Tough At Home LeBron James led an overachieving Cleveland Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals last season, but the Cavaliers remained a few key role players shy of capturing their first championship. Devin Brown could prove to be one of those players. James and Brown look to help the reigning Eastern Conference champions to their first back-to-back wins of the season when the Cavaliers visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Author: Anthony Rome
In a Rhythm After playing in front of the largest-ever viewing audience for a game, the Milwaukee Bucks now have to deal with the defending NBA champions. Yi Jianlian and the Bucks will try for their first road win of the season when they visit the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
Pistons Head West With his team on the verge of setting a franchise record for losses to start a season, new Seattle SuperSonics coach P.J. Carlesimo is prepared to make changes. Trying to avoid a team-record seventh straight loss, winless Seattle may have a different look Sunday night when the Detroit Pistons visit KeyArena.
Streaking On If the Detroit Red Wings are to record the longest winning streak in franchise history Sunday, they’ll have to beat the team that has given them the most trouble this season. The Red Wings’ mastery of most opponents this season has not included the Chicago Blackhawks – a team they have otherwise dominated this decade – and that is the Central Division rival they must defeat to post a club-record 10th straight win.
Aves Take on Wild The Minnesota Wild hope a five-day layoff has provided enough rest for injured stars Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik. The Wild hope to have their first-line wingers back on the ice Sunday when they open a four-game road trip against Northwest Division foes, starting with the first-place Colorado Avalanche.
Trying to Stay Unbeaten People are starting to notice Hawaii’s slow climb up the Bowl Championship Series standings. Warriors coach June Jones, however, is not among them. Jones and No. 14 Hawaii try to remain unbeaten as they begin a difficult closing stretch Saturday against Fresno State in a Western Athletic Conference matchup.
No Bump In The Road Late-game heroics against some of the top teams in the country have put LSU back in position to play in the BCS title game. The Tigers, though, probably won’t be challenged much by this week’s opponent. Coming off another contest decided in the last few minutes, No. 2 LSU gets a break from its difficult SEC schedule Saturday night with a rare matchup against Louisiana Tech.
Mavs Head to Portland After overcoming a major nemesis, the Dallas Mavericks look to continue their dominance of the Portland Trail Blazers when the teams meet Saturday night at the Rose Garden. Dallas has won 13 straight against Portland, including six in a row on the road. The Mavericks have not lost to the Blazers since a 97-88 defeat on Dec. 23, 2003.
Struggles Over? Two days after winning their first game of the season, the Chicago Bulls hope they have put their disappointing start behind them. Chicago hosts the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, looking to build some momentum before beginning its longest road trip of the season.
Rivalry Renewed In the early days of the 2007-08 season, the Boston Celtics and New Jersey Nets appear to be the class of the Atlantic Division. On Saturday night at the Meadowlands, they face each other for the first time. The Celtics (4-0) are off to their best start since 1987-88, when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish led Boston to a 6-0 start en route to a 52-win season and an appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.