NBA: Ranking the Christmas Day games by entertainment value

3. LA Clippers at Denver Nuggets

For months, the LA Clippers have had to live with the pain of dropping a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets. A championship favorite all season long, the Clippers wilted against the offensive firepower of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the never-say-never Nuggets.

Now the Clippers get their shot at revenge in the Christmas Day nightcap. LA has overhauled a number of key organizational positions this offseason, from replacing head coach Doc Rivers with Tyronn Lue to adding Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard at the expense of Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet.

The Nuggets will look a little different as well, with Jerami Grant gone and JaMychal Green poached from the Clippers in his place. All of that being the case, the principles from the second-round series will all be present.

Paul George, Patrick Beverley, and Marcus Morris may consist of the saltiest triumvirate in the league, and they will be out for blood and the rights to mock the Nuggets. Kawhi Leonard is likely dispassionately contemplating all of the ways to eviscerate them. Yet the offensive brilliance of Nikola Jokic and the swagger of Jamal Murray are not so easily denied.

Will this showdown follow the storyline of The Grinch, with the bitter Clippers exacting their revenge on the lovable Nuggets? Or will it be Home Alone, with the creative Nuggets fending off the disappointing duo of Leonard and George two movies in a row?

This is a human showdown, but it’s also an important declaration for which team is most worthy of serving as the challenger to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Last season it was the Denver Nuggets claiming that mantle; can the Clippers steal it back?