RADIO
Christmas Day means NBA games and Monkey Knife Fight has five matchups for you to play.
The New Orleans Pelicans are coming off a win against the Toronto Raptors and have higher expectations coming into, hopefully, a full season of Zion Williamson. They take on the Miami Heat, who represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals but did lose their opener against Orlando.
While there may have been hopes for a bounce back in Golden State, the Warriors lost Klay Thompson for the season and Draymond Green was out of the lineup when they got blitzed by Brooklyn on opening night. They will hope for better results at Milwaukee, with the Bucks coming off a one-point loss at Boston.
That brings us to a matchup of the Nets and Celtics. Brooklyn looked really strong in their opener, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were both healthy and scored with ease against the Warriors. The Celtics squeaked out a close win against Milwaukee but there are no apologies required for beating the team with the best record in the league last season.
The fourth game of the day has the Dallas Mavericks, with MVP favorite Luka Doncic, and coming off a close loss at Phoenix, visiting the defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers, who lost their first game to the Clippers.
Finally, those Clippers are in Denver to face a Nuggets team that eliminated them from the playoffs last season but suffered an OT loss to Sacramento in their first game.
Here are some props to consider for the Christmas NBA action on Monkey Knife Fight.
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NEW ORLEANS-MIAMI
MORE OR LESS
Zion Williamson LESS THAN 22.5 POINTS
Zion did average 22.5 points per game as a rookie but had just 15 points on nine field goal attempts in the first game of the season and the Heat are going to be a tough opponent so let’s keep expectations modest.
Bam Adebayo LESS THAN 10.5 REBOUNDS
Although Bam did grab 11 rebounds in the first game of the season, he had 11 or more rebounds in eight of 19 playoff games and was held to less than 10 rebounds in six of seven regular-season games played in the bubble at the end of last season.
GOLDEN STATE-MILWAUKEE
MORE OR LESS
Giannis Antetokounmpo MORE THAN 29.5 POINTS
He missed a game-tying free throw in the final second against Boston in the Bucks’ opener but Giannis still put up 35 points on 26 shots. If he’s that aggressive, he should have his way against the Warriors.
Steph Curry LESS THAN 27.5 POINTS
The last time Curry scored more than 27 points in an NBA game was in Game 5 against Toronto in the 2019 Finals so he has been held to 27 or fewer points in seven of his past eight games overall, including playoffs.
RAPID FIRE
Khris Middleton +0.5 rebounds vs. James Wiseman
As much as the Warriors can be excited about Wiseman’s performance in his first NBA game, he’s still very much an unknown talent who did have six rebounds in the loss to Brooklyn. Middleton averaged 6.2 rebounds per game last season and hauled in 14 boards against the Celtics in the Bucks’ first game.
BROOKLYN-BOSTON
MORE OR LESS
Jayson Tatum LESS THAN 27.5 POINTS
The Celtics are looking for Tatum to make a leap this season and he did drop 30 in the season-opening win against Milwaukee. Now, he needed a banked-in three-pointer in the final second to 1) get the win and b) finish with more than 27 points, so it might be asking a lot to go for at least 28 against a Brooklyn team that looked really strong in its opening game.
Kevin Durant MORE THAN 24.5 POINTS
Durant only scored 22 points in Brooklyn’s opening night win but it was in just 25 minutes as the Nets could manage his workload once they raced out to a huge lead. In a competitive game, Durant should play a little more and, since he looks like he’s all the way back physically, he should be counted on to score like he usually does.
DALLAS-L.A. LAKERS
MORE OR LESS
Luka Doncic MORE THAN 30.5 POINTS
Doncic scored more than 30 points in three of six regular-season games in the bubble then three times in six playoff games. Seems like a toss-up and then he dropped 32 points in Dallas’ loss to open the season. That could nudge expectations just a little higher.
Anthony Davis MORE THAN 25.5 POINTS
Davis was under-utilized in the opener against the Clippers, scoring 18 points on just 15 field goal attempts. He only got to the line twice, too, so he may find a matchup with the Mavericks more to his liking.
LeBron James MORE THAN 8.5 ASSISTS
LeBron led the league with 10.2 assists per game last season but only had five in the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers on opening night. Expect a bounce-back performance against the Mavs.
L.A. CLIPPERS-DENVER
MORE OR LESS
Kawhi Leonard MORE THAN 25.5 POINTS
Although Kawhi was not efficient in the opening night win against the Lakers, scoring 26 points on 26 field goal attempts, that usage is reason to like his chances against the Nuggets.
Nikola Jokic MORE THAN 21.5 POINTS
Jokic played more than 40 minutes in the Nuggets’ loss to Sacramento but dropped 29 points and he scored more than 21 points in 13 of 19 bubble playoff game last season, including five of seven games against the Clippers.
Paul George MORE THAN 22.5 POINTS
There was probably some uncertainty about George coming off a poor performance in the playoff bubble last season but then he went out with 33 points on 18 field goal attempts against the Lakers. Let’s raise expectations for Game Two.
