The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was a Christmas Day gift wrapping to remember with the National Basketball Association taking the spotlight with five games featuring three of the five Bahamian-American players on display.

Unfortunately for one of them, Eric Gordon had to sit on the bench in the TD Garden in Boston as he unwrapped his 36th birthday gift on Wednesday on the bench recovering from oral surgery.

The Indiana native, who played a pivotal role in the Bahamas men’s national team close bid to qualify for the Olympic Games this summer, was able to watch as his Philadelphia 76ers held off the defending champions Boston Celtics 118-114. 

Despite blowing as much as a 16-point lead in the third quarter, the 76ers finally got to display its big three - Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George - in its biggest victory of the season to move to 11-17 for 11th in the Eastern Conference. 

Embiid rebounded from a pregame fall and wore a protective face mask to rip open his gift with 27 points and nine rebounds, while Tyrese had 33 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to go along with 12 assists and George added 12.

Philadelphia handed Boston their second loss in a row for the first time this season as Jayson Tatum scored 32 points with 15 rebounds, Jaylen Brown had 23 and Derrick White chipped in with 21, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics dropped to 22-8 in second place. In the Christmas spirit of shooting the lights out, Klay Thompson, the son of Bahamian legendary icon Mychal “Sweet Bells” Thompson, canned four of his ten three-pointers to surpass Reggie Miller for fifth place on the NBA’s all-time career list. 

Thompson, now with the Dallas Mavericks after playing his previous 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors and earning four championship rings, finished with 12 points to push his total to 2562 points, two more than Miller’s 2,560.

However, after Luka Doncic left the game with a strained left calf in the second quarter, the Mavericks couldn’t seal the deal at home in the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, with Anthony Edwaerds putting on a show with 26 points, held off Dallas, led by Kyrie Iving with 39 points, unwrapped a 105-99 gift for ninth place in the western conference at 15-14, dropping the fourth place Mavericks to 19--11.

With Thompson moving on, Golden State acquired Grand Bahamian sharpshooter Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield from Philadelphia this year to add to their backcourt with arguably the greatest shooter of all-time Stephen Curry.

It came down to a pair of clutch plays that could have been drawn up for Hield, but instead, it went to Curry, who converted both three-pointers with 12 and seven seconds, the last to tie the score at 113-113.

But at the other end of the court, Austin Reaves got free on s drive to the basket for the game winning layup with one seconds left to steal the Christmas gift at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California with a 115-113 win.

Curry, who still managed to get off a last second shot from over the halfcourt, but fell short, had 38 points with eight rebounds. Hield, however, was held to just five points on 1-for-5 from behind the three-point arch. 

While Reaves ended up with a triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Lakers, who played the final three quarters without center Anthony Davis after he suffered a sprained left ankle late in the first.

LeBron James came through with 31 points and 10 assists to off-set their deficiencies and in the process earned his 11th win on Christmas Day, passing former team-mate Dwayne Wade’s holiday record.

More importantly, Los Angeles improved its western conference record to 16-12 for sixth place with Golden State falling to 15-14 in tenth place.

The two other Bahamians, DeAndre Ayton and Kai Jones, didn’t get to play with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers respectively as their teams didn’t make the wrappings packaged on Christmas Day.