The NBA’s five-game Christmas slate wrapped up with a 110-100 win for the Suns over the Nuggets. The Suns got 27 points each from Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal while the Nuggets were led by Nikola Jokic’s 25 points and 15 rebounds.
The day started with a thrilling Knicks win over Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs at Madison Square Garden, followed by a near-comeback by the Mavericks in a tight loss to the Timberwolves and a close win by the 76ers over the Celtics.
Those wins by the Knicks, Timberwolves and 76ers preceded an epic showdown between LeBron James and the Lakers and Stephen Curry and the Warriors. James and the Lakers ultimately prevailed 115-113 on a last-second layup by Austin Reaves. Curry led all scorers with 38, including a tying 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds to play.
James, who scored 31 in the win, is up to 507 points on Christmas Day, the most in NBA history. Additionally, James tallied his 11th victory on Christmas Day, breaking a tie with former teammate Dwyane Wade for most all-time.
You can read our Christmas grades for each team below.
2024 NBA Christmas Day scores
- Knicks 117, Spurs 114
- Timberwolves 105, Mavericks 99
- 76ers 118, Celtics 114
- Lakers 115, Warriors 113
- Suns 110, Nuggets 100
Knicks vs. Spurs grades
New York Knicks: It is easy to forget given how the game ended, but New York was on the wrong end of a 19-6 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter. At that point, it looked like Victor Wembanyama’s spectacular Christmas Day debut was going to be the story of the game. In response, though, the Knicks went on a 23-9 run, with Karl-Anthony Towns (who had five fouls) on the bench for all of it. New York shot just 13 for 39 (33.%) from deep in the game, but Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby all knocked down big 3s when the team needed them. Bridges also made seemingly every midrange jumper he put up, too and picked an awesome time to have (by far) his best game in a Knicks uniform: 41 points on 17-for-25 shooting (6-for-9 from deep), four assists, two steals and two blocks in 43 minutes. Grade: A
San Antonio Spurs: Wembanyama, who is the reason San Antonio was on this stage — it’s not a coincidence that this game tipped off at 6 p.m. Paris time — was sensational. He did a little bit of everything, like he usually does, and put up outrageous numbers: 42 points on 16-for-31 shooting (6-for-16 from deep), 18 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, one steal in 40 minutes. The Spurs won his minutes by seven points, and should be generally happy with how they played. They shot better than the Knicks did (16 for 38 from deep, including a surprising 3-for-3 showing from Jeremy Sochan), guarded Jalen Brunson well and they put themselves in position to beat an excellent team on the road. They couldn’t get stops when they needed to, though, and they lost the possession game decisively. New York had massive advantages on the glass and in the turnover department. Grade: B+
– James Herbert
Timberwolves vs. Mavericks grades
Minnesota Timberwolves: The Timberwolves entered this game on a three-game losing streak, so there was literally no better time than to break that cold snap than on Christmas. Anthony Edwards was the shining star for the Timberwolves in his Christmas Day debut, dropping 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Edwards put the tree topper on the game for Minnesota with a layup that iced the game and avoided a second-half collapse.
Minnesota stifled the Mavericks in the first half, especially in the paint as they limited them to just six points. Rudy Gobert’s presence was enough for the Mavericks to think twice about attacking the rim in the first half, which aided the Wolves in building up a 28-point lead. While the Mavericks managed to come back to make it a game in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves tightened up down the stretch and picked up an important win. Grade: B+
Dallas Mavericks: It was a tale of two halves for the Mavericks, as they got some sobering news at halftime with Doncic exiting the game with a left calf strain. At the time, Doncic was putting together another impressive performance, but he re-injured his left leg and was shortly ruled out for the rest of the game. Doncic is coming back from a heel contusion, and had a calf contusion earlier in the season as well on the same leg. As inspiring as Dallas’ almost-comeback-win was, the biggest storyline from this is Doncic’s injury status going forward.
Depending on the severity of the injury, Doncic could be out for several weeks or even a month, which would be a worst case scenario for a Mavericks team that sits fourth in the West currently. But the second half of this contest served as a great example of how the Mavericks will fare without Doncic in the lineup should he miss an extended period of time. Dallas has gone 6-3 this season without Doncic in the lineup, and if Kyrie Irving’s performance Christmas Day — 39 points — was any indication, Dallas should be able to at least tread water without their franchise centerpiece. Grade: C+
– Jasmyn Wimbish
76ers vs. Celtics grades
Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers’ mid-season turnaround continued on Christmas with an upset victory over the defending champion Celtics. They’ve won eight of their last 11 games to improve to 11-17 on the season, and are now just one game back of the Play-In Tournament spots. This was another glimpse of the team that the Sixers expected to have going into the season.
Tyrese Maxey was incredible, particularly in the fourth quarter, and finished with 33 points and 12 assists. He is the first Sixers to have a 30-point, 10-assist game on Christmas. Joel Embiid had a few injury scares, both before and during the game, but battled through them to put up 27 points and nine rebounds. The Sixers also got an unexpected boost from Caleb Martin, who returned to haunt the Celtics with a career-high seven 3-pointers en route to 23 points. Grade: A
Boston Celtics: The Celtics once again looked a bit out of sorts in this one. They’ve now lost back-to-back games for the first time all season and three of their last four. There shouldn’t be any major big-picture concerns in terms of their ability to compete for a title, but they’re now four games back of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jrue Holiday didn’t play and Kristaps Porzingis left after halftime, but even so this wasn’t quite the defensive effort the Celtics needed. On the other side of the ball, they hit 20 3-pointers and got a huge game from Jayson Tatum, who finished with 32 points and 15 rebounds. Their bench did not show up, however. Payton Pritchard went 0 of 8 from downtown in his worst game of the season, and he and Sam Hauser combined for just four points. Grade: C
– Jack Maloney
Lakers vs. Warriors grades
Los Angeles Lakers: On one hand, Anthony Davis didn’t score a point and missed all but seven minutes … but on the other hand, there’s 21 years of evidence that LeBron James plus shooting equals a lot of wins. Give JJ Redick credit for playing mostly centerless basketball in the second half with Davis ruled out due to an ankle injury. He spread the floor and let LeBron go to work, spraying out to shooters like Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and Max Christie, who all hit backbreakers as the Warriors continued to fight back. The Lakers entered the game making fewer than 12 3-pointers per game on the season (27th in the NBA) and finished Wednesday night’s game with 15, which made all the difference.
Speaking of Reaves, the man got to the rim at will on Christmas Day, leveraging his shot by attacking the basket with aggression all night long. He finished with a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, along with the game-winning layup with one second remaining. He and Hachimura were crucial without Davis, who is expected to be listed as day-to-day moving forward and could suit up for the Lakers’ next game on Saturday against the Kings. Grade: A
Golden State Warriors: Steph Curry had 38 points. The Warriors only turned the ball over 12 times (they average 14 on the season) and went 18-for-45 from 3-point range (40%). They held the Lakers to 18 free-throw attempts (they average 24 on the season). Anthony Davis was scoreless in seven minutes before leaving for the rest of the game. On paper, this is a game the Warriors should have won.
Instead they received very little offensive contribution from the supporting cast — Andrew Wiggins had 21 points, but was largely quiet in the second half — despite the Lakers’ lack of rim protection without Davis, and failed to contain Lakers shooters when they went to small-ball lineups for virtually the entire second half. This is a bitter loss for Golden State, which has now dropped 11 of its last 14 games. Dennis Schroder was brought in to lead the offense with Curry on the bench, and he went 3 for 10 from the field in 28 minutes. Jonathan Kuminga had solid counting stats — 14 points and six rebounds, but was minus-17 in 27 minutes.
This was a microcosm of the entire Warriors season: Curry didn’t get any help and Golden State couldn’t pull out a close game down the stretch. Grade: C
– Colin Ward-Henninger
Nuggets vs. Suns grades
Denver Nuggets: We all know Denver has to hold its breath through the non-Jokic minutes, and it was really no different on Christmas. Problem is, the Nuggets also lost (slightly) the minutes that Jokic — who finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds but was held in check as a playmaker with just two assists — was on the floor. Denver has to win those minutes decisively to beat good teams. Russell Westbrook, back in a bench role, has played really well for the Nuggets this season and he was good again on Christmas, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting. But he wasn’t enough on his own to lift the bench units. Jamal Murray going for 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting just isn’t enough production when the Nuggets are strapped for a nightly second scorer. Grade: C-
Phoenix Suns: The Suns got out hot by hitting six of their first seven 3-pointers, but even when they cooled off they remained engaged and active defensively and really shared, and took care of, the ball. When you record 30 assists against nine turnovers, you’re in good shape. Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal led the way with 27 points each, and Phoenix did the non-box-score work to win this game. This was a scrappy effort as Phoenix ended its three-game losing streak. Grade: A
– Brad Botkin
