By Sameer Kini
Sports Editor
This is a brand new weekly column that will outline the best games (national and WA) of the week. They are games that sports fan should definitely tune in to or attend because of the quality the game will present. Here are my picks to watch for this week, as well as my picks for who is to win.
National – NBA on Christmas. Every year, the NBA selects marquee matchups to put on Christmas, and this year is no different. Out of the 5 game slate, the two that I think you cannot miss are the Celtics at the Magic at 2:30 and the Heat at the Lakers at 5:00.
As for the game in Orlando, expect an interesting game as Orlando continues to unveil its new team after trading for Arenas and Turkoglu. The Celtics are still pretty hot coming off their win streak and should come out ready to take on the Magic. As for my pick, I am going to go with the C’s here, even though the Magic looked good beating San Antonio with their new offensive studs. However, their defense is still suspect as they did give up a good amount of points, and that’s exactly why it just makes sense to take Boston. Expect the Celtics to pull away in the third quarter and hold the Magic off in the fourth.
As for Heat vs. Lakers, the game is most likely going to be the best of the day. The Heat and their big three head into LA on a hot streak to face Kobe’s Lakers, who have been playing subpar basketball, at least for them. Most interestingly in this matchup is both sides have criticized the NBA’s scheduling of games on Christmas, as Phil Jackson and Lebron both publicly stated that they would rather be home for the holidays and not focusing on the game. For my pick, I am still going to go with the Lakers at the Staples Center. Kobe will not let the Lakers fall in front of the nation, despite what Lebron does. If Wade does not play for the Heat, expect a larger margin of victory for the Lakers. If Wade does play, expect a close one, with the Lakers pulling it away at the end like the always seem to, with Kobe possibly (hopefully) hitting a suspenseful buzzer beater to put the exclamation point on a great game.
WA – WA Boys Basketball. Starting this weekend, the boys basketball team looks to build on their hot start at the Lowell Holiday Tournament at UMASS. In their first game, WA will play Lowell on Sunday at 6. The three day tourney should be a good one for WA, who is looking to stay undefeated after two big early season wins against CC and LS. All fans who are around this holiday weekend should definitely go out and root on the boys to show support as they look to continue their early season dominance. As for the picks, my bias is obviously for WA. Expect them to come out with a win against Lowell, and a solid tournament showing overall.
.. and what a fail that was to Kobe’s presentation to the nation. You can’t be serious? With the Heat playing such good basketball, I saw this win coming from a mile away. Kobe is losing his charm, but very slowly. The Lakers aren’t going to win another championship this year, that’s for sure. But, I’m also not saying that the Heat will win it either. The Heat has proved themselves to be a force of reckoning, disbanding the controversy that floated the air-waves in the earlier games of the year. The Heat has been putting on a show in the past month.