NBA Basketball
2011-02-25 - New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Friday 25 February 2011 - Tip-Off 7:30pm ET
12:30am (British Standard Time)
Preview
Carmelo Anthony has made his debut and everyone in New York City is going giddy as the Knicks (29-26) look like they can cause someone a lot of problems in the Play Offs, while the chance to get the Number 4 seed ahead of Atlanta has grown with the Hawks falling off the pace. This is a game the Knicks fans, me included, will be expecting to see New York put out a statement when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-47).
The first thing the Knicks want to remove from themselves is the fact that Cleveland went through a run of 1-36 earlier this season... with the 1 win coming in OT against the Knicks here at the Quicken Loans Arena.
Now the Knicks can look to Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to lead the way as they did in their debuts with the 2 combining for 48 of the 114 points scored by the Knicks. Amare Stoudemire will be getting a little more room to operate now and has already handed the keys to Madison Square Garden to Anthony, claiming he is the Number 1 player at this franchise.
The win over the Milwaukee Bucks was the first time New York had won 3 in a row since the beginning of January and promises to lead to a brighter future for a franchise that has long been in the dark.
Cleveland were also busy with time winding down in the trade deadline, shipping out Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the LA Clippers for Baron Davis, while Semih Erden was brought in from Boston to cover Anderson Varajeo's absence for the rest of this season.
This move also means Ramon Sessions has been given the keys to the Offense, and he has been playing well this season. Sessions averages 19.7 points and 9.2 assists when he starts and Baron Davis will be his back up, although Davis is not expected to suit up for this game.
Cleveland were destroyed on the boards by the Houston Rockets in their only game since the All-Star break and that led to a 5 point loss. They will be hoping to slow down 'Melo who has averaged 36.5 points in his last 2 games in this building.
Head to Head
Cleveland will be going for their 10th victory in a row against the Knicks here, although 8 of those came with LeBron in the team and the latest took OT.
The Cavs are also 3-1 against the spread in the last 4 games in the series overall.
Cleveland are 10-16-1 against the spread at home this season, New York are 19-7-1 on the road.
Cleveland are 7-13-1 against the spread with 1 days rest between games, while New York are 13-11-1 with the same amount of rest between games.
Other Interesting Notes
Cleveland are 7-18-2 against the spread in their last 27 games following an ATS win.
They are 4-10-1 against the spread in their last 15 games at home and are 2-6-1 when given between 5 and 10.5 points there.
New York are 20-8 against the spread in their last 28 games following a win.
The Knicks are just 4-10 against the spread in their last 14 games on the road when favoured by between 5 and 10.5 points.
However, they are 12-5 against the spread in their last 17 road games against teams winning less than 40% of their home games. 1 of those losses was to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Prediction
The Mike D'Antoni scheme means quick explosive Offense coupled with a little flimsy defense. I have no doubt that this will end up being yet another shoot out involving the Knicks.
However, the Cleveland Cavaliers can be very streaky when it comes to their own Offense and go through patches when they cant buy a bucket. This will be a problem against a New York team that can put up a lot of points quickly.
The Knicks also have the added motivation of wanting to get revenge for being the only team in 37 contests to actually LOSE to the Cleveland Cavaliers so I expect they will come out hard to make a statement here.
I am a little concerned that the Knicks might overlook this game with trips to Miami and Orlando next on the schedule, but that has been lessened knowing they are likely to play a short handed Cleveland team and they should still have too much strength.
If the Cavs had their full complement of players to rotate in this game, it had definite trap written all over it, but I think the Knicks will want to keep the momentum here before the big games with Eastern rivals, and have revenge on the mind.
The Pick :
Cleveland Cavaliers 96-108 New York Knicks
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll take my New York Knicks - 7.5 Points @ 1.95 (2 UNITS)Follow me on Twitter @DavindaAulak- the direct link is below
