Merry Christmas everyone! From our extended SneakerReporter family to yours, we wish you happy, happy holidays! It’s been a long, rough year, but if you are able to just be with family and friends during this wondrous time, that’s a blessing in itself. And per tradition on Christmas day, we have NBA Basketball just a little under an hour away! Five games, and a preview of each of them, are coming down the chimney for viewing and reading pleasure, so go and grab your favorite Yuletide beverage, kick back, and get ready for game one of our NBA quintuple-header choc’ full o’ holiday action!
The first game on the schedule: the New Orleans Pelicans take a trip to sunny South Beach to battle the Miami Heat on ABC at 12:00 p.m. ET.
The Pelicans are fresh off a season-opening 113-99 road thrashing of the Toronto Raptors and really looked like the young, talented team that fueled those preseason expectations of this Stan Van Gundy-coached team making the postseason. Engineered by the unstoppable force named Zion Williamson, who finished with a rattling 18 points off 7-9 shooting as Toronto was struggling all night stopping him from getting to the rack with that tremendous strength and explosiveness he’s blessed with. For Williamson, this has to be the greatest gift of them all, since the 2nd year star out of Duke was sidelined through last January as a result of the injury to his left meniscus and wasn’t able to play in his first Christmas Day game.
Now that he has his chance, NBA fans can expect to see Zion slash his way through Miami’s defense and finish atop the rim with fervent, though it won’t be easy. Though Miami is coming off a tough loss to the Magic, the season is young and it’s only a matter of time until Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson, and crew recalibrate and earn their first win.
This game is going to be a lot of fun and should feature a lot of all-star talent. It will be interesting to see how Brandon Ingram is guarded by Bam Adebayo or Jimmy Butler, and who wants to take initiative and stand in front of Zion to limit his ferocious drives and off-ball cuts inside the lane and on the baseline. Additionally, how does Miami’s offense continue to etch in Tyler Herro as their primary facilitator? And seeing as there isn’t a do-all No. 1 man in this offense, will Jimmy Butler, Herro, or Duncan Robinson be the biggest factor on offense against an effective defensive team that has long bodies around the perimeter?
Two solid rosters will collide, and those questions and more will be answered come tip-off.
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