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The 2020-21 NBA season is officially underway, and because of the late start this year, we're jumping right into the Christmas Day festivities. As always there are five marquee games on the schedule, with the league gifting fans a full day of exciting basketball. 

Closing out the show this time around will be a Western Conference showdown between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. These two teams are quite familiar with one another, as the Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the Clippers in the second round of the playoffs just a few months ago. Now, they'll meet again in a new season, as they battle for supremacy in a loaded Western Conference. 

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Here's everything you need to know about the star-studded matchup:

Viewing information

  • Date: Friday, Dec. 25 | 10:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Ball Arena -- Denver, Colorado 
  • TV: ESPN | Stream: fuboTV (try free)
  • Odds: Clippers -1.5 | Over/Under: 224

Storylines

Clippers: After last season's embarrassing ending, the Clippers made some big changes. Ty Lue is in as the team's new coach, while Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard arrived in offseason moves, and Montrezl Harrell and JaMychal Green left in free agency. Time will tell if that was the shake-up they needed, but the initial prognosis is good. They took care of business on opening night against the Lakers, making a statement that they're up for the challenge of dethroning the champs. 

Nuggets: The Nuggets were always going to be ready to go for a playoff rematch against the Clippers on Christmas, but that should be especially true after how their season started. In an early candidate for game of the year, Buddy Hield tipped in a missed dunk at the buzzer sounded in overtime to give the Kings a stunning upset win over the Nuggets. 

Prediction

The Clippers come in as slight favorites, and we're going to ride with them in what is essentially a pick-em. They looked great on opening night, and should have a little extra motivation for this one after blowing the 3-1 lead to the Nuggets in the playoffs. They'll want to prove that was a fluke.