Here are the NBA Christmas Day games we want

The schedule will probably be released this week, and we’re all wondering about Christmas Day. Here’s our preferences.

How do you know you’re not a kid anymore? When you stop waking up at 7 a.m. on Christmas Day, eager to sprint downstairs to tear apart wrapping paper clinging to your presents, and instead roll out of bed a couple hours before noon, killing time before the five-game slate of NBA games that happens each and every year.

The league has historically preferred to highlight their big market, historic teams on the Christmas Day slate. The Lakers are an inevitability, but with Lonzo Ball and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, they’re more interesting than they have been in a couple years. The Knicks didn’t make it last year, and if we’re lucky, they’ll be left off again. The other big market teams are as interesting as ever.

The schedule appears to be on target to release this week, or at least that’s what ESPN’s Doris Burke said on Sunday. Since the Christmas Day slate is the most notable part of it, the SB Nation crew gave some predictions about what it could be.

Our actual prediction

NOON: Wizards at Celtics
2:30 p.m.: Cavaliers at Warriors
5 p.m.: Spurs at Rockets
8 p.m.: Timberwolves at Thunder
10:30 p.m.: Clippers at Lakers

The league displayed the Timberwolves last year, and showcasing them again with Jimmy Butler in tow makes even more sense. The Los Angeles rivalry and the Cavaliers vs. Warriors showdown are both inevitable, we’re betting. Oklahoma City and Houston both have to make it into the lineup in some manner, given their huge offseason moves, while San Antonio is always a safe bet. Maybe the 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. games get flipped, or the Spurs play Minnesota while the Rockets get Oklahoma City. But maybe this is the literal schedule.

This is the safe, natural assumption for the five-game slate, and it will be fun. All those games are intriguing, without any Knicks duds or forced Bulls matchup. But ... could we make it even better?

Here are our staff’s contributions.

Mike Prada, SB Nation NBA editor

NOON: Wizards at Celtics
2:30 p.m.: Warriors at Cavs
5 p.m.: Clippers at Rockets
8 p.m.: Spurs at Timberwolves
10:30 p.m.: Thunder at Lakers

This gets your fun East rivalry out of the way as an appetizer before the Warriors-Cavs main course, which should crank our hate juices up to appropriate levels. Then, Chris Paul vs. his former team (for the first time?) is a solid dessert before you get old vs. new in Minnesota and Paul George showcasing himself in front of his future (?) team.

I would love to have the Rockets-Clippers game be at Staples Center, but can’t have that game there and Thunder-Lakers in L.A.

(Also please note how only three East teams are being showcased, and none after 5 p.m.)

Mike Sykes, SB Nation Editorial Intern

NOON: Celtics at Wizards
2:30 p.m.: Warriors at Cavaliers
5:00 p.m.: Rockets at Thunder
7:30 p.m.: Spurs at Timberwolves
10:30 p.m.: Lakers at Clippers

We start off with a bit of hate on tap at noon between the Celtics and Wizards. And then we’ll move on to the obligatory Warriors and Cavs matchup for the 17,364th year in a row, but we have to do it because it’s the best rivalry in the game.

Things get interesting when the Rockets and Thunder play with the two top MVP candidates and best offseason acquisitions from last year. The Spurs and Timberwolves don’t really have a rivalry or a history, it’s just a really good matchup. And then we’ll finish the night off with a bit of tradition between the Lakers and the Clippers. Lonzo Ball playing in his first Christmas day game should be fun.

Whitney Medworth, SB Nation NBA assistant editor

NOON: Wizards at Celtics
2:30 p.m.: Wherever-Kyrie-ends-up at Cavs
5 p.m.: Spurs at Rockets
8 p.m.: Thunder at Warriors
10:30 p.m.: Sixers at Lakers

The Wizards and the Celtics playing at noon is a given so I didn’t even try to get around that, but we can start to shake things up in the afternoon with a Kyrie vs. LeBron matchup. We need a quick break from Cavs-Warriors so this will suffice. Then there is a solid Texas matchup between the Spurs and Rockets, which takes place while you absolutely have to pay attention to your families. The night starts with Russell Westbrook taking his new best friend Paul George right into the Bay area to see how they stack up against the Warriors. The score of this game doesn’t matter, it’s the drama that we need. Then, the night finishes with a fun game between the youngest stars in the game. Who says no?