All of the five NBA games on Christmas Day ended with the winning teams burying a total of 89 triples. Meanwhile, even the smallest margin is 13 points, only thanks to the losing sides' tenacious resistance.

New Orleans Pelicans 88-111 Miami Heat

It took Miami less than one and a half quarter to sink 10 shots behind the 3-point line and get 50 points. Duncan Robinson showed New Orleans how a deadeye shooter helped his team win by making triples in every way on the textbook. Having made six triples in the first half, Robinson set a new record for making 3-pointers in a half on Christmas Day. He buried another one in the second half, matching the full-game record kept by Brandon Ingram.

Besides their offensive fluency, Miami's aggressive defense also played a key role in their victory on Friday. New Orleans found it very difficult to move the ball, especially in a half-court offense. As a result, they allowed 19 points at the cost of 19 turnovers.

One of the reasons behind Miami's reckless trapping was the underperformance in shooting by New Orleans. Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe together went 3-14 on the 3-point line, convincing people that their surprisingly excellent work in the game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday was nothing but a flash in the pan. Moreover, J.J. Reddick could not find a way to get off Avery Bradley, failing to make his offensive contribution in the bench squad.

Therefore, though Jimmy Butler did not play for Miami in the second half because of a leg injury, his team still managed to secure an easy win.

One thing that could keep Pelicans warm at night should be the incredible performance of Zion Williamson and Ingram. The 20-year-old second-year rookie was like an animal out of his cage, going 11-20 to score 32 points, 14 rebounds, and earned 15 free throws. As long as he had enough room to speed up and throw himself towards the hoop, Miami's defense had no choice but to either watch Williamson score or stop him with a foul.

Ingram's numbers were not as excellent as those of Williamson, but he's the one keeping the game from being long gone in the first three quarters. Over half of the seven field goals Ingram made were tough shots right in front of defenders. Nonetheless, Ingram and Williamson's great performance further revealed how disappointing the rest of the team, especially their bench unit, is. That's what coach Stan Van Gundy must focus on fixing in the rest of the season.

Golden State Warriors 99-138 Milwaukee Bucks

Both Milwaukee and Giannis Antetokounmpo could use a big win on Christmas Day to dispel the gloom of losing to the Boston Celtics at a 0.4-second 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum.

Fortunately for Milwaukee, they met Golden State and their broken lineup on Friday. Golden State had neither decent spacing offensively nor giant rim protector defensively, which Milwaukee feared the most. Thus, a massacre happened as a matter, of course.

Though Antetokounmpo remained cold in the game, Khris Middleton shot 10-15 and 6-8 in field goals and 3-pointers, respectively, scoring court-high 31 points. Milwaukee exceeded 30 points in each of the four quarters, turning the game into a blowout before Q4.

Golden State and Stephen Curry had to swallow another straight painful loss of the new season. They were torn apart by the opponents both offensively and defensively. Stephen Curry again fought a lone battle, which explained why he went 6-17 to get only 19 points.

Golden State's rookie center James Wiseman might have given the team the only reason to remain hopeful for the season. The 19-year-old young man was 3-4 from the 3-point line, putting down 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. The faster he grows, the sooner Golden State can pull themselves out of the mire.

Brooklyn Nets 123-95 Boston Celtics

You need to watch the whole game before you can understand how incredible the Nets were on Friday at TD Garden.

Kyrie Irving went 4-6 in the second quarter to get 14 points in Q2, but the Nets trailed 54-51 after the first half. Durant was only 2-6 during the same period to nine points. Did that mean the Celtics' defense worked on him?

Durant answered that question with 16 points in nine minutes in Q3, all by himself. He shot in Tristan Thompson's face; he pulled up regardless of Grant Williams' defense. Durant and Irving both played 33 points on the floor, dropping 66 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocks together.

Nonetheless, after Durant's excellent work in Q3, the Nets only led 75-70. Jaylen Brown and Tatum managed to keep the game close.

Then there came Jarret Allen, who stayed on the floor for about 14 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time, the Nets launched a 41-22 run.

Allen's contribution to that was more than four points, nine rebounds, one assist and two blocks he had. His existence enabled the Nets to accelerate both offensively and defensively. The extra ball pressure, fast break, and driving for offensive rebounds caught the Celtics unprepared and fell apart immediately.

"I think it's the deepest team in the NBA," said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens after the game. He's not wrong and the rest of the Eastern Conference should start watching out for the Nets.

Dallas Mavericks 115-138 Los Angeles Lakers

When the world was used to LeBron James and his team being late bloomers, James and the Lakers did not have their fans wait too long to be impressed. Luka Doncic and the Mavericks became their unfortunate opponents in the game.

The purple and gold's dominance was not only in the 90 points, 24 rebounds and 23 assists by James, Anthony Davis, Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell. They also smashed the Mavericks like peas in the paint by leading 35-0 in second-chance points and 53-27 in rebounds.

Before the 2020-21 season had begun, James said the regular season's a marathon. The Lakers went through quite some changes during the offseason and needed time for everyone to find their best role in the system. Schroder and Harrell showed signs of making progress on Friday. Who will be the next?

The first Christmas Day Game of Doncic tasted much bitterer than he had expected. Both he and the Mavericks missed Kristaps Porzingis when they were slaughtered by the Lakers under the rim. More importantly, the rest of the league is now looking at Doncic not as a promising rookie but as a legit candidate for the NBA MVP. The 21-year-old Slovenian better be ready because bigger difficulty awaits ahead.

Los Angeles Clippers 121-108 Denver Nuggets

Though Tyronn Lue was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers when they came back from a 3-1 trail to beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals in 2016, many still questioned his ability as the boss of a team. Coaching James the consecutive failures in the following 2017 and 2018 were not helping either.

That's why Lue may be more thrilled than others when the Clippers beat the Nuggets in the last game at Ball Arena on Christmas Day. Benefiting from the incredible spacing brought by the five-out lineup was just one part of Lue's success. So was the Clippers sinking 10 triples in a bit more than a quarter in the game.

The more valuable progress for the team was their better ball movement and teamwork. Instead of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Lou Williams making isolation play one by one, the Clippers learned how to find better opportunities by transferring the ball between the two borderlines. Sixteen of the team's 32 assists came from Leonard and George, not only because their orchestrating ability improved, but also for the better understanding of the game by the whole team.

As for the Nuggets, the consequences of letting three of their best defenders leave during the offseason were revealing themselves. The Nuggets were often in a dilemma defensively. For example, in Friday's game, they had no one to cover either Leonard or George one-on-one. Nikola Jokic would have to step out the paint to trap George in the screen play, leaving the rest of the team at a disadvantage in numbers defensively and a vacuum under the rim. Leonard and George are not the only two big-size forwards the Nuggets could not handle with one-on-one defense. Imagine what will happen if they meet the Lakers again.

The other major problem with the Nuggets was Jamal Murray. He was struggling offensively in both games, not to mention he's already a defensive liability. Having seen their defense degenerated, the Nuggets must outscore their opponents to win. They can't do it without Murray carrying on his firepower of last season.