Miami Heat, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in action:
NBA Tuesday Preview
Eight franchises of the National Basketball Association (NBA) will go head-to-head on Tuesday, 29 March.
Here is an overview of the upcoming matches:
Miami Heat (51-22) – Cleveland Cavaliers (14-58)
The Miami Heat will take on the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.
LeBron James is returning home after four months since his last visit and he will undoubtedly face a barrage of "Akron hates you" chants in Cleveland.
James however, seemed unfazed by the prospect of a hostile welcome. He said, "Can't get no worse than it was 2nd December. I know that for a fact."
The match should be a relatively easy one for the Heat, as Cleveland are the worst shooting and lowest-scoring team in the NBA. Miami are flying high with their current four-game winning streak and are in third position in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers
on the other hand, are behind all NBA teams with just 14 victories in the 2010-11 season.
Houston Rockets (38-35) – New Jersey Nets (23-49)
The Houston Rockets are all set to take on the New Jersey Nets at Prudential Centre.
Houston lost their last game against the Miami Heat 125-119 at the American Airlines Arena on Sunday night. The defeat snapped their four-game winning streak.
New Jersey will try to bounce back from their two-game losing streak. They lost to the Atlanta Hawks 98-87 at the Philips Arena in their last match. The Rockets desperately need to win this game in order to get to the play-offs, while the Nets are already
out of the playoff race.
The Rockets Head Coach Rick Adelman said that a victory against the Nets at home would be a challenge for them.
He said, "Now the challenge is responding in New Jersey. We gave what we could and came up short and now you have got to regroup and try to come back and get that game Tuesday and go from there."
Oklahoma City Thunder (48-24) – Golden State Warriors (32-42)
The Oklahoma City Thunder hosts the Golden State Warriors at Oklahoma City Arena.
It is an excellent chance for the Thunder to extend their three-game winning streak. Oklahoma City are already in a solid position in the Western Conference with 48 victories for the season. However, a home victory at this point would definitely give the
Thunder a home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Warriors are already out of the playoff battle but combo guard Monta Ellis is committed to helping his team finish strongly.
Ellis told reporters, "This is our job. We are pros. Our season is not over with yet. We still have eight more games, just go out there, and see how many we could win."
Phoenix Suns (36-36) – Sacramento Kings (20-52)
The Sacramento Kings face the Phoenix Suns at Power Balance Pavilion as they look for their fourth consecutive victory.
The Kings have been unable to make their way to the play-offs for the fifth year in a row, but they are quite confident nowadays after managing to string together a three-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Phoenix are looking to snap their two-game losing streak. The Suns 91-83 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night dropped them four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies, who are in eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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