The new Christmas tradition in many households involves the stewardship of a little NBA action as the calories from that extraordinary dinner settle in your stomach.  Each year, we’re treated games that couple teams with the hottest rivalry, or the most intriguing storylines.  But with this date firmly positioned in the middle of the NBA campaign, there’s a sense that these matchups mean very little to the teams and players involved. 

For a few distinct reasons, that assumption couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

For closer examination, let’s review the two marquee Christmas Day tilts between the Heat-Lakers and the Magic-Celtics:

Magic – Celtics:

We knew that the Christmas Day showdown between the Magic and the Celtics was going to be a fierce battle, but what we didn’t know was that it wasn’t going to be a good predictor of the potential playoff matchup between these two Eastern Conference goliaths. 

The Magic just underwent a facelift of gigantic proportions – adding more offense in J-Rich, Agent Zero and Hedo Turkoglu (no snazzy nickname for him), while subtracting defense in the persons of Pietrus and Gortat.  We’re really not sure at this point what they lost by trading away Vince Carter other than the occasionally highlight dunk. 

The Celtics are battling injuries.  With Rondo, West, and Perkins all forecasted to be major contributing factors in Boston title hunt, they were all sidelined for the game.  Each of them has a different timetable for returning to the court, but all figure to be available for the postseason.

Boston came into the contest riding high on a 14-game winning streak.  Orlando’s new roster had just whalloped the team with the best record in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs, by 22 in Orlando.  So both teams came into the game feeling quite good about themselves.

The Celtics – the one who were healthy – played predictably through three quarters.  Well, as predictable as can be possible with Nate Robinson playing point guard for over 42 minutes.  Their defense resembled a sealed vacuum – limiting the explosive Magic to 57 points, while holding a six point edge.

In the fourth, Orlando played to perfection – as they put up 29 points.  Combining the third and fourth quarters, the Magic outscored the visitors 50-32…propelling themselves to victory.  The final quarter was a work of art, executed exactly the way that general manager Otis Smith envisioned it.  Boston was treated to a barrage of big-time shot making, courtesy of the endless number of offensively-gifted players on Orlando’s roster.  Redick, Nelson, Bass, and even newly-acquired guard Richardson made timely contributions that voided 45 minutes of hard work from the Celtics.

Magic forward Brandon Bass will continue to do all that he can to plug the void created by Gortat's departure.

On very key thing to note – the Magic exploded late in the contest without a significant amount of support from Turkoglu.  Turk made his presence felt in quarters one through three, and had the best plus/minus of any player on the court (+30).  He definitely demonstrated that he is capable of doing what he did two years ago for Orlando.  A great sign for the Magic, one that at the very least justifies the absurd value that they placed on re-acquiring Hedo’s skills.

Unfortunately for Orlando, this victory means very little as far as Boston is concerned.  They’ve proven that they are a team that will pace itself during the regular season to ensure that they are capable of playing their best when it counts. 

Heat – Lakers:

Early – and I mean very early – balloting for everyone’s predictions on the two most likely NBA Finals participants were these two teams (Boston had some early holdouts, but the proponents of their bandwagon gained steam after Boston’s opening night win over Miami).  And, of course, we could expect nothing less of David Stern than to ensure that these two teams were matched up at a date and time when everyone is going to be near a television.

Leading up to the game, some of the game’s participants were mic’ed with their views about playing on Christmas Day.  Unsurprisingly, the resulting quotes went along the lines of “we’re not happy about being taken away from our families for your personal entertainment, but we get paid millions…so we’ll do it.”

Of course, the Heat appeared as they will in video games on this day, ripping the Lakers in L.A. by 16 points.  The game was never really in question.  It’s easy to say that the game meant more to the Heat than the Lakers, but that would be an unproven hyptohesis based upon our perception of Los Angeles’ firmly established legacy as a championship contender.  However, taking a glance at the records of both teams at this point could lead us to a more startling reality.

Los Angeles was expected to be on cruise control all season, and therefore, would be able to cake walk through the season to the best mark in the Western Conference.  They were a team with all of the pieces – including a boosted-up bench crew – whose cast had the experience of winning the title for the last 1-2 years.  The familiarity that they have with each other and their offensive and defensive schemes is solid.

Bryant has struggled in head-to-head battles against LeBron-led teams.

Conversely, the Miami Heat faced some sobering moments early in the season including a three-game losing streak (with losses to the Grizzlies and the Pacers).  But now the media has recognized an overlooked fact regarding the synergy of the new “Big Three” – that it takes some time to develop the chemistry required to compete at the highest level of professional basketball.   The Heat seem to have endured the tough times, recently stringing together a 12-game winning streak – and have been victorious in 14 of their last 15 games altogether.

From what we’ve heard and seen through the media, would we really believe that the Heat are 23-9, while the Lakers are 21-9?  Probably not.  Thus, the boys who took their talents down to South Beach are doing much better than they’ve been given credit for.  On Saturday, they thoroughly outplayed the champs.  And it wasn’t due to a nonchalant effort from the Lakers, rather from the Heat orchestrating their offense to generate a bevy of mismatches on which they capitalized.  It was also from playing stiflingly smart defense, and not allowing the home team to get many easy looks from the field (L.A. shot 40.5% from the floor).  Miami held their own on the glass (+1 rebound advantage), negating a strength that the Lakers typically use to gain separation from their opponents.

A more magnified analysis reveals that Miami’s Big Three (James, Wade and Bosh)thoroughly outplayed Los Angeles’ Big Three (Bryant, Odom and Gasol) – both collectively and individually. 

There’s just absolutely no way that Kobe (and his teammates) would give a half-hearted effort on a big-stage gane like this one.  After getting smashed by LeBron and the Cavs last Christmas, another loss was certainly not going to be acceptable to his ego.  Bryant is just too darn competitive to let James continually get the best of him…that is, unless there was nothing else that he could do to prevent the outcome. 

The game’s result proves that, at their present state, the Heat are already a force for the Lakers to reckon with.  That’s not good news for the Miami Heat haters.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author