Have you ever wondered why the NBA plays five games on Christmas Day but none on Christmas Eve? The people who watch the NBA with family on Christmas Day would almost certainly spend their family time the day before the same way.  NBA games would also be perfect in the background for any last-minute present-wrapping or cookie-baking. The NBA would not have any noteworthy competition on Christmas Eve, unless they are convinced they would lose too many eyeballs to TBS’s A Christmas Story marathon.

I do not know why I think about these kinds of things, but I do. I have been even more confounded, over the years, by the way the NHL approaches Thanksgiving. The NHL has only played three Thanksgiving games over the last four years, and two of those were in Nashville. Thanksgiving in Canada is in October. It seems to me our holiday would be a perfect time to show hockey in Canada.

Fortunately for everyone involved, my job involves analyzing the NBA schedule, not creating it. For this week’s schedule breakdown, I want to go back to a statistic I touched upon earlier in the season: pace. Pace is simply a team’s number of possessions per 48 minutes. Going against a poor defensive team like the Jazz or Knicks is nice, but your fantasy players may get fewer touches because those teams average fewer than 93 possessions per 48 minutes. Those teams certainly are not terrible matchups, but they may not be quite as good as you think. All of the players below face teams who play fast, in addition to providing nice matchups in other aspects.

Shaun Livingston, Golden State Warriors (Home vs. Sacramento, Road vs. Lakers, Road vs. Clippers, Home vs. Timberwolves) All four of the Warriors’ opponents are in the top half of the league in pace, led by the Timberwolves and Lakers at fourth and seventh respectively. The Warriors are second in the league in pace themselves, which makes those Lakers and Timberwolves matchups look great for all involved.

Wesley Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers (Home vs. Warriors, Road vs. Bulls, Road vs. Mavericks, Home vs. Suns) The surprise out of this group is the Bulls, who are in the top half of the league in pace for the first time since 2009-10. The Suns and Mavs are fifth and 11th in pace this season. The Mavericks have also allowed the most made three-pointers to opponents this season, though that could change following the Rajon Rondo trade. Johnson has at least 10 points in each of his last five games, and he is playing well even with Nick Young cutting into his minutes.

Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz (Road vs. Grizzlies, Home vs. 76ers, Road vs. Clippers)

The Grizzlies and 76ers are both among the most-blocked teams in the league, and Gobert is one of the best fantasy shot-blockers in the league. The 76ers and Clippers also play very fast, which should help Gobert continue his recent hot streak.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Hornets (Home vs. Nuggets, Road vs. Bucks, Road vs. Thunder, Home vs. Magic, Home vs. Bucks) At this point any team that plays the Bucks twice is a good place to look for frontcourt production. The Bucks are simply depleted with Jabari Parker out for the season and no return date for Ersan Ilyasova and John Henson. Only three teams have allowed more points to opposing teams than the Nuggets, which certainly helps. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist may never be a consistent fantasy player, but he is good enough to take advantage of some nice matchups.

Mike Scott, Atlanta Hawks (Road vs. Mavericks, Home vs. Clippers, Home vs. Bucks, Road vs. Bucks) The Milwaukee Bucks have an extremely interesting upcoming week. They are home-and-home with the Hawks, bookended by two games against the Hornets. I feel bad picking on the Bucks when they are down, but not enough to avoid using Mike Scott or Dennis Schroder. The Bucks play even faster than the Mavericks and Clippers, which makes this an even better week to load up on Hawks.

You can find help in the schedule for every fantasy category if you know what stats to look at. Not every pickup will help you in every category, but you can get help in the right categories if you dig a little bit deeper.