Empty the Bench

We’ve somehow pulled ourselves away from the dramedy of Oscar Night to bring you our top 10 games in the Association this week. Please bookmark Empty the Bench and check back every Sunday, for without our guide you might get stuck with a 76ers game when there’s professional-grade basketball to be found two channels up in your League Pass.

1. Toronto Raptors at San Antonio Spurs, 8pm, Monday: Chris Bosh and the surging Raptors come into San Antonio having won 12 of their last 15 games, most recently a road victory yesterday in Charlotte. The Spurs are always tough to beat at home, but the Raptors are playing together and seem like one of the hungrier teams in the league at the moment. We expect the Spurs to pull this one out, but we’re rooting for the Raptors. Request: no token shots of Eva Longoria tonight, mmkay? Please?

2. Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz, 9pm, Monday: The Lakers are very underwhelming on the road (just 12-16 coming into this contest), which doesn’t bode well for them against a Jazz team that’s posting one of the better home records in the league at 22-6. This game also marks the second game of a back-to-back for the Lakers, but we all know that Kobe is capable of single-handedly winning one for his team on any given night. As for the Jazz, point guard Deron Williams has played very well lately, Carlos Boozer is back from injury… but more importantly, Masha has a clothing store opening soon.

3. Miami Heat at Washington Wizards, 7pm, Wednesday: The Wizards have historically, or at least over the past few seasons, shown that they can’t hang with the Heat when push comes to shove, especially when it comes to containing the Heat’s prized low-post blob. Can they take advantage of Wade’s injury and pop the Heat a good one in the mouth? Or will Etan Thomas challenge rival/teammate Brendan Haywood to a poetry slam to “show who’s more smarter?” The intrigue is killing us.

4. Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards, 7pm, Friday: It looks unlikely that the Hawks claw their record back up to .500 by season’s end, but coach Mike Woodson has his team of young thoroughbreds playing better team basketball as of late, and it shows. Like many of his Wizards’ teammates, Gilbert Arenas doesn’t like to play defense, so this one should find both teams scoring over 100 points. This game also boasts two of the best scoring talents in the East at shooting guard in Arenas and Hawks guard Joe Johnson.

5. Golden State Warriors at New York Knicks, 7:30pm, Friday: Record-wise, this matchup pits two teams with the deck stacked against them as they attempt a late push for the playoffs. Fantasy-wise, this one’s gonna be fun. The Warriors have a pair of young guys who’ve taken their first steps towards potential All-Star status (Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis), while the Knickerbockers have a rebounding machine (David Lee), monster scorer on the blocks (Eddy Curry), and a guy whose nickname has gone from catchy to ironic (Steve “Franchise” Francis). Don’t expect dynamic basketball from end to end, but there should be a few highlight reel moments.

6. Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat, 8pm, Friday: The Pistons’ reward for an emotional 95-93 home win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday afternoon is four days of rest to prepare for the reeling Heat, whose only in-shape superstar, Dwayne Wade, was wheeled off the court in a wheelchair last week for a separated shoulder. That means he won’t be playing tonight, which should mean a Pistons’ victory. Still, Detroit has a tendency to keep games close when they should be cruising, so we expect a close contest. We also expect more than a few ill-advised shots from Antoine Walker, and maybe a Rasheed Wallace tech.

7. Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30pm, Saturday: Rematch of last week’s game in Toronto recapped by your handsome friends at Empty the Bench. One of the questions still facing the Raptors during their breakout season is their performance on the road against quality opponents, and after playing at San Antonio on Monday they get another chance to prove themselves against Lebron & Co.

8. San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets, 8:30pm, Saturday: The Rockets are no doubt counting down the days until Yao Ming’s return to the court, but it’s unlikely it’ll be in time for tonight’s big game against in-state rivals Spurs. The Spurs of San Antonio probably rank in the top five of “Most Boring NBA Teams to Watch” (which might leave you wondering why we’ve got them up here twice this week), but we think there’s a good chance this one has a dang-diddily-doodle finish on tap in the fourth quarter.

9. Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns, 3:30pm, Sunday: After getting off to a scorching start this season, the Suns are wearing down like Vince Vaughn’s bad, bad attempts at acting. Steve Nash is back in the lineup, but questions remain about whether their bench is deep enough and their defense actually exists. Many remember the fantastic playoff series last year between the Suns and Lakers, between Kobe and Nash, and we expect the same kind of playoff-like atmosphere this afternoon. Should be a really, really good one to catch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

10. Utah Jazz at New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 7pm, Sunday: If the Hornets are truly serious about grabbing that coveted 8th seed in the West, a game like today’s against the Jazz is a good time to show it. The Jazz are definitely the better team, but they’re beatable on the road (15-12 as of today) and the Hornets usually have a pretty solid turnout for their “home” games in Oklahoma City. We hear that Oklahoma City is just, like, the most exciting town in North America, so fingers crossed we don’t have any post-game incidents or find any garbage bags full of money.

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