Today’s best game: Miami at New York

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knicks small logoA potential first round matchup gets a vigorous nod for Sunday’s best game when the Miami Heat make their first and only appearance in New York against the Knicks.

That is, until the playoffs.

New York (31-28) is currently tied with Philadelphia for the seventh and eighth seeds but holds the tiebreaker.

Miami (41-17) lost 96-86 in overtime in Chicago on Thursday. LeBron James missed a game-sealing free throw that allowed the Bulls to make an improbable comeback without Derrick Rose, essentially locking the Heat into the two seed.

The first meeting between these two teams lacked Carmelo Anthony, who missed the 99-89 January 27th Knicks’ loss with a bad wrist.

The Heat repeated on February 23rd, led by Chris Bosh (25 points) and forcing Jeremy Lin to shoot 1-of-11 with 8 turnovers in the heat small logo102-88 win.

But both those games took place in Miami where the Heat are 25-4.

Miami sports a pedestrian 16-13 record on the road, just 3-8 in the All-Star break.

Now it’s New York who has the home court advantage, 9-0 at the Garden since Mike Woodson took over for Mike D’Antoni.

The Knicks are outscoring teams by 20.5 at home since the All-Star break and forcing 20 turnovers per game.

Said James, “I don’t know if it’s a statement game but we want to play better on the road.”

Seven of Miami’s last eight road losses were against winning teams.

Iman Shumpert will play despite suffering a sprained ankle in Friday’s 103-65 win over Washington.

Dwyane Wade, who sat out Friday’s blowout over Charlotte, is also expected to play Sunday.

Jeremy Lin (knee) and Amar’e Stoudemire (back) are both out with injuries, although Stoudemire is nearing his return.

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Tonight’s best game: Utah at Memphis

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grizzlies small logoThe banged-up Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies will both try and rebound from costly losses as the playoffs draw near in Saturday’s best game.

After upsetting the Spurs as the eighth seed in last year’s playoffs, Memphis (34-24) lost to San Antonio for the fourth time this season on Thursday, 107-97.

Forward Rudy Gay said the team remains confident, “I still feel like we can match up with them or anybody.”

They’ll have to prove it by not letting the Jazz sweep them as well.

The Grizzlies have won six straight at the FedEx Forum, but lost twice already to Utah this season.

After Saturday, only one of Memphis’ remaining games is against a team with a winning record (Dwight-less Orlando) as the Grizzlies trail the L.A. Clippers (36-23) by one-and-a-half games in the race for home court advantage in the first round.

For Utah, the situation is much more dire.

Dunk champion Jeremy Evans, C.J. Miles, Earl Watson, Josh Howard and Raja Bell are all out with injuries.jazz small logo

Paul Millsap played through a wrist injury suffered Wednesday against Houston, but his 27 points and 8 boards weren’t enough for the depleted Jazz in their 96-85 loss to New Orleans on Friday – Utah’s second to the 17-42 Hornets this season.

Millsap said after the game, “This is a game we needed…it’s a game we’re supposed to win, we just didn’t get it.”

The loss puts the Jazz (31-29) a game and a half behind eighth-seeded Denver with only six games to play catch up.

It will be a different game down low, with bruiser Zach Randolph playing for the first time in the series after missing 37 games with a torn ACL.

For Utah to make the playoffs, Gordon Hayward and Devin Harris must play better.  The backcourt duo combined to score only 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting against the Hornets.

Grizzlies’ guard Tony Allen is expected to make his return Saturday against the Jazz.

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Tonight’s best game: Philadelphia at Boston

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sixers small logoWith 11 games left in the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers can slice their Atlantic Division deficit in half on Sunday with a win over the division-leading Celtics in Boston.

It could come down to a battle of the benches.

Saturday, Ray Allen came off the bench for just the sixth time in his career and hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia’s leading scorer, Lou Williams (15.3 ppg), comes off the bench every game; and Saturday the Sixers were paced by Thaddeus Young’s 20 points, also off the pine.

The only difference: it paid off for the Celtics and not the Sixers.

Allen, replaced in the starting lineup by rookie Avery Bradley, provided the offensive spark when both Brandon Bass (0-6, 2 points) and Kevin Garnett (6-15, 15 points) threw up duds, helping Boston to an 86-72 win over Indiana.

Rajon Rondo continued his double-digit assist barrage with 12, extending his streak to 16 straight games. celtics small logo

Rookie Greg Steimsma had another strong game going 4-4 with 6 blocks, 5 of which came in the second quarter.

For Philadelphia, Williams and Young’s play were not enough to overcome the anemic output from the starting five.

Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday, Spencer Hawes, Elton Brand and Andre Iguadola combined to shoot 13-44 in Saturday’s 88-82 loss to Orlando, with no starter scoring more than 7 points.

Head coach Doug Collins has had enough during the Sixers last 13 games, of which they’ve won just four, threatening to overhaul the starting lineup if they continue to struggle.

If Collins’ threat to start a new rotation doesn’t motivate Philadelphia, this should: a loss Sunday at Boston coupled with a win by the Knicks would put the Sixers in a tie with New York for eight in the East – just half a game ahead of ninth-placed Milwaukee.

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Tonight’s best game: Orlando at Philadelphia

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magic small logoTensions are running high as the playoffs draw near, and two teams feeling the heat will take their respective aggressions out on each other when the floundering Philadelphia 76ers host the reeling Orlando Magic in Saturday’s best game.

If you haven’t seen the NBA’s most awkward clip of 2012, here it is.

The Dwight Howard saga has somehow grown since the trade deadline, with his sudden reversal on his trade demand and his decision to opt in to his contract and possibly stay with the Magic through next season.

Asked on Wednesday before tipoff what Orlando’s main concern was amid the rumors that Howard asked for Stan Van Gundy to leave, the Magic’s head coach responded, “to stop Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks.”

Well, that didn’t happen.  The Magic lost 96-80 and Howard was basically a no-show with 8 points in 40 minutes as Orlando lost its fifth straight, fell to 32-23 and sixth place in the East.

To make matter worse, Hedo Turkoglu sustained a facial fracture and will miss three weeks after undergoing surgery Saturday.

The loss of Turkoglu will hopefully be lessened by the return of Ryan Anderson, who missed the last two games with a sprained sixers small logoankle.

Philadelphia (29-25) has also seen better days.

The Sixers have won only four of their past 12 games including two particularly painful losses to Washington and Toronto by a combined 41 points.

The 76-97 loss to Washington last Friday was compounded by Philadelphia relinquishing first place in the Atlantic Division to the Boston Celtics.

This week, the Sixers suffered another embarrassing loss, 99-78 to the Raptors on Wednesday, which dropped them to seventh in the East.

Philadelphia managed only 7 points in the fourth quarter, its lowest-scoring quarter since the ’54-’55 season, and has failed to score above 80 points in five of the last 11 games.

The Sixers defense has gone missing as well.

In their last four losses, Philly has given up 97 points per game, almost 10 points above their season average (88.2).

The over/under is 179.5 – the lowest on the board tonight.

 

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Tonight’s best game: Memphis at Milwaukee

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bucks small logoThe Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies are both jockeying for playoff position with little room for error.  Saturday’s best game will test each team’s mettle as they try to prove they belong in the postseason.

So far the Bucks have been pretty convincing.

Milwaukee has won nine of its last 12 games and averaged 108 points over its last 10.

In Monta Ellis’ first game with the Bucks on March 16th, Milwaukee set a season high with 120 points in a win over Ellis’ former team, Golden State.

The backcourt of Ellis (13 points) and Brandon Jennings (28 points) lead the Bucks to another season high in its 121-84 drubbing of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday – Milwaukee’s most lopsided victory this year. 

The win, coupled with New York’s 100-90 loss to Atlanta, moved the Bucks (24-27) within 1 1/2 games of the East’s final playoff spot.

Milwaukee also set a season high in made field goals (50) and dished out 32 assists, topping 30 assists for a league-best 11th time grizzlies small logothis season.

The Bucks trail only Boston and Denver in that department, averaging 23.5 per game.

Despite leading the NBA in steals per game (10), Memphis hasn’t been able to do much else on the defensive end.

The Grizzlies are allowing 102.1 points over their past 9 games, up from 93.9 on the season, and have dropped 7 of 11, including a 98-89 loss in Houston on Friday.

Memphis (27-22) is currently sixth in the West but only a half- game ahead of Houston and Denver. Mike Conley should take some notes Saturday against the Bucks.  The Grizzlies point guard didn’t record a single assist in 26 minutes of action Friday.

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