Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss are no longer engaged. Is love dead?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

GET IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT! The Mavs and Rockets technically played a basketball game, but it sure didn’t feel like it. After (during?) a series of flagrant fouls, Dallas’ Salah Mejri supposedly said something vulgar about Trevor Ariza’s wife and children. (Mejri denied it). Ariza and some teammates then went to confront Mejri outside the Mavericks’ locker room after the game, but were talked out of anything worse by several Mavs. Also, Patrick Beverley taunted Rick Carlisle after the game and took out those feelings on Twitter. It’s a good thing these two teams don’t play again this year.

BUSS-TED: Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson are calling off their four-year engagement. (Only one more year and they could star in a movie!). Turns out it’s tough to maintain a relationship while serving as chief executives for rival NBA teams on different coasts.

RUSS-TED: Another triple-double for Westbrook. Ho hum. That’s 15 in 32 games.

SCORES!

Grizzlies 103 Celtics 113

Thunder 106 Heat 94

Rockets 123 Mavericks 107

Jazz 102 Lakers 100

DUNK OF THE NIGHT: Gordon Hayward can get up.

WOMP WOMP: D’Angelo Russell had a chance to win the game and shot an air ball. (Remember when a Laker icon also did that against the Jazz?). Russell will surely appreciate Luke Walton taking the blame for putting him in a bad position.

COME AND JUMP ON IT: Steven Adams takes Hassan Whiteside for a piggy-back ride.

BECAUSE WE NEED ONE MORE LOOK BACK: We invited a former NBA video coordinator onto the Limited Upside podcast to go super in-depth on that great Warriors-Cavs Christmas thriller.

FOUL PLAY? Kevin Durant came out strongly against the NBA’s last-two-minute officiating reports, even though he was the victim of a blown call on the last possession of the Warriors’ loss to the Cavaliers. The crux of Durant’s point, which isn’t unique to him, is that there’s nothing that can be done about the blown calls after the fact, so it only serves to publicly embarrass officials. That’s a fair point.

MORE FOUL PLAY? Paul George implies that there’s been a years-long conspiracy to officiate the Pacers (i.e. the league’s “little brother”) unfairly. Look, anything is possible. The more likely explanation is that George doesn’t drive to the basket enough, and neither do Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young, Myles Turner, Monta Ellis, and the rest of the team. (Related: Indy Cornrows on George picking up bad habits from his time with Team USA).

SPEAKING OF ... Players can now call a special hotline to complain about referees. Let’s see how many actually do it.

WHY? John Wall said the Wizards had extra motivation to beat the Bucks because Giannis Antetokounmpo was stat-padding in Milwaukee’s blowout win last Friday. You’ll recall LeBron James reportedly being miffed that the Bucks play harder against Cleveland than anyone else. Why do all these people not like Giannis? This hurts me.

DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS?: Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins sound like they did.

INTERESTING: Rick Barry offered to help Andre Drummond with his free-throw shooting, but Drummond “wasn’t as receptive” to him, according to Stan Van Gundy.

GOOD JOB, NORTHWESTERN: These Craig Sager stickers look great.

SELL THOSE BOOKS, GEORGE: Pro Basketball Talk published another excerpt from George Karl’s new book, in which he claims that Michael Jordan personally approved of a legendary non-trade that would have sent Scottie Pippen to the Sonics.

BREAKING: DRAYMOND WILL KEEP BEING DRAYMOND.

Until tomorrow.