NBA Previews

The Orlando Magic have had a day to rest for Friday night and should have a clear advantage over the Nuggets when the teams meet in Denver. The Nuggets played a thriller in Golden State on Thursday night, rallying from 18 down with 6:51 left to win it 130-127 on Nikola Jokic’s 39-foot bank shot at the buzzer. Denver expended a lot of energy to win its sixth straight road game and now faces a

Immanuel Quickley is settling in nicely with the Toronto Raptors, who have won both games since shaking up their roster in a five-player trade with the New York Knicks. Quickley and the Raptors hope to maintain that momentum when they continue their six-game road trip against the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Quickley made five 3-pointers and finished with 26 points in Toronto’s 116-111 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. “He fits great,” Raptors coach

The Phoenix Suns are still awaiting word on Kevin Durant’s prognosis, but the Miami Heat know Jimmy Butler will again be sidelined when the two teams meet Friday night in Phoenix. Butler is out for the seventh time in the past eight games, with Friday’s game making three straight absences. He missed four games due to a calf injury and the past three because of a toe ailment. The only time Butler has played in

The Memphis Grizzlies will make a return visit to Los Angeles on Friday to face the Lakers as they try to pull out of their latest tailspin. Following a 117-106 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 29, the Grizzlies returned home only to lose two of three games. The only victory came against the lowly San Antonio Spurs. On Wednesday, Memphis was upended 116-111 by the Toronto Raptors as Ja Morant came

Although the Portland Trail Blazers have already seen Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic three times this season, they have yet to figure out how to slow him down. Doncic has torched Portland for 37.7 points per game, but the Trail Blazers will have one last chance to try and figure him out when they visit Dallas on Friday night for the finale of the teams’ four-game season series. The Mavericks are 3-0 against Portland this

The Los Angeles Clippers have won their past four games. So have the New Orleans Pelicans. Two of the hotter teams in the Western Conference meet Friday night in New Orleans. The Clippers have won 13 of their past 15 games after a 131-122 victory at Phoenix Wednesday night. The Pelicans have won nine of their past 12 games after a 117-106 road victory against West-leading Minnesota on Wednesday. New Orleans was completing a back-to-back,

The game within the game between the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday highlighted the dilemma Rockets center Alperen Sengun presents opposing defenses. In the early stages of the Rockets’ 112-101 victory, the Nets aggressively sent a second defender at Sengun when he attempted to post up, testing both his ability to pass out of the double team and his patience to deal with it. Initially, there were moments of pause from Sengun, but

Injured starters Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic might as well be labeled the cavalry for the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have lost three of five without Vucevic (groin) entering Friday’s visit from the Charlotte Hornets and have been treading water with LaVine sidelined with right foot inflammation since late November. Both former All-Stars were cleared to return on a minutes restriction on Friday just as the high mileage of life without them was setting in

Joel Embiid will look to continue his historic season Friday when the Philadelphia 76ers host the New York Knicks. In the Sixers’ 110-97 win over the Chicago Bulls Tuesday, Embiid returned from an 11-day absence caused by a sprained right ankle to produce 31 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and two blocked shots. It was Embiid’s second triple-double this season and the seventh of his career. The reigning Most Valuable Player also compiled his 14th