NBA Christmas Day is holiday tradition unlike any other. The best players and teams in the NBA square off for nearly 12 straight hours of basketball. Our annual Christmas Day commencement in Madison Square Garden has the 76ers squaring off against the Knicks. LeBron and Luka will showdown in the primetime slot and the best game of the day is easily the Bucks vs Celtics. To round out our Christmas slate, the Grizzlies take on the Warriors and finally, the Suns play the Nuggets. Let's dive into some player props!
Julius Randle (NYK) under 37.5 points + rebounds + assists (-111)
Julius Randle is coming off two outstanding games with 30 points against Toronto and 29 against Chicago, which explains why this line is at his season average of 35 points, rebounds and assists. Those matchups were against teams that are in the middle of the pack in aDRTG, whereas the 76ers are in the top 5 in the league for defensive rating, combined with bottom 5 in pace. Randle will struggle to put up gawdy rebounding numbers with Joel Embiid coming alive and his recent success from deep will also be difficult to match, as the 76ers are 1st overall in e3P% from a defensive standpoint. PJ Tucker, Paul Reed and Montrezl Harrell all have the ability to switch on Randle on the perimeter and make his day very difficult. Sorry to gift you an under to start the day, but it's the right play. 1U