Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: LeBron James takes on Dwight Howard, Martin Brodeur goes for a record, and the Play-In Game starts up the Big Dance.

Tipping off on the hardwood  . . .

Two of the Eastern Conference’s best teams meet on the hardwood on Tuesday night as LeBron James and his Cavaliers get a visit from Dwight Howard and the Magic. The Magic and Cavs met in Orlando back on January 29, with the home side rolling to a 99-88 win as 5-point favorites. Howard had 22 points and 18 boards on the night, while James had 23 points, eight boards, and eight assists.

The Celtics will be in Chicago for a St. Patrick’s Day battle with the Bulls on Tuesday, while Atlanta will play host to Sacramento. As well, it’ll be Detroit at Dallas, Minnesota at San Antonio, Washington at Utah, the Clippers at Golden State, and Philadelphia at the Lakers. Kobe Bryant and company got past the Sixers 114-102 when they met in Philly in December; L.A. was a 9-point favorite.

The march toward Madness . . .

The Field of 64 for March Madness will find out its final participant on Tuesday night after the buzzer sounds at the end of the annual Play-In Game. This year’s Play-In Game will feature Alabama State from the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Morehead State from the Ohio Valley Conference. The Hornets beat Jackson State 65-58 in the SWAC title game on Saturday, with Andrew Hayles tossing in a team-high 17 points in the victory. The Eagles got past Austin Peay 67-65 in double overtime back on March 7 to claim the Ohio Valley title. Kenneth Faried picked up 15 points and grabbed 10 boards in that contest. The winner of Tuesday night’s Play-In Game will go on to face Louisville this week.

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Taking a trip around the rink . . .

The National Hockey League is busy on Tuesday night with 11 games on the schedule. Highlighting that action is Chicago at New Jersey, with Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur gunning for his NHL-record 552^nd win in the regular season. Brodeur tied Patrick Roy’s regular-season record of 551 victories on Saturday, as he made 23 saves in a 3-1 triumph over the Canadiens in Montreal.

Also on the slate for Tuesday: Philadelphia at Detroit, Washington at Florida, Toronto at Tampa Bay, Atlanta at Pittsburgh, Buffalo at Ottawa, the Rangers at Montreal, Colorado at Minnesota, St. Louis at Edmonton, San Jose at Phoenix, and Dallas at Vancouver. The Stars kept themselves right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff hunt with a 3-2 win over the Wild on Saturday night.

Rounding out the Roundup . . .

After taking a one-week break the Sprint Cup Series will get back on the track this weekend in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jeff Gordon holds down top spot in the driver standings heading into that event, but he hasn’t visited victory lane yet this year – Kurt Busch (Atlanta), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), and Matt Kenseth (Fontana and Daytona) have grabbed the four checkered flags.

Meanwhile, the 2009 Formula 1 season will get underway at the end of the month, with the Australian Grand Prix on March 29. Lewis Hamilton won the drivers championship in 2008, and he also picked up the victory in last year’s edition of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, and Heikki Kovalainen rounded out the top five in that event.