5 NBA games to watch this week
Tuesday: Chicago Bulls at Golden State Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
The Bulls own the NBA's fourth-best road record at 16-6 and have impressive wins over the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers on their inter-Conference road resume. The league-leading Warriors have won 19-straight home games and have only lost once in 22 games at Oracle Arena this season.
Plus, a Derrick Rose-Stephen Curry matchup always has potential for fireworks, even if Rose has lost a step.
Wednesday: Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets, 8:00 p.m. ET
It's not the first matchup between the Texas rivals this season, but after all the back-and-forth between the Rockets and Mavericks last summer following Dallas' signing of Chandler Parsons away from Houston, any Rockets-Mavs meeting is worth a viewing.
The teams also enter the week separated by only one game in the compact Southwest Division standings
Friday: Portland Trail Blazers at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. ET
The East-leading Hawks have won 16-straight games, 30 of their last 32, and host the sliding Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. They should take care of Brooklyn and their final game of the week is at home against the Philadelphia 76ers, so the Blazers may represent the only legitimate threat to this incredible Hawks run this week.
If LaMarcus Aldridge was sidelined, no one would expect much from Portland, but with LMA playing through his thumb injury, the Blazers should at least make things interesting.
Friday: Los Angeles Clippers at New Orleans Pelicans, 8:00 p.m. ET
The consistently inconsistent Pelicans have won three straight games and get home dates with the Sixers and Denver Nuggets on Monday and Wednesday, meaning they could enter Friday on a five-game tear and find themselves right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
The Clippers have quietly been playing their best ball of the season lately, winning four straight and 10 of their last 13 to climb to fifth in the West.
Friday's meeting will likely feature two of the conference's hottest teams, in addition to a matchup of superstar power forwards All-Star starters in Anthony Davis and Blake Griffin.
Saturday: Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. ET
They've met in the playoffs three times over the last four seasons, culminating in last year's epic seven-gamer that saw the Thunder triumph after Zach Randolph was suspended for Game 7.
Saturday will mark the first matchup this season with the OKC at full health after the Durant-less, Westbrook-less Thunder lost to the Grizzlies in November. If recent history is any indication, it should be a nail-biter. Between November's game and April's playoff series, five of the last seven Thunder-Grizzlies contests have either been decided by one possession or overtime.