NBA Games of the Week

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Dec 22, 2008

NBA Games of the Week

Rockets at Cavaliers

Cleveland is the NBA's only unbeaten team at home while Houston is one of the league's better road teams. Two premier defensive small forwards, Shane Battier and Ron Artest, will test LeBron James, who is shooting a career-high 50.3 percent from the field.

Lakers at Hornets

The Lakers finish their four-game road trip at New Orleans, where they beat the Hornets 93-86 last month after blowing most of a 23-point lead. After a so-so start, the Hornets are 7-1 in December; Chris Paul has averaged 20.4 points (on 50 percent shooting), 12.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in those eight games.

Nuggets at Trail Blazers

After facing each other Monday in Denver, the Northwest Division co-leaders complete the back-to-back in Portland. The Nuggets entered the week with a three-game losing streak while the Blazers had won two in a row following their own three-game skid. Blazers guard Brandon Roy was averaging 36.4 points in his last five games.

Hornets at Magic

This enticing matchup marks the first of five nationally televised games on Christmas Day. Recent road victories at Portland and Utah and home wins against the Spurs and Lakers have helped the Magic legitimize their fast start. The point guard battle will be interesting; as good as Chris Paul has been, Orlando's Jameer Nelson is playing at a high level, too, in what's shaping up as his breakout season.

Spurs at Suns

The Suns will be well-rested for the renewal of this rivalry. They will have had four days off to prepare -- this is their only game during an eight-day span -- which should give them plenty of time at practice to continue integrating guard Jason Richardson, who has averaged 18.3 points in four games since being acquired in a trade with Charlotte.

Celtics at Lakers

The highly anticipated NBA Finals rematch comes with the Celtics off to a historic start and the Lakers not too far behind. Said Kobe Bryant of the defending champion Celtics: "They're still the barometer which we judge ourselves by.''

Bulls at Heat

The top two picks in the 2008 draft -- Chicago's Derrick Rose and Miami's Michael Beasley -- meet for the first time. Beasley, now coming off the bench, has been more up and down than Rose, who has had only a handful of poor games while running the show for the Bulls.

Heat at Cavaliers

Olympic teammates and MVP front-runners Dwyane Wade and LeBron James square off in Cleveland. If the Cavs beat the Rockets and Wizards earlier in the week, they would enter this game with a 15-0 home record.