NBA games of the week: Season starts now

Monday, Dec. 25: Washington at Boston, 5:30 p.m. ET

The insider version of the NBA-season-doesn’t-start-until-Christmas is the season doesn’t start until these two teams play each other. Outside of Cleveland-Golden State, or the potential Conference Finals between Houston and the Dubs — here’s to hoping it happens and goes seven — this is my favorite NBA matchup. The dynamic between the two is slightly different with the shakeup in the Celtics’ roster, but I’m sure they still hate each other.

Both teams are faltering slightly. After a 22-4 start, the Celtics are .500 in their last 10. The gap between their defensive rating in relation to the rest of the league has narrowed, but they still the lead league for the season. The Celtics are ebbing and flowing like most teams that don’t possess all-time talent across multiple positions, and they still have two 21 or younger players in their starting five. They’re still really good. So good, noted Celtics fan Bill Simmons doesn’t want Anthony Davis in a potential deal.

Over those same 10 games, the Wizards are 6-4. They’ve locked down on defense, fourth in the league, but have struggled to score. The difference for the Wiz this year has been their bench, which is 10th in scoring this season. It’ll have to last, considering they’ve played a little less than half of last season’s total, but they’re improved over their 19th-place finished in 2016-17.

The bad blood between both teams will still be there, which is about 90 percent of the fun. And with the Morris twins on pace to play, there’s still that slight chance, however unlikely, they unite to fight every player on either team.