Games to watch: Nets at Magic, Friday; Magic at Heat, Sunday
OK, Dwight Howard, you’ve decided to stick around for another year and give your team a chance at making a run at this year’s championship. Now it’s time to see whether this group will take the momentum it gained from finally straightening out the Howard mess and turn it into an actual hot streak, or whether the Magic will suffer yet another ignoble end.
Fitting that Orlando on Friday hosts the Nets, the team that would have likely acquired Howard had he not agreed to waive his player option for next season and stay in town. Magic general manager Otis Smith did not indicate what deals he had cooking for Howard, but he did say Howard would have been traded. “It was real,” Smith said. “We weren’t rolling the dice.”
That might make Friday’s game a little tougher to take for Nets coach Avery Johnson and GM Billy King, not to mention billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov, especially if Howard runs wild on New Jersey in the paint.
But that’s just an appetizer. The entrée comes on Sunday when the Magic get the Heat, one of the two East giants they’ll likely need to knock off in the playoffs if they are to get to the Finals. This will be a payback game for Miami, which dropped an overtime game to the Magic on Tuesday in Orlando.
Player to watch: Carmelo Anthony, Knicks
Fair or not, Anthony will have to live with the tag of a guy who got rid of coach Mike D’Antoni. Anthony denied there was a rift between the two, but it was clear that Anthony did not fit with D’Antoni’s offensive system, and D’Antoni reportedly tried to persuade team owner James Dolan to trade Anthony. Dolan would not give up his superstar, though, and now—with New York battling for a playoff spot—he will need Anthony to play like a superstar, especially with new coach Mike Woodson likely to move the offensive focus onto the small forward.
In Wednesday’s blowout win over the Trail Blazers, Anthony had 16 points and a season-high seven assists. The Knicks play a home-and-home series against the Pacers this weekend.
Matchup to watch: Derek Fisher vs. Chris Paul, Rockets at Clippers, Saturday
Fisher still feels he can play a couple more years. The Lakers obviously disagreed. On Saturday, Fisher will be back in Los Angeles, though not to face his old team—instead he will be with the Rockets to face Paul and the Clippers. It could be argued that the rise of Paul and the Clippers in L.A. is one of the reasons the Lakers felt they needed to make a change at point guard. Though the Lakers held Paul to just four points in their last meeting, Paul was outstanding in the first game between the two, going for 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting. Fisher scored a total of 18 points in the two meetings, shooting 5-for-14.
On a roll: Bucks
The Bucks are looking to make a push for a playoff spot, and did well to bolster their chances by dealing injured center Andrew Bogut (and disgruntled wing Stephen Jackson) to Golden State for guard Monta Ellis and young big man Ekpe Udoh. Milwaukee has been playing well lately, having won five of six games, with the one loss coming by two points to the East-leading Bulls. Now it can pair Ellis, who is averaging 21.9 points this season, with point guard Brandon Jennings, who is averaging 19.0—and it starts with the Warriors in Oakland on Friday.
Getting desperate: Trail Blazers
What a disaster of a year for the Blazers. They had Brandon Roy retire, and lost Greg Oden (again) to a knee injury, making it a long shot that he will play another game in Portland. That’s the No. 6 overall choice of the 2006 draft, and the No. 1 choice of the 2007 draft, wiped off the books. Then, after a strong start, the Blazers grew disillusioned with the backcourt signings they made in the offseason (Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford), and with four losses in five games on their current season-long seven-game road trip, the Blazers finally decided to make sweeping changes—including firing coach Nate McMillan. The Blazers wrap up their disastrous road trip in Chicago on Friday and in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
没有评论:
发表评论