Game of the Night: The Threesome

Feb 18, 2012

Friday February 17th, 2012 – Since my fellow NBASE Talk writers and I could not agree on which game is the Game of the Night, this ended up being a 3 game article. The Miami Heat vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers is about excitement and fantastic plays from LBJ and Wade and also because of the hype of LBJ going up against his former team where the rookie sensation Kyrie Irving has been doing great. The matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia 76ers is all about a game based on overall records, while the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game is all about the points because it’s sure to be full of them.
 
 

Let’s start off with the Miami Heat vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers which starts at 7:30pm ET. The Heat who are on a roll are facing a below .500 team, but the interesting part is that it’s LeBron James’ former team. The Heat are 1st offensively while the Cavs are 18th , and also judging by the overall ability and record of the Heat it is logical to guess they will win. Still, everyone knows it’s exciting to watch LeBron even if you’re not his biggest fan. Both teams aren’t all that great defensively which means that there will probably be a lot of points scored, unless they decide to lock it down defensively of course. Wade and LeBron are going to rack up a lot of points, while Irving and the Cavs will have to do great defensively if they want to stand a chance of winning. I predict a Miami win by at least 10 points. Anderson Varejao is out for the Cavaliers so the Turkish import Semih Erden will continue to start, while the Heat’s starting point guard will return from his hand injury to start for Miami. Daniel Gibson is doubtful for the game and looks like he is not going to play because Alonzo Gee is starting at shooting guard.
 
Probable starters for the Miami Heat: Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony
 
Probable starters for the Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving, Alonzo Gee, Omri Casspi, Antawn Jamison, Semih Erden
 
 
Here are the highlights of their last meeting just 10 days ago:

 
 

The Dallas Mavericks play against the Philadelphia 76ers at 8:00pm ET. It should be interesting because the 76ers are 13-5 at home, and they will be facing a good road team that’s been on a role. After the bad start this season, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs have been regaining their strength from last season, while the 76ers have been the biggest surprise. The 76ers are an all-around squad with no major stars like Durant, LBJ or Nowitzki, but manage to pull it off on most nights. Holiday and Iguodala have been contributing the most, but so has their stellar bench play by the likes of Thaddeus Young, Louis Williams and former college star Evan Turner. Dallas themselves have a solid bench of their own, highlighted by Lamar Odom, Ian Mahinmi and the improved play of Brandan Wright. Jason Terry (out for the game with a quad injury), Delonte West (out till mid-March) and Roddy Beaubois (personal reasons) are all not going to play, while the 76ers continue to miss big man Spencer Hawes who is targeting a return before the end of February. The Mavs have been good on the road and are on a 5 game winning streak. The 76ers just lost yesterday though and will be looking to bounce back from that loss. Both teams are in the top half of the playoff standings in their respective conferences (Philadelphia is 3rd in the East; Dallas is 4th in the West) and it will be a great game. I predict a Dallas win by about 5 points.
 
Probable starters for the Dallas Mavericks: Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood
 
Probable starters for the Philadelphia 76ers: Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Lavoy Allen
 
 
Now let’s do a preview of the Golden State Warriors against the OKC Thunder. The game tips off at 8:00pm ET, and the Golden State Warriors are 3-6 on the road while OKC is 10-1 at home. It is supposed to be a blowout with Ellis and Curry vs. Westbrook and Durant still lighting up the scoreboard. Kevin Durant had 33 points and 8 rebounds against the Rockets yesterday and he has been doing great. Russell is also doing great for a point guard and has really improved his scoring output over the last month. Again, we are going to see a matchup between two amazing offensive teams. Oklahoma is the 3rd highest scoring team while Golden State is 4th. The thing with the Warriors is that they are 28th defensively which is 3rd worst in the league and only better than the Bobcats and Spurs which are both struggling. Golden State is 7-11 against teams above .500, which includes the Thunder of course. So far this season, OKC has scored over 100 points 17 times and GSW 13 times, so this should be the highest scoring game of the night. As always with the Warriors, it’s a risky game for fantasy basketball if you have both Curry and Ellis because usually only one of them does well, but that one guy will light up the court for sure. The “Beard” is also going to get a bunch of minutes and will score a good amount points when he comes off the bench. In case you don’t know, the “Beard” is James Harden and one of our writers recently wrote an article about him here. I predict an Oklahoma City win with both teams scoring over 100. Thabo Sefolosha remains on the injury list meaning that Daequan Cook will continue to start for him at shooting guard.
 
Probable starters for the OKC Thunder: Russell Westbrook, Daequan Cook, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins.
 
Probable starters for the Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Dorell Wright, David Lee, Andris Biedrins
 
 
Here are the highlights of their last meeting just 10 days ago:

 
 
Since we couldn’t decide on a single Game of the Night we would like you to give us your opinion. I made a preview of all three games.