Nearly every NBA team has played 30 games already, but it still always feels like the league season starts on Christmas Day. Especially for the casual hoops fans, it's the day they really start paying attention.

The league had five nationally televised games on Thursday, and they did not disappoint. There were several great team performances, and the league's best players reminded us all of their greatness.

Here are the results from Thursday:

* New York Knicks defeated Cleveland Cavaliers, 126-124
* San Antonio Spurs defeated Oklahoma City Thunder, 117-102
* Golden State Warriors defeated Dallas Mavericks, 126-116
* Houston Rockets defeated Los Angeles Lakers, 119-96
* Denver Nuggets defeated Minnesota Timberwolves, 142-138 in OT

Nearly 13 hours of basketball made for a full day. But it was sure great. Here's how I would rank the games on Thursday, from No. 1 through No. 5.

It was, quite frankly, an easy list to put together.

Just 12 days ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were 24-1, tied for the best start in NBA history. There were discussions that the defending champions might be the greatest team ever, and were in position the 73-win record of the 2016y Golden State Warriors.

But since then, they've lost four times in six games — and three times to the upstart San Antonio Spurs. That includes an NBA Cup semifinals loss on Dec. 13, a 130-113 loss at San Antonio on Tuesday and then another home loss on Christmas Day, falling 117-102.

They have found their Kryptonite.

The Spurs got 29 points from guard De'Aaron Fox, and 19 points from Stephon Castle. Victor Wembanyama, who's been coming off the bench since returning from a calf injury two weeks ago, added 19 points in 26 minutes.

"This is like a playoff series," Wembanyama said of facing the Thunder three times in 12 days. "We learned a lot on the tactical side [but] I don't want to say too much about it. Keep something for us."

The Thunder dynasty talk has to take a back seat for now, especially with the Spurs being so dominant in these last two wins. They are 26-5, which is still great, but it's the first time since 1967 that a team with only five losses has lost to the same team three times, according to ESPN Research. 

Watching the Spurs dominate so much on Christmas Day was a treat to watch. They are 23-7 themselves, and have the third-best record in the NBA. A Christmas wish? Let's see these two teams meet in the Western Conference finals. 

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player, and he's been in the hunt for a few more. He takes over games like no one else these days, in head-shaking fashion. 

He did that again on Thursday. He scored 56 points, had 16 rebounds and 15 assists in a thrilling 142-138 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He scored 16 points in the final three minutes of overtime.

An epic performance. No one in NBA history has ever had a 55/15/15 game. Not until Thursday.

The New York Knicks started Christmas Day by missing 13 of their first 15 shots and falling into a 15-point hole in less than six minutes. They had to battle their way back once to take a halftime lead, but then had to do it again in the fourth quarter, where they erased a 17-point lead with 10 minutes to go and pulled out a 126-124 win.

Guard Jalen Brunson led the way with 34 points and Jordan Clarkson added 25 off the bench. 

"That was maybe our best win because of the circumstances," Knicks coach Mike Brown told reporters after the game. "There's all types of stuff to make this game funky, but for our guys to keep battling and not get out of sorts, that's a great thing. There could be a lot of bickering and finger-pointing, but everybody kept talking about finding a way."

The Knicks are 21-9 and have the second-best record in the NBA's Eastern Conference, behind only the Detroit Pistons. Beating the Cavaliers was a big deal, too. They were the No. 1 seed in the East a year ago, so bringing them down is a big deal. 

Cooper Flagg, the first overall pick of the Dallas Mavericks in the 2025 NBA Draft, just turned 19 years old on Sunday. In his first two months in the NBA as an 18-year-old, he set all sorts of records for someone that age, and shared a stage with LeBron James in most of those teenage conversations.

He played in his first Christmas Day game on Thursday, with his Mavericks taking on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. He scored 27 points, but the Warriors won 126-116.

"He's just a true hooper," Curry said of Flagg. "He's such a competitor, and you forget how young he is. The future is bright.

"I'm glad he's had this (Christmas Day) experience in his first year, to understand what the bright lights feel like. The league is in good hands."

There's no doubt about that. The injury-riddled Mavericks are just 12-20 so far, and lost center Anthony Davis to a groin injury on Thursday. Making the playoffs seems unlikely, but Flagg has really found his way as a rookie. He's averaging 24.9 points per game in his last 13 outings, just 15.9 points per game before then.

It's safe to assume we're going to see Flagg every year on Christmas.

The Los Angeles Lakers got embarrassed at home on Thursday, falling 119-96 to the Houston Rockets. They've now lost three straight and six of 10 games after starting off the season 15-4, most of that without legend LeBron James.

They've been staggering ever since, despite so much talent. And no one is happy about it. The Rockets had a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and never looked back. It was an easy win.

And for the Lakers, it's about effort.

"We don't care enough right now," Lakers coach J.J. Redick said. "And that's the part that bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be a professional. Saturday's practice, I told the guys it's going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I'm not doing another 53 games like this."

"The two words of the day were effort and execution. And I feel like when we've done both of those things at a high level, we've been a good basketball team. When we haven't, we're a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away."

The question worth asking now, is if the Lakers don't care, why should we?