NBA Eastern Conference Christmas Day Game Previews

Merry Christmas!

For NBA fans, they have received a full slate of games to watch after opening presents. Last year, 33 million people watched this marathon day of hoops and and this year, it will again be full of the league’s best beginning at noon eastern time.

Take a look at the Eastern conference teams Christmas Day schedule (in time order). All of them will bring the same theme: dealing with injured star players.

Chicago Bulls at the Brooklyn Nets

The Nets have lost three games in a row while the Bulls have won only one game in their last five. Who will end their skid?

Brooklyn recently lost star Brook Lopez to a broken foot and his absence was evident in Monday’s 103-96 loss to the Indiana Pacers. First-time Nets coach Jason Kidd couldn’t hide his frustration another loss by his team and now famously said via NBA.com, “Well I think it is getting very close to just accepting losing. We are kind of getting comfortable with losing. And we got to make a stand with that because when things get tough, do we just give in and most of the time right now we do.”

Suffering another loss on Christmas Day likely won’t go over well and it won’t do so for the Bulls competitive coach Tom Thibodeau either. His team has been hit by the injury bug lately.

It started with the early loss of Derrick Rose for the season–again–and now additional injuries have ensued. Fortunately help could be on the way for Wednesday’s game.

On the Tuesday, Bulls guards Jimmy Butler (ankle) and Kirk Hinrich (back) returned to practice and both reportedly felt pretty good. Now a game-day determination will be made on whether they will play or not; however, the team could still be without forward Luol Deng, who has been out the last two games thanks to an injured Achilles.

He did not practice on Tuesday.

Both teams have been disappointing so far this season and on Wednesday, the Nets will get the win (-3, 188 o/u).

Oklahoma City Thunder at the New York Knicks

Carmelo Anthony

For the Knicks, they’ll wait until Christmas morning to determine if Carmelo Anthony will play against the Thunder. This comes after he sprained his ankle on Monday in a 103-98 win against the Orlando Magic.

On Tuesday, Knicks coach Mike Woodson said of Anthony via ESPN, “We got to weigh it out. He came in and got treatment, and he will get treatment probably in the evening and then tomorrow when he wakes up and comes in, we will have to assess it at that time.”

The Knicks have already ruled out point guard Raymond Felton, who also went down in Monday’s game with a strained right groin. He is considered day-to-day while forward Kenyon Martin, who’s been out the last five games with a strained abdominal muscle, could return to the lineup.

The Thunder is coming off their first home loss of the season against the Toronto Raptors but will snap their losing streak on Wednesday (-8.5, 200 o/u).

Miami Heat at the Los Angeles Lakers

When this game had initially been scheduled, it was to be a battle between the league’s best: LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant. In the theme of Wednesday’s games–top injured players–this extends to the Lakers as Kobe Bryant is out for six weeks with a fractured knee.

LeBron James And Dwyane Wade

The Heat have their own injury concerns with Dwyane Wade who’s been keeping an eye on his knees. On Monday, he sat out of the Atlanta Hawks game due to to “general soreness.”

But rest appears to be a good thing as Wade, with his 26-point average (60 percent shooting) over the last five games, is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

It’s hard to bet against the Heat and on Wednesday, they’ll get another win (-8.5, 206.5 o/u).