The longstanding history between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics continues in a holiday showdown.
Both teams are chasing the goal of being the first franchise to reach 18 NBA championships. Recent events say the NBA’s third 2023 Christmas Day matchup will be exciting, as the teams met twice last season and went to overtime in both contests.
Boston won each game by four points.There are so many narratives at play and plenty of star power. It’s the inaugural in-season tournament champion Lakers vs. the favorites to win the NBA title. Can LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers defeat Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Celtics in their first encounter of the current campaign?
In earlier action, the New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Denver Nuggets topped the Golden State Warriors.
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Pretty tough ask of Reaves, he goes from switching onto to Porzingis and then has to close to Holiday nearly cross court Just not a lot he can do there. pic.twitter.com/ZALLmD2Gx3
In L.A., the Boston Celtics jumped out to a 12-0 lead they extended to 28-10 midway through the first quarter.
Jamal Murray leads the scoring effort 28 points alongside five rebounds. Nikola Jokic tallies 26 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists while hitting a season-high 18 free throws.
There was no Warriors rally. The Nuggets hold on for a 120-114 win to extend a season-high five-game winning streak.
Steph looking to keep the Warriors in it with a deep 3.
Jamal Murray is cooking in the fourth. Back-to-back buckets including a pull-up 3 have the Nuggets up 113-107 late.
A really nice sequence from Wiggins gets the finish in transition and then fighting over the top of the screen gets a foul called. Showing some fight is nice to see. pic.twitter.com/W0GplD3Heb
The Nuggets take a 92-89 lead into the fourth quarter.
Steph Curry’s picking things up after a slow first half, but the Nuggets lead, 85-77 late in the third quarter.
Michael Porter Jr.’s big day continues in the second half.
Warriors take a 54-53 lead into halftime despite a rough half from Stephen Curry. Curry didn’t hit his first field goal until a 3 with 2:46 left in the half. He has four points on 1 of 5 shooting from the floor. Andrew Wiggins leads Golden State with 10 points off the bench.
Michael Porter Jr. has 15 points and five rebounds for the Nuggets.
