10 NBA things to watch for on Christmas Day

2. A Finals preview?

We all know how the 2017-18 NBA season is likely to end, right? LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will meet Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals for the fourth straight year, where the Bay Area superteam will once more render James’ heroics irrelevant. Unless, that is, James conquers the seemingly insurmountable odds against him and once again guides the Cavaliers to a thrilling upset of the defending champions.

On Christmas Day, we’ll get our first glimpse at how this year’s iterations of the Cavaliers and Warriors match up. However, both sides may be missing critical pieces.

Cavs star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who continues to work his way back from a hip injury that has sidelined him since the 2017 playoffs, is “targeting the first week of January for his season debut with Cleveland,” according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Meanwhile, Golden State’s star point guard, Stephen Curry, is likewise sidelined with an ankle sprain that was expected to knock him out for “a couple of weeks,” per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Even if we don’t get a full-strength battle between Cleveland and Golden State, it isn’t as though either side is devoid of All-Star-caliber talent. From LeBron James and Kevin Love on the Cavaliers to Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the Warriors, this Christmas Day matchup should be captivating even if Thomas and/or Curry can’t suit up.

Just don’t go drawing grand conclusions from the game, regardless of the result.

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