Wednesday Cup of Canis

The NBA released their Christmas Day schedule last night, and apparently they haven’t been paying attention to what Gersson Rosas has been doing in Minnesota. You mean to tell me the rest of the world would rather watch Luka Doncic than the Timberwolves? Yeah, I bet, Adam Silver.

All kidding aside, this is an awesome slate of games from top-to-bottom. I’ve seen some griping about the Pelicans getting a spot, and sure, maybe we’re putting the cart before the horse a little bit there.

Here’s why I could not care less about the NBA giving the Pelicans preferential treatment.

For one, we’re going to get to see Zion Williamson play basketball on Christmas Day. You literally get to wake up to Zion smashing basketball’s through the rim while Bam Adebayo tries to stop him. You’re going to be sipping your third cup of coffee, enjoying a little Christmas brunch while two superhuman athletes compete at the rim. It could be a lot worse, which leads me to my main point...

WE DON’T HAVE TO WATCH A KNICKS GAME.

If the NBA is going to replace the viewership they get on Christmas Day by perpetually penciling in bad Knicks teams with Zion Williamson and the Pelicans, I’m not going to be the one to complain. I would give just about anything to not have to pretend to care about a Knicks game on Christmas anymore. Thank you, Adam Silver.

Outside of that, it’s hard to find a gripe.

Having the Warriors and Bucks play each other gives ESPN a great opportunity to ignore the basketball game and discuss why Giannis should flee to Golden State.

Letting Kyrie Irving and the Nets play the Celtics will bring juicy storylines about how much Kyrie hated being in Boston, as well as how much of an irritant he was in that locker room.

Then we have the current face of the NBA squaring of with the future of the league when Luka Doncic and the Mavericks take on LeBron James and the Lakers. This promises to be an up-and-down showtime affair.

Lastly, we get a rematch of the best playoff series from this past season, when the Los Angeles Clippers try to get revenge against the Denver Nuggets. In case you forgot, the Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in hilarious fashion to Denver in the Western Conference Semifinals, highlighted by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George completely disappearing in the fourth quarter of game seven.

In a nutshell, the NBA has the best of both worlds here. The games all have fun (or, not-so-fun if you’re a Bucks or Clippers fan) storylines that don’t really pertain to the play on the floor, but the matchups on the floor should mostly be fantastic as well. That’s what makes a great Christmas slate. That, and the absence of the Knicks.