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Hope you are enjoying your gifts and times with your family and friends. And hopefully, you can also watch some basketball along the way.
College Basketball
There are no Division I women's basketball games in the US today. However in Division I men's college basketball, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is going on and will be broadcast on at least one of the ESPN Networks but at a minimum will be online through ESPN3 via WatchESPN.com. Here is the schedule for later today:
- George Mason plays St. Mary's at 1:30 PM ET (or 8:30 AM Hawaii time) and will be online through ESPN3 only.
- Oregon State plays Hawai'i at 4:00 PM ET on ESPN U.
- Akron plays South Carolina at 6:30 PM ET on ESPN 2.
- #14 Iowa State plays Boise State at 8:30 PM ET on ESPN 2.
NBA Basketball
Must Reads on SB Nation
Today is also the unofficial start of the NBA season, at least if you're a casual NBA fan. Obviously, the regular season started back around Halloween. There are five games on tonight, featuring ten teams that received the lion's share of the hype, but most of them unfortunately have been disappointments this season. So here's the schedule:
- Chicago Bulls (10-16) at Brooklyn Nets (9-18) at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN - With Derrick Rose out for pretty much the rest of the year, and the Nets trading their younger assets for past their prime vets and sucking, you wonder whether this game should even be on national television. Normally I would call a team like the Nets one that's running on the Treadmill of Mediocrity, but after seeing this post, they now may be on the Treadmill of Despair. NEXT!
- Oklahoma City Thunder (22-5) at New York Knicks (9-18) at 2:30 PM ET on ABC - This game should be hyped between two of the best scores in the league with Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. But the Knicks are sucking too, just like the Nets. Boy do I feel sorry for New York City basketball fans.
- Miami Heat (21-6) at Los Angeles Lakers (13-15) at 5:00 PM ET on ABC - LeBron James was supposed to face off against Kobe Bryant, but he has a knee fracture and will be out until January at least. All of this right soon after he came back from an Achilles injury. Even if Kobe was playing, the Lakers are running on the Treadmill of Mediocrity... NEXT!
- Houston Rockets (18-11) at San Antonio Spurs (22-6) at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN - This is probably the best game of the night when looking at the two teams' records. And this is also a Texas rivalry game. The Rockets have been basically .500 ish in December, and had one really bad loss at Indy last Friday. The Spurs on the other hand are beating who they should beat, but lost to Indiana and OKC at home earlier this month, but it's early.
- Los Angeles Clippers (20-9) at Golden State Warriors (16-13) at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN - Nate will demand that this is the Game of the Night. To a casual fan, this is Lob City meets Three Pointer City, and that alone should make this entertaining when you see dunks and guys shooting long bombs. The Dubs look to avenge on a Halloween 126-115 loss on the road to the Clips here.
From hindsight, the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, and Lakers shouldn't be playing today. I wish the Pacers, Blazers, Nuggets and Mavericks were instead in their place.
WNBA Team Holiday Videos and Cards
Here are links to some team videos and online cards. We'll add them if and when other teams release them:
- Atlanta Dream Facebook post
- Chicago Sky video on WNBA.com
- Indiana Fever Happy Holidays page
- Los Angeles Sparks Facebook post
- Minnesota Lynx video on WNBA.com
- New York Liberty tweet
- Phoenix Mercury Facebook post
- San Antonio Silver Stars video through Spurs Sports & Entertainment
- Seattle Storm Facebook post
- Tulsa Shock Facebook post
- Washington Mystics video on Monumental Network
Once again, enjoy your Christmas holidays everyone!