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Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Lakers and Cavaliers take on cupcake opponents, Pittsburgh meets Providence, and the Bruins get set for the Panthers.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
Both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will be looking to pad their scoring stats on Tuesday night when their respective teams go up against a couple of the league’s bottom feeders. The Lakers will be in Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, while the Cavaliers will be at home to face the Grizzlies. The Thunder and Grizzlies have a combined 28 wins so far as they play out the string this year.
The top matchup of the night, though, will take place in Texas, where the Spurs will host the Mavericks. Those rivals haven’t met since a high-scoring affair back in early December; Tim Duncan put up 32 points in a 133-126 double-overtime road win for San Antonio. Detroit will be in Miami to play the Heat in the top Eastern matchup for Tuesday, while it’ll also be Minnesota at Toronto, Orlando at Chicago, and Portland at Houston, with Charlotte at Phoenix to finish the evening.
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The march toward Madness . . .
Pittsburgh picked up their seventh straight victory last time out, rolling to an 80-61 win over DePaul with 20 points from DeJuan Blair. The 25-2 Panthers (14-7 against-the-spread) will be trying to run that streak to eight games on Tuesday night when they travel to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center to meet Providence. The Friars (16-11 SU, 8-15 ATS) were pounded 103-84 by Notre Dame last contest.
Syracuse will be trying to build on a big overtime win versus Georgetown when they take on St. John’s on Tuesday night, while LSU will play host to Florida in Baton Rouge. The Tigers knocked off Auburn by a final score of 79-72 on Saturday, with Marcus Thornton pouring in a team-high 25 points in that victory.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
The Panthers and Bruins will have a rematch in Boston on Tuesday night, with Florida coming off a 2-0 blanking of the Bruins on Saturday night. Tomas Vokoun stopped all 41 Boston shots in that contest, while Radek Dvorak potted both Panthers goals. Tim Thomas allowed two goals on 31 shots in that losing cause.
There are 10 other games on the NHL schedule for Tuesday, including Alexander Ovechkin and his Capitals hosting the Flyers. Washington edged Philadelphia 2-1 when the teams last met in early January. Also on the slate: Anaheim at Buffalo, Colorado at Atlanta, Carolina at Ottawa, Vancouver at Montreal, Chicago at Nashville, Los Angeles at Minnesota, Phoenix at St. Louis, and Tampa Bay at Edmonton, with Columbus at Calgary rounding out the night.
Rounding out the Roundup . . .
The NHL’s trade deadline is just over a week away, which means the league’s Vegas futures list could see some changes very soon. The Red Wings continue to lead at 3/1 odds to claim this year’s Stanley Cup, followed by the Sharks at 7/2, the Bruins at 5/1, and both the Flames and Capitals at 8/1. The Canadiens, who have struggled both on and off the ice of late, are next at 10/1 odds to win the Cup, and could be one of the teams making big moves in the week ahead.