets visit the San Antonio Spurs for the instate matchup on ESPN and that game is on at 8 pm and should be a good matchup with Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan.
The Los Angeles Clippers play against the Golden State Warriors in a matchup of California teams at Oracle Arena and that game will be on ESPN at 10:30 pm and those games will be streaming on the WatchESPN website. Miami is a game behind the Indiana Pacers in the east and the team is ahead of the Atlanta Hawks by a wide margin and and the rest of the conference is under .500 and that gives teams like the Chicago Bulls and NY Knicks hope of getting back into things. The Nets are hanging on as well, while the Portland Trail Blazers have been the best team in the west in surprising fashion and the Oklahoma City Thunder are ranked second in the west right now just ahead of the Spurs.
