After a long and surprising off-season, the NBA is close to being back on our televisions once again. There will be tons of story-lines to follow this year as the race for the NBA title is as wide open as its been in years.
How will the Cavs fare in LeBron’s return to Cleveland? Will James be able to bring out the best in Kyrie Irving and (likely) Kevin Love and propel the Cavs to an NBA title?
Can Derrick Rose stay healthy and give the Bulls the lift they need to make the NBA Finals for the first time since MJ hung em up (again)? Will the Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah pairing help the Bulls finally turn into a competent offense with their great passing?
And who is the favorite out West? Is it reigning MVP Kevin Durant, a finally healthy Russell Westbrook and the OKC Thunder? Or Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers under new owner Steve Ballmer? Who are we kidding, it’s still the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs.
Can a dark-horse team like the Portland Trailblazers or Washington Wizards shock the world and make the NBA Finals?
There are so many awesome scenarios in play this upcoming season that it can’t get here soon enough. Let’s take a look at the 10 most anticipated games for the upcoming 2014-15 NBA season.
October 30 – New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers
There really is no other way to start this list off than with LeBron’s official Cleveland homecoming. The NBA is making us wait two full days worth of games to finally see James hit his home-court, but the match-up should be worth the wait. After re-signing with the Cavs this summer, Bron will team up with All-Star Kyrie Irving (and probably All-Star Kevin Love) on a team that represents Cleveland’s best chance at a title in decades. In a game that will likely be scrutinized about as extremely as possible, we will get hints of what to expect from the Cavs offense and new head coach David Blatt this year.
Cleveland’s first opponent this upcoming season is a team featuring an All-Star forward in a totally different situation than James. Carmelo Anthony re-upped for five years with a rebuilding Knicks squad this summer, and this season is probably not going to be the nicest to the veteran who is coming off his first missed postseason. Expect Anthony to score a lot of points and try carrying the load all season long for the Knicks, so this match-up should give us a nice back-and-forth battle between the two forwards.
December 18 – Oklahoma City Thunder at Golden State Warriors
The Western Conference is going to be absolutely loaded this upcoming season. Two teams expected to battling at the top of the standings are MVP Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder and All-Star Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors. Any time these two teams hook-up it’s an offensive showcase, and this December meeting in the bay between the two should be no different. The last time these two teams met in an early-season game up in Oakland, this happened.
Only, Andre Iguodala decided that Russell Westbrook shot wasn’t going to be the game-winner after all.
Although not to be outdone, Westbrook got his revenge later in the season.
Needless to say, match-ups between the teams are fun to watch. Both teams will head into this game looking to get in mid-season form ahead of tough Christmas Day match-ups. The Thunder will take on the Spurs a week later, while the Dubs will head to Los Angeles to face the Clippers. The game also is in the middle of a peculiar schedule stretch that sees the teams meet four times before the end of January. In a conference expected to be tight, getting these head-to-head wins is especially important.
Russell Westbrook and Curry going at it. Andre Iguoadala, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes all taking turns trying to slow Durant down. And a likely final score that looks something like 125-120? Sign me up.
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