Today's Top Picks: Breaking down every NBA game on the Christmas Day schedule

Welcome to a jumbo edition of top picks! As opposed to the carefully curated picks this space typically provides, I've decided to give you all a gift on this joyous day. There are five NBA games on Christmas. You're getting picks for all of them. So, without further ado, let's dive into today's top picks. 

So which Christmas Day NBA picks should you back for a huge 10-to-1 payout? And which team is a must-fade? Visit SportsLine now to get the best bet for every Christmas Day NBA game, all from the red-hot computer model and No. 1 NBA expert who are crushing sportsbooks with their NBA picks.  

*All lines via William Hill

Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors: Celtics -3

The Celtics and Raptors have already played once this season. The Celtics won by six. Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Norman Powell all played in that game, but they won't be playing in this one. Call me crazy, but removing three of a team's best players likely isn't going to lead to a better outcome. Yes, that's an oversimplification, but expecting a team as deep as the Celtics to lose to a Raptors team missing so much talent, even with Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart sidelined, just seems unrealistic. 

Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers: 76ers +3

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object. The Bucks have the NBA's best net rating, as they are crushing teams by 13 points per 100 possessions, buoyed by the NBA's second-best offensive rating (114.4). The 76ers are undefeated at home, led by the NBA's second-best home defense at 101 points allowed per 100 possessions. Philadelphia's preferred starting lineup has barely played together this season due to injuries, but when it has, it has allowed only 94.6 points per 100 possessions, a figure that is utterly mind-boggling in the context of a 2019 starting lineup. The 76ers should have that entire group on Christmas. That is the difference. The Bucks are a better team overall, but the 76ers shouldn't be getting three points at home when they are relatively healthy. 

Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors: Rockets -11

The Warriors have already lost 12 games this season by 11 or more points. If there is a team in basketball to feel comfortable laying double digits against, it is them. Odds are, this turns into a fairly cathartic beatdown for a Rockets team that has been denied consecutive trips to the NBA Finals by Warriors teams that wore these uniforms, but did not employ these players. The NBA obviously expected a very different sort of game than this when they scheduled it for Christmas, but injuries happen, and the Rockets should have no trouble with Golden State in its present condition. 

Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers: Clippers -2

The expectation coming into this game for weeks was that if any team was going to be undermanned, it would be the Clippers. The Lakers have far more at stake from a narrative perspective after their opening day loss, and the Clippers have been so conservative in managing the minutes its players play that it would be reasonable to assume that the Lakers, going all out, would have beaten a Clippers team without much to play for here. 

Instead, the Lakers will be playing with a hobbled Anthony Davis and LeBron James. The Clippers should have their entire roster available on Christmas. Even if you assume that these two teams are even, which they likely aren't at the moment, the Lakers have no alternative to James and Davis. They don't have a third scorer or ball-handler. If they aren't up to their typical standard, the Lakers can't game-plan around it. The Clippers have a variety of ways in which they can, and do, beat opponents. With only a two-point line, the Clippers should be one of the day's easier picks. 

New Orleans Pelicans at Denver Nuggets: Nuggets -9.5

Here's a scary thought ... the Nuggets, who had struggled mightily offensively for most of the season, are up to seventh in the league on that end of the floor in December. That hasn't come with significant sacrifices on defense. They are sixth in the NBA in December defensively. The difference in net rating between these two teams in December alone is 16.1 points per 100 possessions. Suddenly, a 9.5-point spread doesn't look so scary. The Nuggets have found their winning formula. The Pelicans have not. Expect a relatively clean Nuggets win in this one. 

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Today's Top Picks: Breaking down every NBA game on the Christmas Day schedule

Welcome to a jumbo edition of top picks! As opposed to the carefully curated picks this space typically provides, I've decided to give you all a gift on this joyous day. There are five NBA games on Christmas. You're getting picks for all of them. So, without further ado, let's dive into today's top picks. 

So which Christmas Day NBA picks should you back for a huge 10-to-1 payout? And which team is a must-fade? Visit SportsLine now to get the best bet for every Christmas Day NBA game, all from the red-hot computer model and No. 1 NBA expert who are crushing sportsbooks with their NBA picks.  

*All lines via William Hill

Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors: Celtics -3

The Celtics and Raptors have already played once this season. The Celtics won by six. Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Norman Powell all played in that game, but they won't be playing in this one. Call me crazy, but removing three of a team's best players likely isn't going to lead to a better outcome. Yes, that's an oversimplification, but expecting a team as deep as the Celtics to lose to a Raptors team missing so much talent, even with Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart sidelined, just seems unrealistic. 

Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers: 76ers +3

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object. The Bucks have the NBA's best net rating, as they are crushing teams by 13 points per 100 possessions, buoyed by the NBA's second-best offensive rating (114.4). The 76ers are undefeated at home, led by the NBA's second-best home defense at 101 points allowed per 100 possessions. Philadelphia's preferred starting lineup has barely played together this season due to injuries, but when it has, it has allowed only 94.6 points per 100 possessions, a figure that is utterly mind-boggling in the context of a 2019 starting lineup. The 76ers should have that entire group on Christmas. That is the difference. The Bucks are a better team overall, but the 76ers shouldn't be getting three points at home when they are relatively healthy. 

Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors: Rockets -11

The Warriors have already lost 12 games this season by 11 or more points. If there is a team in basketball to feel comfortable laying double digits against, it is them. Odds are, this turns into a fairly cathartic beatdown for a Rockets team that has been denied consecutive trips to the NBA Finals by Warriors teams that wore these uniforms, but did not employ these players. The NBA obviously expected a very different sort of game than this when they scheduled it for Christmas, but injuries happen, and the Rockets should have no trouble with Golden State in its present condition. 

Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers: Clippers -2

The expectation coming into this game for weeks was that if any team was going to be undermanned, it would be the Clippers. The Lakers have far more at stake from a narrative perspective after their opening day loss, and the Clippers have been so conservative in managing the minutes its players play that it would be reasonable to assume that the Lakers, going all out, would have beaten a Clippers team without much to play for here. 

Instead, the Lakers will be playing with a hobbled Anthony Davis and LeBron James. The Clippers should have their entire roster available on Christmas. Even if you assume that these two teams are even, which they likely aren't at the moment, the Lakers have no alternative to James and Davis. They don't have a third scorer or ball-handler. If they aren't up to their typical standard, the Lakers can't game-plan around it. The Clippers have a variety of ways in which they can, and do, beat opponents. With only a two-point line, the Clippers should be one of the day's easier picks. 

New Orleans Pelicans at Denver Nuggets: Nuggets -9.5

Here's a scary thought ... the Nuggets, who had struggled mightily offensively for most of the season, are up to seventh in the league on that end of the floor in December. That hasn't come with significant sacrifices on defense. They are sixth in the NBA in December defensively. The difference in net rating between these two teams in December alone is 16.1 points per 100 possessions. Suddenly, a 9.5-point spread doesn't look so scary. The Nuggets have found their winning formula. The Pelicans have not. Expect a relatively clean Nuggets win in this one. 

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Celtics vs. Raptors NBA Christmas Day score, takeaways: Boston spoils the holidays for host Toronto

The Boston Celtics spoiled the Toronto Raptors' first Christmas Day game at home, pulling out a 118-102 win in convincing fashion. The Raptors were fighting an uphill battle with Pascal Siakam (groin injury), Marc Gasol (hamstring injury) and Norman Powell (shoulder injury) all sidelined for the game.

It looked like the Raptors would be able to play the Celtics close after starting the game on a 10–0 run, but after the Celtics responded with a 9-0 run of their own, they controlled the game from that point on.

Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown put on an offensive clinic for Boston, combining for 52 points, and knocking down 10 3-pointers. Both were one 3-point shot shy of tying the Christmas Day record of six made 3s, but after the Celtics built up a 22-point lead, his night was finished early in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors had solid production from Chris Boucher off the bench, who finished the day with a career-high 24 points, and after starting slow, Fred VanVleet tacked on another 27 points. However, it wasn't nearly enough to overcome Boston's three-point shooting.

Here are three takeaways from NBA Christmas Day's opening game:

The Raptors sorely missed their sidelined stars

Toronto has dealt with injuries all season long, but missing Siakam, Gasol and Powell all at once is likely the biggest blow they've suffered so far. Without Siakam's playmaking ability and lockdown defense, the Raptors had to rely heavily on their bench to get the job done, and aside from Boucher, they fell flat. Kyle Lowry was kept in check for most of the game, and other than VanVleet's 27 points, no one in the starting lineup could get anything going.

On defense, Gasol's size down low was a noticeable absence, as the Raptors were outrebounded 45-34. Prior to this game, the Raptors were able to manage well without Siakam, Gasol and Powell, but against a Boston team that looks like legitimate Eastern Conference contenders, it showed just how important those three are to this team.

Merry Christmas, Jaylen Brown

Brown delivered presents in the form of 30 points to Celtics fans everywhere. From beginning to end, Brown was knocking down shots from essentially everywhere on the floor against the Raptors, including going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. While some have questioned the contract Brown received from the Celtics in the offseason, he showcased just how dynamic of a scorer he can be against a usually stingy Toronto defense. 

He crossed up defenders, knocked down 3s at will and even tacked on six rebounds and four assists in an incredibly efficient game. This is the third straight game Brown has shot 50 percent or better from the field, and while he isn't the featured star on this team, he proved on Christmas Day that he deserved every bit of that four-year, $115 million contract.

A healthy Hayward makes a world of difference for Boston

After missing three games with a sore foot, Hayward returned to action, and showed no rust in his 14-point, six-assist performance. Even without Hayward, the Celtics are already an incredibly difficult team to play against with the numerous scorers they have. With him, however, just adds another headache for opposing defenses. Against an injury plagued Raptors squad, that's exactly what happened. If the Raptors focused too much on Walker or Brown, they paid the price as Hayward was waiting to make a play. 

On one play in the third quarter, Hayward set a screen for Walker, but instead of Walker pulling up for a 3-point shot -- which the Raptors were anticipating -- he passed it to Hayward, who drove past VanVleet, then kicked it out to Brown for a wide open 3:

It's not just scoring that Hayward can offer. His underrated playmaking skills, like the play above, make the Celtics an incredibly hard team to defend. Hayward's been having an incredible season so far, and games like this are the reason the Celtics signed him in the first place.

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Celtics vs. Raptors NBA Christmas Day score, takeaways: Boston spoils the holidays for host Toronto

The Boston Celtics spoiled the Toronto Raptors' first Christmas Day game at home, pulling out a 118-102 win in convincing fashion. The Raptors were fighting an uphill battle with Pascal Siakam (groin injury), Marc Gasol (hamstring injury) and Norman Powell (shoulder injury) all sidelined for the game.

It looked like the Raptors would be able to play the Celtics close after starting the game on a 10–0 run, but after the Celtics responded with a 9-0 run of their own, they controlled the game from that point on.

Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown put on an offensive clinic for Boston, combining for 52 points, and knocking down 10 3-pointers. Both were one 3-point shot shy of tying the Christmas Day record of six made 3s, but after the Celtics built up a 22-point lead, his night was finished early in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors had solid production from Chris Boucher off the bench, who finished the day with a career-high 24 points, and after starting slow, Fred VanVleet tacked on another 27 points. However, it wasn't nearly enough to overcome Boston's three-point shooting.

Here are three takeaways from NBA Christmas Day's opening game:

The Raptors sorely missed their sidelined stars

Toronto has dealt with injuries all season long, but missing Siakam, Gasol and Powell all at once is likely the biggest blow they've suffered so far. Without Siakam's playmaking ability and lockdown defense, the Raptors had to rely heavily on their bench to get the job done, and aside from Boucher, they fell flat. Kyle Lowry was kept in check for most of the game, and other than VanVleet's 27 points, no one in the starting lineup could get anything going.

On defense, Gasol's size down low was a noticeable absence, as the Raptors were outrebounded 45-34. Prior to this game, the Raptors were able to manage well without Siakam, Gasol and Powell, but against a Boston team that looks like legitimate Eastern Conference contenders, it showed just how important those three are to this team.

Merry Christmas, Jaylen Brown

Brown delivered presents in the form of 30 points to Celtics fans everywhere. From beginning to end, Brown was knocking down shots from essentially everywhere on the floor against the Raptors, including going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. While some have questioned the contract Brown received from the Celtics in the offseason, he showcased just how dynamic of a scorer he can be against a usually stingy Toronto defense. 

He crossed up defenders, knocked down 3s at will and even tacked on six rebounds and four assists in an incredibly efficient game. This is the third straight game Brown has shot 50 percent or better from the field, and while he isn't the featured star on this team, he proved on Christmas Day that he deserved every bit of that four-year, $115 million contract.

A healthy Hayward makes a world of difference for Boston

After missing three games with a sore foot, Hayward returned to action, and showed no rust in his 14-point, six-assist performance. Even without Hayward, the Celtics are already an incredibly difficult team to play against with the numerous scorers they have. With him, however, just adds another headache for opposing defenses. Against an injury plagued Raptors squad, that's exactly what happened. If the Raptors focused too much on Walker or Brown, they paid the price as Hayward was waiting to make a play. 

On one play in the third quarter, Hayward set a screen for Walker, but instead of Walker pulling up for a 3-point shot -- which the Raptors were anticipating -- he passed it to Hayward, who drove past VanVleet, then kicked it out to Brown for a wide open 3:

It's not just scoring that Hayward can offer. His underrated playmaking skills, like the play above, make the Celtics an incredibly hard team to defend. Hayward's been having an incredible season so far, and games like this are the reason the Celtics signed him in the first place.

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Little Women Is a Sparklingly Clever New Take on a Classic Greta Gerwig’s film remixes the timeline of the novel, illuminating the strengths of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved characters.

“I [have] had lots of troubles; so I write jolly tales,” Louisa May Alcott once quipped of her career. This blithe, self-effacing remark, tinged with melancholy, is the opening epigraph for Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of Alcott’s mightiest novel, Little Women—and it’s a perfect summation of the sharp but wistful tone that defined Alcott’s work. Gerwig captures that mood with this film, a sparklingly clever new take that remixes the book’s timeline while maintaining its perfect balance of joy and sadness. There are plenty of troubles in Little Women, but that doesn’t mean things can’t also be jolly.

This same spirit defined Gerwig’s last directorial effort, the sensational Lady Bird, which starred Saoirse Ronan as a passionate and hilarious teenager just beginning to grapple with what she wants from life. Though Lady Bird is rooted in Gerwig’s own youth and Little Women draws from a totemic piece of 19th-century American literature, both films are stories of families struggling to stay solvent and girls trying to carve out their independence on the way to adulthood. In short, Gerwig is an outstanding match for this material and has produced one of the best films of the year.

Gerwig has reunited with Ronan for Little Women, and the actress slides comfortably into the role of Jo, the most rebellious member of the March family and the character most obviously based on Alcott herself. Gerwig’s screenplay brackets the story with Jo’s aspirations as a writer, opening with a grown-up Jo trying to sell her stories to the curmudgeonly Mr. Dashwood (played by Tracy Letts). From there, the film flits back and forth in time, moving between the novel’s two sections (one set in the March girls’ teenage years, one set after most of them have left the family home) and eschewing the simpler progression of Alcott’s story line, which builds from childhood hijinks to weightier episodes of marriage and death.

The clever twist of this new film, versus worthy older adaptations such as Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 version, is that it puts Alcott’s sunnier and sadder sides in conversation with each other. The action cuts between whimsical larks and their more sober parallels. The teenage Jo dances outside with her handsome neighbor, Laurie (Timothée Chalamet), after meeting him at a party; years later, her sister Amy (Florence Pugh) runs into a lovelorn and despondent Laurie in France. For book readers who know how the story progresses, the connections Gerwig draws provide fascinating perspective. For newcomers, there’s still plenty to discover.

Much as in Lady Bird, Gerwig excels at portraying the spirit and energy of a bustling home, in which family tensions can cross from fraught to exuberant and back again in seconds. Along with the creative Jo and the willful Amy, the Marches include the doting big sister, Meg (Emma Watson), the introverted Beth (Eliza Scanlen), and the loving matriarch, Marmee (Laura Dern). Dern plays Marmee as a glowing oven of warmth and kindness, trying to maintain her family’s sanity while her husband (Bob Odenkirk) is serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.

The entire ensemble is terrific, but Pugh is the standout, turning Amy—long the novel’s problem character, given to stoking spiteful sibling rivalries—into a heroine as rich and compelling as Jo. Her performance is bolstered by Gerwig’s bifurcated narrative structure; Amy is a bit of a silly creature as a youngster, but grows up to be surprisingly levelheaded, and that leap forward makes more sense when the character’s journey is seen in parallel rather than linearly. Pugh emphasizes Amy’s headstrong nature in both timelines, while highlighting the subtle ways it shifts from petulance to fearsome intelligence over the years.

The same trick works wonderfully for the stories involving Laurie (who initially pines for Jo), Meg (who craves a more pedestrian future than her sisters), and Beth (the character who comes to the saddest fate in the novel). Far from challenging Alcott’s storytelling, the movie’s structural changes illuminate the completeness of each character’s arc. Gerwig is revealing the strength of Alcott’s work, a point she underscores with the framing device of Jo’s literary efforts. Like her author, the character is fighting to pursue a creative career in a time when women’s stories were largely judged as inferior.

All of this builds to a rather daring ending, in which Gerwig dutifully preserves the novel’s final twists—which wrap everything up neatly, as Alcott’s editors likely demanded—while also casting a skeptical eye at their tidiness. After all, given the emotional realism of every intimate scene and crackling conversation, it’s hard to imagine everything in this film ending smoothly. Gerwig manages to honor both the letter and the spirit of Alcott’s tale; Little Women is stuffed with trials and tribulations, yet overflowing with goodwill, just as Alcott described it herself.

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Little Women Is a Sparklingly Clever New Take on a Classic Greta Gerwig’s film remixes the timeline of the novel, illuminating the strengths of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved characters.

“I [have] had lots of troubles; so I write jolly tales,” Louisa May Alcott once quipped of her career. This blithe, self-effacing remark, tinged with melancholy, is the opening epigraph for Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of Alcott’s mightiest novel, Little Women—and it’s a perfect summation of the sharp but wistful tone that defined Alcott’s work. Gerwig captures that mood with this film, a sparklingly clever new take that remixes the book’s timeline while maintaining its perfect balance of joy and sadness. There are plenty of troubles in Little Women, but that doesn’t mean things can’t also be jolly.

This same spirit defined Gerwig’s last directorial effort, the sensational Lady Bird, which starred Saoirse Ronan as a passionate and hilarious teenager just beginning to grapple with what she wants from life. Though Lady Bird is rooted in Gerwig’s own youth and Little Women draws from a totemic piece of 19th-century American literature, both films are stories of families struggling to stay solvent and girls trying to carve out their independence on the way to adulthood. In short, Gerwig is an outstanding match for this material and has produced one of the best films of the year.

Gerwig has reunited with Ronan for Little Women, and the actress slides comfortably into the role of Jo, the most rebellious member of the March family and the character most obviously based on Alcott herself. Gerwig’s screenplay brackets the story with Jo’s aspirations as a writer, opening with a grown-up Jo trying to sell her stories to the curmudgeonly Mr. Dashwood (played by Tracy Letts). From there, the film flits back and forth in time, moving between the novel’s two sections (one set in the March girls’ teenage years, one set after most of them have left the family home) and eschewing the simpler progression of Alcott’s story line, which builds from childhood hijinks to weightier episodes of marriage and death.

The clever twist of this new film, versus worthy older adaptations such as Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 version, is that it puts Alcott’s sunnier and sadder sides in conversation with each other. The action cuts between whimsical larks and their more sober parallels. The teenage Jo dances outside with her handsome neighbor, Laurie (Timothée Chalamet), after meeting him at a party; years later, her sister Amy (Florence Pugh) runs into a lovelorn and despondent Laurie in France. For book readers who know how the story progresses, the connections Gerwig draws provide fascinating perspective. For newcomers, there’s still plenty to discover.

Much as in Lady Bird, Gerwig excels at portraying the spirit and energy of a bustling home, in which family tensions can cross from fraught to exuberant and back again in seconds. Along with the creative Jo and the willful Amy, the Marches include the doting big sister, Meg (Emma Watson), the introverted Beth (Eliza Scanlen), and the loving matriarch, Marmee (Laura Dern). Dern plays Marmee as a glowing oven of warmth and kindness, trying to maintain her family’s sanity while her husband (Bob Odenkirk) is serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.

The entire ensemble is terrific, but Pugh is the standout, turning Amy—long the novel’s problem character, given to stoking spiteful sibling rivalries—into a heroine as rich and compelling as Jo. Her performance is bolstered by Gerwig’s bifurcated narrative structure; Amy is a bit of a silly creature as a youngster, but grows up to be surprisingly levelheaded, and that leap forward makes more sense when the character’s journey is seen in parallel rather than linearly. Pugh emphasizes Amy’s headstrong nature in both timelines, while highlighting the subtle ways it shifts from petulance to fearsome intelligence over the years.

The same trick works wonderfully for the stories involving Laurie (who initially pines for Jo), Meg (who craves a more pedestrian future than her sisters), and Beth (the character who comes to the saddest fate in the novel). Far from challenging Alcott’s storytelling, the movie’s structural changes illuminate the completeness of each character’s arc. Gerwig is revealing the strength of Alcott’s work, a point she underscores with the framing device of Jo’s literary efforts. Like her author, the character is fighting to pursue a creative career in a time when women’s stories were largely judged as inferior.

All of this builds to a rather daring ending, in which Gerwig dutifully preserves the novel’s final twists—which wrap everything up neatly, as Alcott’s editors likely demanded—while also casting a skeptical eye at their tidiness. After all, given the emotional realism of every intimate scene and crackling conversation, it’s hard to imagine everything in this film ending smoothly. Gerwig manages to honor both the letter and the spirit of Alcott’s tale; Little Women is stuffed with trials and tribulations, yet overflowing with goodwill, just as Alcott described it herself.

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‘Uncut Gems’ star Julia Fox worked as a dominatrix in high school

Julia Fox, who makes her big-screen debut playing a ferocious jewelry saleswoman in “Uncut Gems,” revealed she was a dominatrix in high school in New York.

The breakout star of the movie, which is getting Oscar buzz for Adam Sandler, told the Hollywood Reporter she worked in the sex industry “doing S&M stuff.”

The now-29-year-old said: “I heard about another girl who was doing it and that there was no sex or nudity. It was role-playing.”

Fox has previously staged an art show with paintings using her own blood, and directed a short film about sex trafficking in Nevada.

“She’s incredible and very instinctive,” said Sandler. “I never knew what the heck would happen.”

The role has landed her representation at WME and a breakthrough actor nomination at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.

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