Ten Must Watch Games This Week (8/4/2020)

By: Brendan Kapfer

There are so many good games this week, that when I was thinking about doing five I decided there is too many entertaining games to do five so I decided to do ten. On top of that, I had to add one which should not be expected but very well could happen. Between the qualifications for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the restart of the UEFA Champions League and the first full week of the NBA restart.

NBA

The most entertaining games in the NBA in my opinion are the possible playoff previews which all of the NBA games below are along with the Blazers and Clippers game being a real test for the Blazers. We'll see if they can move on from the dissapointing and gut wrenching loss to the Celtics. We'll see how good the Rockets and Lakers really are on Thursday when they meet and we'll see the two rivals in the Raptors and Celtics go at it on Friday. In addition to that, there will be a great game to see what the Thunder truly are made of against the Lakers. All of these games will impact seeding immensely. There are a lot of fun, meaningful and entertaining games in the NBA this week.

NHL

The qualifications thus far have been very entertaining and its only been three days. The most surprising out comes have been the Edmonton Oilers losing game one to the Chicago Blackhawks by two goals despite them knotting the series up in game two, the Montreal Canadiens taking game one and making game two very close against the Pittsburgh Penguins making them look very vulnerable and the Nashville Predators losing game one to a struggling and frankly a team that is probably going to move very soon in the Arizona Coyotes. The Columbus vs. Toronto series if it is anything like game one will be very entertaining. There have been plenty of good games thus far and on top of that, plenty of teams that look like they could surprise in the first round of the playoffs. As we learned last year nobody is safe at any time in the playoffs.

UEFA Champions League

The Champions League a couple months ago was something very entertaining that included a first round shocker that sent Premier League and defending Champions League champions Liverpool home, losing by two goals to Atletico Madrid. This week it starts back up with Juventus having to come back against Lyon and Barcalona being in the same position with their matchup against Napoli. I don't believe Chelsea really has a chance against Bayern Munich just because of how good Bayern has looked but then again we have seen crazier things happen (ie Ajax vs. Tottenham). The game involving Manchester City vs Real Madrid will be a very good one and a treat for all the devout soccer fans and even those that don't watch soccer.

Ten (Eleven) MUST WATCH Games:

1. Real Madrid (1) vs. Manchester City (2) (2nd leg on Friday at 3:00 on CBSN)

2. L.A Lakers vs. Houston Rockets (Thursday at 9:00 on ESPN)

3. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Wednesday at 8:00 on NBCSN, Friday and Saturday at TBD on NBC Networks)

4. Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics (Friday at 9:00 on ESPN)

5. Pheonix Coyotes vs. Nashville Predators (Today at 2:30 on NBCSN, Tommorow at 2:30 on NBCSN*, Friday and Sunday TBD on NBC Networks)

6. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. L.A. Lakers (Tommorow at 6:30 on ESPN)

7. Edmonton Oilers vs. Chicago Blackhawks (

8. Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

9. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Philadelphia Flyers

10. Portland Trail Blazers vs. L.A. Clippers

11. Milwaukee Bucks vs. Toronto Raptors (Monday at 6:30 on ESPN) (It would be kind of dumb of me to leave this one out)

Conclusion:

We are going to be treated this week with plenty of great games in a variety of sports. There are games in the MLB that will be entertaining but currently there aren't any that come anything close to any game above. The NHL and Champions League could very well see potential favorites (or in the NHL's case sleepers/favorites) fall to teams that are not on their level. In the NBA we will be treated to a season's worth of Primetime matchups into two weeks with a ton of drama in a potential play-in tournament. There are plenty games you can watch this week, but make sure you don't miss these.

• The 2:30 games on NBCSN are unfortunateley not going to be covered in full but I believe the end will air on NBCSN because that's what they did with the Columbus vs Toronto game on Sunday. This is because the 4:00 games for whatever reason must be more important to NBC Sports. You will definiteley be able to view the entire game on NHL Network if you have it.

• TBD games are not yet revealed because either very recently it was determined one of them are necessasary or we still don't know.

• The parenthesees around the number in front of Manchester City and Real Madrid are the aggregate scores and the scores of the first game.