Merry Christmas to all! Christmas has long stood as a marquee day for the NBA. Most teams get the day off but 10 organizations suit up for a back to back to back to back to back national broadcast. I love it, always have. Once the presents are opened and the traditional cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole is consumed, I always head down to the basement to see how much of the NBA action I can gorge on before a family member inevitably draws me away. In my perfect world, watching five straight games of basketball would be a tradition but alas, many of my family members do not share my borderline crazy love for basketball. Luckily, some of them share my passion for Madden Football with which I find handing out beat downs to extended family as an acceptable alternative.
The NBA always slots what it believes will be marquee match ups for Christmas when the schedule is made (at least within a reasonable geographical demographic) which makes for an excellent edition of Stump the Stiffs. We'll forego everyone picking the Clippers beating the Lakers in the night cap but the other four games are on our docket. To get that fifth pick we'll go with the most classic of all Christmas day prop bets, will it snow on Christmas day in Denver? To represent the Stiffs Writers we've got none other than JPage himself, the very first commenter turned writer Jeff Morton. On the commenters side we've got Pozz, aka the Pozz, aka Claudy P. Finally, we can only hope that we've got a person who knows nothing about basketball representing the Reddit side in /u/bettycrockerpot because quite frankly, they're kicking everyone's tails. Pick time!
| Stump the Stiffs Week 9 | Stiffs Staff Jeff Morton | Stiffs Commenters Pozz | r/denvernuggets /u/bettycrockerpot |
| Pelicans at Heat | Heat | Pelicans | Heat |
| Bulls at Thunder | Thunder | Thunder | Thunder |
| Cavaliers at Warriors | Cavaliers | Cavaliers | Cavaliers |
| Spurs at Rockets | Spurs | Spurs | Spurs |
| Will it snow in Denver on Christmas? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Jeff Morton: While I have the Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs winning their respective Christmas Day games, the one everyone cares about is the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. With a fully healthy Cavaliers roster, and a Golden State team that seems to be living on the edge in the last couple months ... it seems like the perfect storm for the Cavs to beat the Dubs in a Christmas Day classic. I look for LeBron James to have a huge game and maybe Kevin Love to creep up and represent. As for the snow? You bet your ass it will.
Pozz: Merry Christmas and a happy holidays to all. A surging Pelicans team will prove to be a little too much for an aging Miami, especially with Goran Dragic likely to miss the game. The Pelicans are getting healthy and will be putting a little coal in those Miami fans stockings. The Bulls will come into Oklahoma City and try to run rampant over the rolling Thunder but, alas, they will come up short. Kevin Durant will gift wrap this victory for the OKC fans and Joakim Noah will be left pondering, again, what the identity of his team is (all while wearing a nice Christmas themed suit –Out injured). The NBA is the gift that keeps on giving as they decided to have the Cavs play the Warriors on Christmas day. This is a tough one to choose. The Cavs are almost 100% healthy, Kyrie Irving is back but on restricted minutes. As a team, the Cavs appear to be having fun again. The Warriors are near unbeatable at home. Steph Curry had an "off" night on Wednesday and they still beat the Jazz 103-85. Cavs’ Matthew Dellavedova will accidentally on purpose kick Curry on his sore calf several times during the game. Warriors come out to play but the Cavs won’t play nice. So who would pick against the Warriors? I would, and I will. Cavs win. Spurs at Rockets? Well, if the egg nog is spiked and the hotel at which the Spurs are staying is having a dub step party to welcome in Xmas, then just maybe this might be a close game. These two teams may be from the same state but they are currently worlds apart on basketball execution. Spurs win. Finally, the question that has every kid who grew up in the southern hemisphere on the edge of their seat: will it be a white Christmas in Denver this year? Yes. Yes it will. You may have to wait till nightfall but there will be snow angels a plenty come Saturday morning.
/u/Bettycrockerpot: I have to go with the Heat on this one even though both teams have really good players and yet are both inexplicably under performing (I had high hopes for the Heat). The Heat are just more well rounded with Hassan Whiteside, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh and contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Anthony Davis is a franchise player. Bulls vs Thunder is a closer game, but I think the Thunder are going to win because they are at home, although it will be very close because those Bulls Christmas uniforms are pretty nifty. Cavs because the Warriors might just be the worst team in the league and I base none of my picks on any facts whatsoever. Finally the Spurs will win, Kawhi Leonard is going to shave James Harden's beard. I'm from California so I can't feel the Denver weather in my bones or anything. I'll just go with the weather report and say it's going to snow.
And there you have it! Make sure to get in touch with Russ Hamilton (@rscotham) on the Stiffs commenter side or Alec Gwin (@alecgwin) on the Reddit side if you'd like to participate. Merry Christmas!
If you're keeping score:
Stiffs Staff: 14-26
Stiffs Commenters: 20-20
Nuggets Subreddit: 25-15