By Tiffany Williams –
Brooklyn Nets (31-20) vs. Washington Wizards (24-26)
Saturday night the Brooklyn Nets will host the Washington Wizards at the Barclays Center. Last season these two clubs met four times and tied the series 4-4 with both clubs winning a game at home and winning one on the road. This season these two clubs have already met three times and the Nets own the series 3-0.
The Wizards are the owners of six consecutive wins from Jan. 18 to Jan. 30th. Friday night Portland snapped their winning streak with a 124*116 win. Bradley Beal Is shooting a career-best .515 clip from the floor this season, and by averaging 20+ points per game in 2022-23, Beal can pass Elvin Hayes for the most 20+ point per game seasons in franchise history with seven. Monte Morris iss leading the team in assists in 19 games this season, dishing out 5+ assists in 27 games and 10+ assists in three games on the campaign. He ranks first in the league this season in assist-to-turnover ratio at 5.7 to 1.
If The Nets were to win on Saturday night, it would extend the Nets’ home win streak to three games. It would give Brooklyn a 4-0 season series sweep of the Wizards, which would be the Nets’ first season series sweep of Washington since the 2006-07 campaign. And it would improve Brooklyn’s record vs. Southeast Division opponents this season to a perfect 11-0. The Nets’ 10-0 record vs. Southeast teams is the best record for any team against any division this season.
New York Knicks (28-25) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (29-26)
Saturday night at Madison Square Garden the Knicks will host the Los Angeles Clippers. The last meeting between these two clubs was March 6th. 2022 when New York snapped its seven-game losing streak with a convincing, dominating 116-93 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
The Knicks come into tonight’s contest after grabbing a 104-106 win against Miami Thursday night. Julius Randle, who was named to the All-Star game earlier Thursday, led the Knicks to victory with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists over 34 minutes. RJ Barrett posted 30 points, eight rebounds and four assists over 41 minutes. Quentin Grimes added 17 points, four rebounds and three assists over 37 minutes. Miami was paced by Bam Adebayo’s 32 points, nine rebounds and three assists over 38 minutes. Tyler Herro added 25 points.
Tip off Saturday night at MSG is at 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard on 98.7 ESPN.
Atlanta Hawks (27-26) @ Denver Nuggets (36-16)
Continuing on their West Coast road trip, the Atlanta Hawks are the owners of two consecutive wins but the trip is 2-2. The next stop on this road trip is a meeting with the Denver Nuggets. Tonight’s contest marks the second and final time these two teams will face off against one another this season.
In their first meeting, on December 2, at State Farm Arena, Atlanta took a 117-109 win. In that win AJ Griffin tallied 24 points on 11-16 FG and 2-5 3FG, in addition to three steals. Griffin has posted two games of at least 20 points on .650%-or-better from the floor and three steals this season.
In 29 road games this season, Atlanta is averaging 117.0 points per game, the most road points per game in the NBA. They’re scoring 117.0 points on .484 FG%, .365 3FG% and .807 FT%. The club is 8-3 in their last 11 games on the road, with six of those eight wins coming against Western Conference teams
Following Saturday night’s contest, the Hawks will wrap up their five-game West Coast trip on Tuesday in New Orleans. They’ll then head home to play three of their next four at home prior to the All-Star break.
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