Man…had the New York Knicks scored just TWO more points last night, I would have made anyone who took my bets yesterday a nice chunk of money.
Sometimes it almost feels kind of rigged, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
After suffering another morale-shattering loss last night against the Jazz, the Knicks take on the Denver Nuggets in Denver on the second leg of back-to-back games.
If there has ever been a must-win game, it’s this one.
As we know, the Knicks already suffered a loss to the Nuggets earlier this season with a final score of 113-99, but today’s Knicks team has been playing a lot better than the one back in early December.
Here are your best bets for tonight’s New York Knicks game
It seems everyone on both sides is relatively healthy with the only player that’s 100% out of the game at the time this is being written is Derrick Rose for the Knicks.
Both Kemba Walker and Quentin Grimes should be back, so that means we likely won’t be seeing our newest addition, Cam Reddish again until after the trade deadline (if a move to clear up a rotational spot is even made).
Denver is coming off of a feel-good win against Brooklyn, but then again, everyone and their mother has been beating up on them as of late.
That win is also coming off the tail end of 3 straight losses so both teams are gonna be hungry for a win tonight.
Spread:
Knicks: +8 (-110)
Nuggets: -8 (-110)
Moneyline:
Knicks: +270
Nuggets: -330
Total:
219 (Over -110/Under -110)
The fact that the oddsmakers have basically the same points total and spread as they did last night is blatantly disrespectful toward the Knicks.
Sure, Denver beat them before so that has to be taken into consideration but the Nuggets are not the Jazz.
Even if both teams were at 100% full strength, you could still argue that Utah is the better team overall.
Considering both teams are dealing with a number of major injuries, and Denver’s are far worse than Utah’s…this line should not be as high.
But it is, and we’re going to exploit it.
Sure, the Knicks have been scoring a lot more as of late but that has more to do with the fact that they’ve been playing teams that are in the top 10 in pacing.
If the Knicks even wanted to have a chance in those games, they had to up their tempo a bit.
But both Denver and New York are in the bottom 9 teams as far as pace is concerned, so this will allow the Knicks to get back to a level of play that they’re more comfortable with.
The total of 219 seems a bit high for any Knicks game, but it seemed high yesterday at 218.5 as well, and Utah is the 13th fastest team in the NBA.
They’ve also played a chunk of their recent games without Donovan Mitchell, who in turn increases their pace of play on offense when he’s on the court.
The final score yesterday totaled 217, so just a smidge below the estimated point total.
If the Knicks were going to hit the under in that game, they’re certainly going to do the same today.
The Knicks lost by just 9 points yesterday, I just have a gut feeling the same isn’t going to happen in this game.
Denver ranks 9th worst at covering the spread at home.
If you wanna get a little risky, Knicks Moneyline might be an option tonight, but if you wanna play it safe, take the points.
Final Verdict: Knicks +8 and Under 219