Friday NBA Picks
Our team of writers and handicappers hand out their NBA picks and predictions for Friday, February 20.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Milwaukee Bucks, 8:35PM ET
The Cleveland Cavaliers made a blockbuster deal right before last season’s trade deadline, looking for a spark as they sat nine games out of first place in the Central Division.
This season, the Cavaliers will have to settle for the return of two of the players acquired in that trade.
A day after standing pat at the deadline, Cleveland hopes to get injured starters Ben Wallace and Delonte West back when it visits the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.
The Cavaliers (41-11) were involved in a three-team, 11-player swap Feb. 22 that netted them Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Wallace and West.
Szczerbiak, Wallace and West play key roles on this season’s team that has a commanding lead in the Central and is in a tight race with Boston for home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.
However, Cleveland again explored making a move at this season’s deadline in hopes of confirming itself as the clear favorite in the East. Szczerbiak’s expiring contract was at the forefront of the talks, and right before Thursday’s deadline, Wallace’s name was connected to a deal that would have netted Phoenix’s Shaquille O’Neal.
In the end, Cleveland decided not to tinker with the chemistry of a team on pace for the best record in franchise history.
NBA Free Pick: Cleveland – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets, 8:35PM ET
Tracy McGrady has never won a playoff series in his first 11 seasons in the NBA. That likely won’t change this spring.
In their first game since McGrady said he would undergo microfracture knee surgery, the revamped Houston Rockets continue their postseason push against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night in a matchup featuring two teams in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
McGrady’s averaged 65.5 games over four injury-plagued seasons since joining Houston in 2004-05. He’s already missed 18 in 2008-09 because of his chronically sore left knee, including the Rockets’ 114-88 rout of New Jersey on Tuesday
On his Web site Wednesday, the 29-year-old McGrady said the pain in his knee has been persistent and he will have the season-ending procedure.
NBA Free Pick: Dallas – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
Oklahoma City Thunder at Phoenix Suns, 9:05PM ET
The Phoenix Suns didn’t make a major move before Thursday’s trade deadline, but if their first two games after the All-Star break are any indication, a coaching change may have been all they needed.
The Suns will try to continue their high-scoring start under coach Alvin Gentry on Friday night against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder, who will be looking to move on after voiding one of their pre-deadline deals.
Phoenix took a step backward in the first half under first-year coach Terry Porter, who had been hired to help convert the Suns’ fast-paced style into a more defensive-minded approach.
Sitting on the edge of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, the aging Suns (30-23) considered trading leading scorer Amare Stoudemire and center Shaquille O’Neal, but it turned out that their only major move this week was the firing of Porter and the promotion of Gentry, a former assistant.
Gentry was on the bench in Phoenix for most of Mike D’Antoni’s tenure from 2003-08, and he immediately vowed to implement a familiar "breakneck pace" to the Suns’ play.
The team had little trouble re-adjusting to the previous style, scoring 282 points and shooting 60.5 percent from the field in a home-and-home sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers this week.
NBA Free Pick: UNDER – View Game Matchup | Best Line:
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Posted: 2/20/09 9:57AM ET