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NBA Sunday Gameday
The NBA’s Central Division grabs the hoops spotlight on Sunday afternoon, with its top teams looking to end the week with a win. Here is your NBA Gameday.
Chicago Bulls at Detroit Pistons, 1:00pm ET
The Bulls have won three games in a row, but they’ve still lost quite a bit of ground to the Pistons in the Central Division over the past couple of weeks. The Bulls currently find themselves 4.5 games back of Detroit for first place despite consecutive wins over Atlanta, Cleveland, and Washington. That mini-streak, however, came on the heels of five losses in six games at the beginning of the month. Chicago forward Andres Nocioni is now out indefinitely with a foot injury.
The Pistons have won nine of their past 10 contests to move into first place in both the Central Division and the Eastern Conference standings. Detroit’s only loss over that span came on February 14, when they scored just 81 points in a 90-81 defeat versus San Antonio. Detroit has the definite advantage in the splits on Sunday afternoon as well – they’re 18-10 at home this season, while the Bulls are just 10-18 on the road. The Bulls, though, are 8-2 versus Central opponents.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat, 3:30pm ET
The Cavaliers sit right between the Pistons and the Bulls in the Central Division right now, 3.5 games back of Detroit and a game up on Chicago. This will be the third time that the Cavs will take on the Heat in the month of February – they lost to Miami 92-89 back on February 1, but picked up a 103-79 victory at home on February 9. LeBron James led the way for Cleveland in that win, scoring a game-high 29 points. Larry Hughes had 16 points, while Drew Gooden had 13 boards.
Dwyane Wade poured in 27 points for Miami in their loss on February 9, but the star guard’s dislocated shoulder will keep him out of today’s game – and many more games to come. In fact, if Wade decides to have shoulder surgery he could be out of action until next season. That would be bad news for the Heat, who have won seven of their past 10 games but are still just barely in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference (and, shockingly, are two games below .500).
Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors, 6:00pm ET
The Lakers have little chance of catching the Suns in the Pacific Division this season, but they’re still comfortably in the Top 8 of the Western Conference despite having lost seven of their past 10 contests. In fact, Los Angeles’ win over the Celtics on Friday night put an end to an ugly six-game losing streak, in which they fell short versus Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, New York, Cleveland again, and Portland. Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic is out with a shoulder injury.
The Warriors are hoping they have better luck against the Lakers than they did versus the other Los Angeles team on Saturday afternoon. Al Harrington scored 24 points against the Clippers on Saturday, but Golden State was still defeated 103-90 on the road. Jason Richardson had 18 points in that game, while Monta Ellis picked up 17 points and 13 assists. The Warriors are still in the hunt for a postseason berth in the West, but they’re also a sub-.500 team right now as well.
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