Hello everyone! We have a full Saturday evening of fun NBA basketball matchups, some of which feature our former University of Kentucky Wildcats. Let’s review this full slate of games, shall we?
7:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Los Angeles Lakers at New Orleans Pelicans. The flashy young showtime Lakers make a trip to the Big Easy to face the Pels. Randle will mostly face Alexis Ajinca and Omer Asik, but Anthony Davis hangs out mostly in the paint as well, so we’ll see them battle around the post as well. Terrence Jones will come off the bench; he’s earned a solid spot with his hard work. As I write this, Archie Goodwin just checked in for the first time as a Pelican!
7:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are coming off a loss on the road to the Philadelphia 76ers last night in Philly, so they will probably be a little spent. Paul George is out with a sprained ankle, so this game is ripe for the taking for the Celtics. James Young could make an appearance off the bench.
7:30pm ET on NBA League Pass: New York Knicks at Toronto Raptors. As the Knicks struggle to figure it all out with their newly-acquired talent and the triangle offense, they travel north to face the Raptors, who have it all put together with a 6-2 record here in the early regular season. Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Patterson should have an easy time here, but we’ll see.
7:30pm ET on NBA League Pass: Philadelphia 76ers at Atlanta Hawks. Nerlens Noel is still out, but this will still be an interesting matchup to flip to if you like to watch bigs battle in the paint. Joel Embiid will go up against Dwight Howard at some point, and all eyes will be on Embiid to see how he does. The Sixers finally got their first regular season win last night, so they will be riding high.
8:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Washington Wizards at Chicago Bulls. John Wall (rest) and Bradley Beal (ankle) are both out for tonight’s game, which is a bit of unfortunate timing, considering the Bulls have Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo. This game will not be easy at all for the Wizards with their star backcourt sitting on the bench. Can they keep it close without them?
8:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets. The Spurs are a solid team, always worth your time no matter the opponent, coached by arguably the best coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich. The Rockets are missing Patrick Beverly, but still bring James Harden, Cory Brewer and Ryan Anderson to the court. Kyle Wiltjer did not play in the Rockets’ last two games, but we could see him tonight.
8:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Los Angeles Clippers at Minnesota Timberwolves. DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul vs Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine. Also, Ricky Rubio is back tonight from his injury. If you like lobs and dunks, you might wanna check this one out, because both teams excel at the fast break. Tons of talent in Minnesota tonight.
8:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Utah Jazz at Miami Heat. Trey Lyles brings his team down to South Beach to face the team led by Justise Winslow and Hasaan Whiteside. Rudy Gobert will continue to dominate defensively. Whiteside and Gobert going up against each other should be extremely entertaining, both emerging young superstars at the center position.
8:30pm ET on NBA League Pass: Memphis Grizzlies at Milwaukee Bucks. Andrew Harrison is working hard to prove that he deserves to be the first choice off the bench to provide valuable rest minutes for star Mike Conley. Both teams quietly have 4-4 records going into this game.
9:00pm ET on NBA-TV: Detroit Pistons at Denver Nuggets. The Pistons are led by star center Andre Drummond, who will go up against the duo of Nurkic & Jokic (sounds like a law firm). Jamal Murray is still getting used to the NBA, and might still be reeling a bit from their game vs Golden State, where Steph Curry put him in a blender. Denver always has an advantage at home (the altitude affects breathing in those who are not accustomed to it), so we’ll see if that slows Detroit down.
9:00pm ET on NBA League Pass: Brooklyn Nets at Phoenix Suns. These team have almost identical records at 3-5 and 3-6, respectively. Let’s be real, though. Brooklyn is not very good, and there are not many teams in the NBA who could not make easy work of a win against them. Here’s hoping that the Suns can pull this one out. Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker, Brandon Knight and Tyler Ulis will be there, but one of their stars, Tyson Chandler, is out for this game.
There you have it, a review of where to see your Cats in the NBA this evening. Enjoy!