NBA Games to Watch: December 16-21, 2019 – CrownHoops
The Orlando Magic have somewhat steadied the ship ever since their rocky start to the season (now with a 12-14 record as of December 16). However, they will have an extremely tough matchup on December 18 as they travel to the Mile High City. The Denver Nuggets are looking to redeem themselves on their current home-stand after a disappointing road trip which saw them go 1-3. This included losing to a Brooklyn Nets team without Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and Caris LeVert. So far, the Nuggets are 2-0 on their home-stand right now, but the Nikola Vucevic led Magic could very well play spoilers to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets considering Denver did just get a scare against the struggling New York Knicks.
NBA Game #2: Orlando Magic at Portland Trail Blazers
We see the Orlando Magic in action again on December 20. They travel to Portland and battle Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers who are desperately trying to get back to their winning ways from last season. Adding Carmelo Anthony has helped the Blazers somewhat, however, there is still a lot of work to do with this squad. Not only do we get to see how the Trail Blazers fare against a postseason team from last year in the Orlando Magic, but we also get to see how they fare against an Eastern Conference opponent on their home court. As of December 16, the Magic would be a postseason team were the playoffs to start, with them sitting in the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. As a result, this makes this matchup even more intriguing.
NBA Game #3: San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets
For our third non-nationally televised game to keep an eye on this week, we have a rivalry down south on December 16. The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the biggest disappointments this year, but they have defeated the Houston Rockets once already. DeMar DeRozan is most likely going to be traded at some point, but as of now, he is still a member of the Spurs who can get buckets.
Plus, we are seeing James Harden go another offensive tear this season again and is coming off a stretch where he averaged an insane 41.8 points per game on 47.9% shooting in his last five games. With these two offensive stars going at it, this is just the cherry on top of the Sunday that is a significant NBA rivalry. With that being said, these are Crownhoops’ three non-nationally televised games to watch and keep an eye on for the week of December 16-21, 2019.
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