Stars will be out in force when Lakers, Rockets meet

Two teams looking for a return to form meet when the Los Angeles Lakers face the visiting Houston Rockets in a Christmas Day matchup Thursday.

Both teams still are in the top half of the Western Conference standings, but their recent play has been underwhelming at times. Houston has lost four of its last five games, while Los Angeles has dropped three of its last five.

Los Angeles lost consecutive games for the first time with Tuesday’s 132-108 road defeat to the Phoenix Suns. Lakers star Luka Doncic left early from a loss Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers with a lower leg contusion and did not play against the Suns on Tuesday.

ESPN reported Wednesday that Doncic will play against the Rockets.

LeBron James had 23 points at Phoenix to lead Los Angeles, while Austin Reaves returned after missing three games with a left calf strain and scored 17.

Lakers coach JJ Redick questioned his team’s defensive effort after allowing Phoenix to shoot 58.8% from the field. The Suns scored 45 points in the third quarter and took a 112-86 lead into the final period.

“There are shortcuts you can take, or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort,” Redick said. “Or you can sprint back or you can’t. It’s just a choice. And there’s a million choices in a game, and you’re very likely not gonna make every choice correctly. But can you make the vast majority of ‘em correctly? It gives you a chance to win.”

Los Angeles received a spark from center Deandre Ayton, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds following a two-game absence. However, Ayton’s presence wasn’t enough to keep his former team from scoring 62 points in the paint.

“We just lack physicality a little bit, effort,” Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said. “I don’t know how many points they got off second-chance (21), but they were getting a lot of extra possessions. We just gotta be better. That’s all it is. Regroup and get ready for the next game.”

James enters the contest as the NBA’s career-leader in Christmas games played (19) and points scored on the holiday (507). Houston star Kevin Durant is fourth all-time in points scored on Christmas with 342.

Houston is wrapping up a six-game road trip after allowing the Clippers to shoot 54% (20 for 37) from 3-point range in Tuesday’s loss.

Spurs seek home sweep of Thunder on Christmas Day

The top two teams in the Western Conference — and two of the NBA’s biggest stars — square off Wednesday when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the San Antonio Spurs in a Christmas Day matchup.

The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama made a splash in his Christmas debut last year, putting up 42 points in a 117-114 loss to the New York Knicks.

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP, has never played in a Christmas Day game

“It’ll be fun,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Playing on Christmas Day in itself is a dream come true. I watched the NBA games growing up every single Christmas so that’ll be super fun.

“And then against a really good basketball team that just beat the … out of us, it’ll be fun.”

Two of Oklahoma City’s four losses have come to San Antonio, both in less than two weeks.

That included the Spurs’ 130-110 win on Tuesday in San Antonio.

Wembanyama has been cautious about calling the Thunder a rival — yet. He said the process is one that takes years to build.

“It feels like saying it is a rivalry … is not something that feels natural,” Wembanyama said. “… I hope it will be soon but we’re definitely getting closer.”

San Antonio comes into the game on a league-best seven-game winning streak, its longest since March 2019.

Wembanyama has come off the bench in six games since returning from missing nearly a month with a calf injury, although one of those games (the NBA Cup championship) doesn’t count for official stats.

In Tuesday’s game, the Spurs outscored the Thunder 20-11 off turnovers and 60-48 in the paint.

Oklahoma City leads the league, averaging 25.0 points off turnovers per game while San Antonio is averaging 18.4.

Since winning 24 of their first 25 games, the Thunder have dropped three of their last five.

On Tuesday, the Spurs shot 57.1% from the floor. No team had shot better than 48.8% against Oklahoma City previously.

“The game is going to look different every night and for me, I just never like to make the excuse of makes and misses being the outcome,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve won games where teams have shot well above where they’re expected and we’ve lost games where we shot better than expected. We — especially this basketball group and the guys on this roster that I’m confident in — know how to win a game no matter what makes and misses looks like and getting back to that will help us regardless of who’s hot and who’s not.”