Monday, December 27th: Mavericks @ Thunder, 8:00 ET, FSSW FSOK
Two leading MVP candidates (and DeShawn Stevenson!) will be present as the second and fifth best teams in the Western Conference go at it in OKC. Kevin Durant is coming off a 44-point Christmas night, hopefully he’s still feeling it. If that doesn’t interest you, Blake Griffin plays at 10. That’s what I’ll be viewing.
Tuesday, December 28th: Knicks @ Heat, 7:30 ET, MSG SUN
This was a tough decision… the Lakers will pay the Spurs a visit at 8:30, which is a great choice if you don’t have league pass because it will be on NBAtv. LA’s coming off an ugly Christmas day L to the Heat, after which Kobe stated publicly that he’s pissed… so I figure he and his team will come out to prove a point. This is one of those games where if the team isn’t playing well early Kobe might enter total domination mode, which is always interesting to watch. If I can only watch one game on this day I’m rolling with the Heat and the Knicks, though. I simply can’t pass up a game that features, Amare Stoudemire, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.
Wednesday, December 29th: Jazz @ Clippers, 10:30 ET, NBATV
Get your weekly dose of Blake Griffin and hope to see a good game in the process. The Clipps have won four of five and took Utah to two OTs back in early November, so who knows. Kyrylo Fesenko is a prime candidate to become the next Timofey Mozgov.
Thursday, December 30th: Knicks @ Magic, 7:00 ET, TNT
An interesting Thursday game, yaaay! Here we have one of the league’s top offenses against one of the league’s top defenses, but it’s not like the Magic aren’t capable of putting the ball in the basket, especially with their new additions. I’m hoping to see a high-scoring, up and down affair. Dwight Howard should be able to impose his will on the Knicks undersized frontcourt, but I’m confident in New York’s ability to put up enough points to win against anybody.
Friday, December 31st: Hornets @ Celtics, 3:00 ET, CST CSNE
I’m assuming no one’s going to be home on the night of New Year’s Eve, so I went with an afternoon game. There’s four choices at 3 o’clock: Nets @ Bulls, Wiz @ Pacers, Dubs @ Cats, and of course Hornets @ Celtics. Games involving the Nets or Bobcats are automatically ruled out. If you don’t care whether or not the quality of the basketball is actually good, the Wizards game could work for you. John Wall’s back, and Nick Young is one of my personal favorite gunners… but Wizards games just tend to be… a little ugly. The Cs and the Bees are the pairing most likely to take the floor and look like two teams of professional athletes.
Saturday, January 1st: Thunder @ Spurs, 8:30 ET, FSOK FSSW
It’s the Western Conference’s new kids on the block matched up with the old reliables. The Spurs haven’t been playing through Tim Duncan as much as they did in past seasons, but this is a game where I feel like Timmy should thrive (OKC’s weak at PF and C). Tim Duncan bores the hell out of me, so honestly I’m not really even feeling this game… but the new year brought along nothing but lame choices. Hopefully this one goes down to the wire.
Sunday, January 2nd: Hawks @ Clippers, 3:30 ET, SS FSPT
Uh… make it a double dose of Blake Griffin this week. Why? Because Blake Griffin is the sh!t, and because it doesn’t matter what I pick today… you’re going to be watching football. Leading candidate to be Mozgoved: Zaza Pachulia.
