The elite take their game on the road as the Bulls invade Wachovia and the Thunder head to American Airlines.
Teams that win championships protect their home-court. Tonight features two great games, Oklahoma City at Dallas and Chicago at Philadelphia.
Oklahoma City is the best team in the West and Chicago is the best team in the East. I understand that teams drop home games, it’s not college, but the difference about tonight is that to be a threat you’ve got to win at home against the best. If the Thunder or the Bulls go and get a win tonight, it’s going to tell me something about Dallas and Philly.
Dallas has been hot lately, going 11-3. You can’t ever count Dallas out because they are the defending champions. You knew they would get it together despite a 1-4 start and they did, sitting at 14-8 overall and 9-3 at American Airlines in Dallas.
Rodridgue Beaubois is getting his third straight start and he’s getting thrown into the fire against point-god Russell Westbrook with Jason Kidd out. Roddy has filled up the stat sheet dropping seven assists in each of the last three games and has swatted 11 shots in his last four games and he’s a point guard but his long arms and leaping ability are legit. We will see if he tries to swat Westbrook when he goes up for the game and pops the jumper in his face like he did last game in his 31-point scoring effort in LA on Monday. I don’t think Roddy is keeping up tonight.
Dirk Nowitzki loves to dominate the Thunder and Serge Ibaka. We all remember the playoffs last season when OKC had the eventual champs on the ropes but I don’t think he can do that anymore. The tables have turned a little since then and the Thunder have the best record in basketball at 16-4. Durant and Westbrook are the prime suspects, with KD getting 26.8 points per game and Russ at 21 points per game. It’s a tough environment but I still like the dynamic duo to show up in Big D and walk out with a big W.
The Bulls and the best point guard in basketball, Derrick Rose, roll into Philly tonight to deal with the red-hot Sixers. It’s a tough task on hand for the Baby Glove, Jrue Holiday who is having another good season at 14.6 ppg, 4.7 apg, and 3.1 reb. He’s a good defender, averaging 2.0 steals per game, but there’s no defense for Rose. You can only hope to contain his greatness.
Chicago sits atop the Eastern Conference with a 18-5 record but the 76ers have been the stingiest team in basketball this season, only giving up 86 points per game. All these guys are athletic, solid defenders. I like the 16-5 76ers to stand a chance at beating the Bulls as they are ranked in the top 10 in every statistical category and Andre Iguodala and Holiday force a lot of turnovers.
The Sixers have a ridiculous seven players averaging in double-figures scoring led by Lou Williams with 15.9 points per game and hasn’t even started a game. The resurgence of Elton Brand and the emergence of Spencer Hawes down on the block has made the Sixers more of a complete team.
