Sports handicapper extraordinaire Matt Rivers has a free winner on the Hawks minus the points against the NBA spread.
The Knicks are certainly not the most predictable of teams as they do occasionally rise up in a home dog spot such as this but I'll still take my chances on the much better team in the Hawks as this dreaded road chalk. Oh and yeah, I don't care if the Knicks have won the last two games in this series, as that is meaningless to me.
Mike D'Antoni's squad will certainly shoot better from three in this game than that last debacle of a loss to the Nets where they were an NBA record 0-for-18 but Tracy McGrady is questionable and these Knicks are full steam ahead into the offseason trying to get LeBron and others to the Big Apple. There is no chemistry right now as the New Yorkers are far from being a "team".
I really do like David Lee as the guy deserved to be an All-Star but Al Horford will be just fine defending Lee and then you have Mike Woodson's other talented players like Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford wanting to show off at the world's most famous arena.
I don't think the Hawks will have a chance when the playoffs roll around against the big boys but they did sweep the Celtics in all four games this season and are a team on the come for sure. Atlanta has won four of five after that tight loss in Miami and is a borderline great 40-22 overall.
Meanwhile the Knicks are just once again an unmitigated disaster as they have dropped four of five and 12 of 14 and have allowed over 100 points in 13 of those games with most being well north of the century mark.
The bottom line is that the Knickerbockers do not defend a lick are up against a squad that is mad about losing in Miami a few nights ago and are also not happy having lost two in a row in this series.
This thing may get ugly, as in 112-91 ugly.
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