NBA Previews

The Memphis Grizzlies struggled mightily in front of their fans for much of the season before recording back-to-back home victories prior to the All-Star break. The Grizzlies bid to pick up where they left off on Friday night when they host the Los Angeles Clippers. That might be a tall task considering the Clippers had won 28 of their past 35 games before dropping a 129-107 decision to the host Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday

Despite a first half defined by injuries and an inability to get their full complement of players together on the court for an extended period, the Phoenix Suns entered the All-Star break having won 5 of 6 games while seemingly generating momentum for the stretch run. And, despite playing without guard Bradley Beal for the 26th time, the Suns appeared to have that momentum intact while building an 11-point lead over the Dallas Mavericks on

Two teams that lost Thursday while playing short-handed in their return from the All-Star break will square off Friday when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Philadelphia 76ers. Cleveland, playing without ill All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, stumbled 116-109 against the visiting Orlando Magic on Thursday. The Sixers, without reigning Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid (knee surgery), De’Anthony Melton (back) and Robert Covington (knee), fell behind by 26 and lost 110-96 to the visiting New York Knicks

The Atlanta Hawks begin their push for a postseason berth coming out of the All-Star break with a home date on Friday against the Toronto Raptors, but they will do so with some question marks in the frontcourt. Hawks coach Quin Snyder said Onyeka Okongwu, who is averaging 10.2 points, seven rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game, will be out for “the foreseeable future” due to a left toe sprain. While fellow big man

Two of the NBA’s hottest teams entering the All-Star break hope the week off hasn’t stalled their momentum as they go head-to-head Thursday night when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. The Lakers, though, will be missing LeBron James due to a lingering left ankle injury. The California rivals begin the second half clinging to the ninth and 10th positions in the NBA playoff race, spots that would grant

The Sacramento Kings are 31-23 after 54 games for the second consecutive season. But last season, Sacramento was in third place in the Western Conference en route to ending a 16-season streak of missing the playoffs. This season, the Kings are just eighth in the West entering Thursday night’s home matchup against the San Antonio Spurs. The contest is the first after the All-Star break for both the Western Conference-worst Spurs and Kings. Sacramento stands

Though the Utah Jazz stumbled into the NBA All-Star break, the play of Keyonte George offered somewhat of a silver lining. The Jazz are hopeful the rookie guard can continue his pre-break momentum while also helping them end a slide when they face the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, Utah. Though they’re both 3-7 in their last 10 outings, the Jazz and Hornets enter this contest in opposite directions. Utah dropped

For the second game in a row on Thursday night, the Utah Jazz will face a hungry team that has extra motivation. Considering how the Jazz are playing and what happened to them Wednesday night — when they were blown out 138-122 by the driven Los Angeles Lakers — that could be a daunting task. Similar to how Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis called the Jazz-Lakers game “very important” because it was his team’s last game

Two steps forward, one step back. That’s been the Milwaukee Bucks’ theme under Doc Rivers, who took over as head coach on Jan. 29. The Bucks look to head into the All-Star break on a high note when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. Memphis snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 121-113 home victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. The Bucks fell to 3-6 under Rivers on Tuesday, when the visiting Miami