The holiday season is in full swing now, and, for a few Jayhawks in the NBA, that means one thing: Christmas Day is game day. Known as one of the bigger regular season pro basketball days of the year because of the fact that the NBA has the spotlight all to itself, Christmas Day has produced some pretty memorable games throughout the past several years. Until recently, those games meant very little to fans of former Jayhawks, as December 25th typically was reserved to showcase the talents of Kobe, Shaq, D. Wade and other superstars of that nature. But this year — this Thursday — four Jayhawks will get the chance to play Santa for their NBA cities, as the New Orleans Hornets, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers all play on Christmas, with all four games being shown on national television. Here’s the lineup: 11 a.m., ESPN New Orleans at Orlando: Is this the day when Julian Wright finally gets off the bench and wows a national audience in a Hornets’ victory? 1:30 p.m., ABC San Antonio at Phoenix: Thanks to a couple of nasty playoff meetings, this match-up has become one of the more intense rivalries in the NBA. Will Jacque Vaughn be involved in any of the nastiness this time around? 4 p.m., ABC Los Angeles Lakers at Boston: This NBA Finals rematch is by far the marquee match-up of the day, pitting Paul Pierce against Kobe Bryant in a meeting of two of the league’s hottest teams so far this season. Will Pierce & Co. get the best of Kobe once again or do the Lakers have plans to put coal in the Celtics’ stockings? 7 p.m., ESPN Washington at Cleveland: Based on the way the Wizards have started the 2008-09 campaign, this one doesn’t exactly drip with excitement. But the prime time match-up does have two things going for it. (1) LeBron James will be playing, and that’s worth watching any time any place. (2) It has a chance to be a blowout, which could mean major minutes for Darnell Jackson. Speaking of Jackson
After missing most of the early part of the season with a wrist injury, Jackson has played in the Cavs’ last six games and is averaging 2 points and 2 rebounds per contest. His most memorable effort in that 6-game stretch came on Dec. 12 during a 16-point win over Phily. Jackson played 24 minutes in that one, grabbed 8 rebounds (including 5 offensive) and scored 1 point and had 1 steal. In addition, he added 5 fouls and 3 turnovers to his stat line, making it a memorable night all the way around. Shedding light on Julian Wright
It seems that those of you who speculated that Julian Wright’s lack of playing time comes from a weak mental approach to the game were right on the money. Yes, Julian has struggled to play defense, and yes, he has other more experience and more talented players ahead of him on the depth chart. But according to the Sporting News (scroll to page 29 and read the last note) , Hornets’ coach Byron Scott is most displeased about Wright’s inability to adjust to the mental side of the NBA game. Pierce takes the torch
Lastly, in case any of you missed this wonderful story about Paul Pierce, check out this article, “The Truth Revealed,”, in the Dec. 8 issue of Sports Illustrated.Happy Holidays to all…. Enjoy the basketball.
