The NBA's Christmas Day slate featured five classics, with epic performances from the league's biggest stars -- something the NBA desperately needed.

There are an abundance of dates on the NBA calendar that qualify as must-watch TV for fans all over the globe, but Christmas Day’s hoops marathon stands out as one of the very best with wall-to-wall basketball starting at noon eastern. Here’s our preview for all of the five matchups, which will be broadcast on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and Disney+:

J-Mac is back with his NBA best bets. Find out where he's placing his money on the Christmas Day marquee matchups.

There might not be a better single day for a specific sport than Christmas for basketball. The NBA gives us 12-plus hours of hoops from a carefully curated group of the league's most interesting teams.

This Dec. 25 marks the unofficial start of the NBA season, or pretty much when a majority of the world starts paying attention to the long NBA season.

The NBA is looking to push new star Victor Wembanyama on Christmas Day, but I don’t think that will immediately lead to a competitive game coming. The Knicks are big favorites Wednesday as they prepare to throw Karl Anthony-Towns opposite a difficult-to-defend Wembanyama.