Empty the Bench

The Philadelphia 76ers became the first Eastern Conference team to beat the Phoenix Suns at home, and the Celtics have now won four games in a row. Yep, miracles happen every week in the NBA. Here’s 10 games of interest this week for your viewing pleasure; please bookmark Empty the Bench and check back every Sunday, for without our guide you might get stuck with a depressing Kings game when there’s professional-grade basketball to be found two channels up in your League Pass. All times are listed in EST.

(Side note: Boy, TNT sure has some clunkers on the docket this week, eh? Then again, it can’t get much worse than their late game between the Sonics and Clippers last week.)

- Golden State Warriors at Detroit Pistons, Monday, 7:30pm: On paper, this figures to be a lopsided win for the home team with Golden State coming in off a tough, totally inexplicable loss on Sunday afternoon against the Washington Wizards. In case you missed it, Don Nelson’s Warriors had a two-point lead with under 3 seconds to go. The refs called a foul with .01 seconds on the clock (!), sending Gilbert Arenas to the free-throw line to potentially tie it up. Just for good measure, Nelson was then called for a technical foul, and Arenas sank all three to win it for the Wiz. That’s pretty indicative of how their season has gone.

This game is recommended strictly for fantasy viewing: Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Jason Richardson, Al Harrington, and (I guess) Stephen Jackson vs. Chauncey Billups, Chris Webber, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince… Sheed Wallace may or may not return after resting an aching foot for the past two games.

- Toronto Raptors at Washington Wizards, Tuesday, 7pm: Raptors fans, are you getting nervous yet? After we’ve touted the drastic improvement and young talent of the Raptors here on ETB a few times now, the Raptors turned in one of their worst weeks of the season, save for their 106-90 win at Houston. In their other three games, they lost by an average of 17 points to San Antonio, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. The Raps are still sitting pretty with a 3.5 game lead over the Nets (and 4.5 over the Knicks), but this is an inexperienced team that has not had to deal with late-season pressure. They have a series of winnable games on the horizon (home against Memphis, New York, and Seattle, at Milwaukee), but it’d serve their confidence well to go into Washington and knock off the Wiz tonight.

- Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat, Wednesday, 7:30pm: The Bulls could have had the Heat by the balls last year in the first round of the playoffs, but after losing two very close games in Miami and then tying up the series in Chicago, they dropped the next two and the series. A shame, really, because ‘Toine Walker, Gary Payton, and Alonzo Mourning don’t deserve those rings. At any rate, the Bulls are currently sitting in the fifth-seed spot and don’t have much hope of moving past the fourth. The Heat are playing surprisingly well since Wade’s injury, but how much longer can Shaq keep up this pace? It’s not impossible that these two teams meet in the first round, again, so both should be looking to make a small statement.

- Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons, Wednesday, 7:30pm: The Cavs and Pistons also met in the playoffs last year, when the Cavs came this close to pulling off what would have been a monumental upset. The Pistons won Game Six in Cleveland, though, and forced a Game Seven back in Detroit, which they won handily. Lebron & Co. are presently four games back of the Pistons in the Central Division; if they want to entertain any hopes of catching them, winning on the road tonight would be a very good start.

- Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors, Wednesday, 10:30pm: Fantasy stats bonanza! Scoring galore! Underachieving teams! Sweet! Both teams should easily score in the hundreds, and there’s bound to be a good number of highlight reel dunks, passes, and blocks from both squads. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Baron Davis will be back, but that just means more minutes for ETB favorite and future All-Star Monta Ellis at the point. Warriors center Andris Biedrins is battling Boston Celtics forward Al Jefferson for the “Best Fantasy Free Agent Pickup of the Season” award. You can read more about Biedrins here.

- New Jersey Nets at Houston Rockets, Friday, 8:30pm: We’re not huge fans of the Nets, and I’m personally still in the dark as to why Houston is posting such a good record without Yao in the lineup, but this game could be very interesting for one reason… well, actually two. Richard Jefferson has been out since January 21, but could be back for this game after recovering from ankle surgery. Yao has just about been cleared to return, too, from the present Santa left under his tree a few days before Xmas (fractured right tibia). If neither play, this becomes just a so-so contest.

- New York Knicks at Washington Wizards, Saturday, 7pm: The Knicks have won three out of their last four games, all without the services of rebounding wunderkid David Lee. Unfortunately, that one loss came to the Boston Celtics; those are the kind of games that could come back to haunt the Knicks if they miss the playoffs. I don’t give the Knicks much of a chance in this one, but this team has been so up and down, so unpredictable, that they could waltz in here and blow the Wiz out. Their road record isn’t so great (11-20), and it’s difficult beating the Wizards in their house (23-8 at home), but there’s a reason they play the game.

- Orlando Magic at Houston Rockets, Sunday, 3:30pm: This is a nationally televised one on ABC, which means you’ll probably have to suffer through play-by-play announcer Mike Breen’s cookie-cutter commentary for 2 1/2 hours. Not exactly the best way to spend your Sunday afternoon, but if Yao is back from his wounded tibia, it will be a treat to see him and Dwight Howard go at each other. I get the feeling Dwight could bench press Yao about 60 times without breaking a sweat.

- Chicago Bulls at Boston Celtics, Sunday, 6pm: Back in the day it was a big, big event when these two teams tangled, but that old-school rivalry has faded into near oblivion since the days of Bird, Jordan, McHale, Pippen, and Dennis Johnson (RIP). Still, the Celtics are showing signs of life with Paul Pierce back in the starting lineup and their young core comprised of Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, and Delonte West really starting to come on (did you know Jefferson has over 30 double-doubles on the season?). Despite their dismal 18-42 record, the future is bright in Boston… and we still think it could be even brighter if they sent Pierce packing and got a pirate’s ransom in return while they still can. We’re rooting for the Celts today.

- Dallas Mavericks at LA Lakers, Sunday, 9pm: 50-9. That’s where the Mavericks’ record stands as of today, and it’s a virtual lock they’ll go into the playoffs with the #1 seed in the Western Conference, especially given the way Phoenix is fading (a seven-man rotation will do that to you, Mr. D’Antoni). This team has been on a mission since the season began, and they should be given that gut-wrenching collapse in last year’s NBA Finals against Miami. Kobe loves primetime games on national TV (it’s on ESPN), so while he should be entertaining, it’ll take a mammoth effort from his teammates to pull this one out.