For
the first time since last February's trade, the Denver Nuggets will face the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony, the face-of-the-franchise forward who forced Denver
to trade him to New York but it has not been a fairytale journey for 'melo.
The
Nuggets are likely to find Anthony in a surly mood when they take the court at
Madison Square Garden for the 7:30 PM ET clash. ‘Melo’s team has lost five
straight and six of seven and are hearing from the boo birds on a nightly basis
and for good reason. The Knicks aren’t just losing on the court, but are
costing their gambling faithful almost nightly losses. New York is the worst
ATS team in the league (3-12) and not surprisingly is a -1 point home underdog
in the NBA odds with the total at 206.5.
The
Knicks (6-9 SU) suffered their sixth loss in seven games dropping a 100-86
decision to the Milwaukee Bucks last night. Brandon Jennings scored 36 points
for the Bucks who snapped an eight-game road
losing streak and a three-game overall skid.
For Jennings it was a night of payback for a perceived draft slight in 2009,
when New York passed him by with the 8th overall pick selecting
Jordan Hill instead. Hill’s time in the Big Apple wasn’t long. He was traded in
2010 to the Rockets for Tracy McGrady in one of many ill-fated moves by the
Knicks front office.
Carmelo
Anthony led New York with 35 points before being ejected late after receiving his second technical foul for some back and
forth with Jennings. Amar'e Stoudemire chipped in with 15 for NY which shot
just 37 percent in the game and have now been held below 100 points in seven
straight outings. During their losing streak ‘Melo and company are averaging
just 88.4 points. Milwaukee has now won 11 of 13 meetings with New York, taking
three of four last season
Perfect road trip
The
Nuggets (11-5 SU, 11-5 ATS) are now 3-0 on their East Coast swing after beating
the Wizards in Washington 108-104. Al Harrington who scored a game-high 29
points was 5 of 8 from beyond the arc including a crucial 3-ball with just over
a minute to play. Ty
Lawson and Danilo Gallinari added 21 points apiece to help Denver record its
fifth victory in six games.
Stat sheet
Denver
is second in the league in both scoring (104.6 points per game) and field goal
percentage (48.4). Defensively they’re 26th in the NBA in scoring
(99.1 points per game) and 23rd in shooting (45.8 percent).
Lawson
leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg) and assists (6.7 apg) while Harrington
leads in rebounding and shooting percentage.
New
York’s recent swoon has seen it drop to 17th in both scoring offense
(93 ppg) and defense (95.3 ppg). The Knicks are 28th in field-goal percentage
(41.0) and from 26th from 3-point land (30.4).
Anthony
leads the Knicks in most of the major offensive categories. He’s scoring a team
high 25.7 points per game which is 4th best in the NBA and also
leads NY in assists and field goal percentage. Tyson Chandler sets the pace in
the rebounding department (9.3 rbg) and in blocked shots. Stoudemire has been
mostly a scorer with 18.1 points per night.
Trends
Denver
is 22-6 ATS in its last 28 road games but is just 4-11 against teams from the
NBA Atlantic Division.
New
York is 1-7 ATS this season and 3-13 in its last 16 games overall. The ‘under’
has been a profitable play with the Knicks going 7-1 to the low side in their
last eight outings. The ‘over’ is 4-2 in the last six series meetings.
Harvey’s
Take: The Knicks scrapped a pretty big
portion of their roster last year to get Anthony from the Nuggets and the deal
has worked out great—for Denver. New York doesn’t have near the depth that’s
needed to compete with the big boys or even a hungry, deep and well coached
team like the Nuggets. I love Denver and they get my money in tonight's NBA picks.
Good luck!