Thursday, March 3, 2011

No Regard Daily Previews: Florida Rivals

The First Game We'll Be Watching Tonight: Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat


Tonight's Florida-on-Florida NBA action has the potential to be some serious eye-candy for NBA junkies and casual fans alike. Outside of the tight Eastern conference playoff race in which the top three seeds are barely separated by a few games, Miami, a side that's been criticized for both its inability to win close games and have success against the top-tier teams in the league, has a chance to gain some confidence and silence their haters temporarily. For Orlando, it's an opportunity to continue the momentum it gained from their comeback victory over the new-look Knicks and tinker with a roster that still hasn't figured out its identity since being revamped a few months back.



It's also quite evident that there's some palpable beef between Dwight Howard and LeBron. After Howard mocked Bron Bron's pregame powder tossing in February, King James went off on the Magic, dropping a cool 51 points after draining his first 11 shots. It'll be interesting to see if Orlando's big man attempts similar shenanigans tonight.
That said, the second Superman is playing inspired ball right now and considering Miami has deficiencies in the paint, the Heatles will have issues if they don't force turnovers and run, run, run. D-Wade will also need to show something tonight: During the Heat's three losses in February against Boston, Chicago, and New York, the Marquette alum shot a combined 23-57 from the field and coughed the ball up 14 times.

However, for No Regard, what trumps all of these storylines is that one of our very own, Mike Bibby, will finally see his wish come true as he makes his debut for the Miami Heat. Although Coach Spo says Bibby won't be starting, he will likely get some minutes. Do us proud, Mike!

The Other Game We'll Be Watching: Utah Jazz vs. Denver New York Knicks


Utah has struggled since Sloan went fishing and they decided to send Deron Williams to the Garden State. (Thanks!) But don't be so quick to count them out, as Harris finally has the opportunity to play basketball without hearing a different trade rumor involving his name every day. With a young, athletic front line, they have a shot to make a push in the last few months of the season.

As for the Denver Knicks, what a lovable team. With Chauncey's talents in the Big Apple, Ty Lawson has the chance to grow into a great guard, mostly because of his ability to blow by people. He's fast as shit is all we're saying. And how about the Italian Stallion Gallinari just doing his thing, going for 30 his first game as a Nugget, eating eggplant parms and draining shots from distance? Plus, K-Mart, Chandler, and J.R. are smoking a fair amount of post-game blunts, so that's fun.

All in all, good stuff tonight coming on TNT. (Speaking of blunts and TNT, remember how Chris Webber produces tracks for Nas sometimes.)

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