NBA Previews

When the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets last met eight months ago, Denver clinched the league championship with a 4-1 series victory in the NBA Finals. According to Miami star Jimmy Butler, that history will be largely irrelevant when the teams square off in Denver on Thursday. “They’re a really good team,” Butler said. “We realize what happened in the Finals against them. We’ve got to let that go. We’re trying to make it there

The Utah Jazz might face another team without its best player when they travel to take on the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. That might not be the advantage it would seem to be, judging by recent performances of both teams. On Tuesday, the Jazz struggled against the Atlanta Hawks as they began a three-game Eastern road trip. Despite not having injured Trae Young, the Hawks jumped to a 12-0 lead and never trailed en

It won’t take much for the rematch between the Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets to be more compelling than the first three matchups. The teams will meet for the second time in three nights on Thursday, this time in Charlotte. The Bucks won 123-85 on Tuesday night and that continued a trend in the season series; Milwaukee’s three victories against the Hornets have come by an average of 35 points per beatdown. “When you have

Max Strus has proved to be a perfect fit in his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Strus will look to continue to stand out on Wednesday night when the Cavaliers visit the Chicago Bulls. He provided a signature moment with the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. He sank seven 3-pointers against the Dallas Mavericks — including four in a 67-second sequence late in the fourth quarter — and made a 59-foot shot at the buzzer

The Dallas Mavericks will get an immediate opportunity to try to shake off one of the most stunning losses of the NBA season. One night after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on a 59-foot shot at the buzzer, the Mavericks continue their road trip with a game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. P.J. Washington sank a layup to give Dallas a one-point lead with 2.6 seconds remaining in Cleveland. The Cavaliers inbounded the ball,

The New Orleans Pelicans are on a roll on the road. They have won three consecutive road games and six of their past seven away from home. They are 18-12 on the road, which gives them three more road wins than they had all of last season with 11 more to play. The Pelicans, who routed the Knicks 115-92 in New York on Tuesday, will try to keep the momentum going when they face the

The Miami Heat will attempt to remain unbeaten on a six-game road trip when they visit the struggling Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The Heat are 4-0 on the excursion after notching a 121-110 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night. The Trail Blazers have dropped eight straight games, matching their worst stretch during a poor season. It is their third streak of at least seven defeats this season. Miami will be playing

Two weeks after they were on the wrong end of a controversial call, the New York Knicks might have avoided their worst loss of the season thanks to a similarly contentious sequence. The Knicks will look to build off a frantic last-second victory when they conclude a back-to-back home set Tuesday night by hosting the New Orleans Pelicans. Josh Hart capped a chaotic possession by converting a layup with 2.1 seconds left Monday night to

The Orlando Magic were monitoring the status of two key players ahead of their matchup against the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Paolo Banchero (illness) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee strain) were both listed as questionable to face Brooklyn, which snapped a four-game losing streak with a 111-86 win over the host Memphis Grizzlies on Monday. Banchero missed a game for the first time this season on Sunday, when Orlando committed 20 turnovers in a