Looking at form of these two teams, neither have been playing surprisingly good recently, but one of them has certainly mastered the craft of a bad form this season. All jokes aside, Knicks will be visiting Nets at Barclays Center, New York for their 2st encounter this season.
Brooklyn Nets are continuing with their bad performances and are now on a 6 game losing streak. Surprisingly enough their home losing streak is longer compared to the one in away games. At Barclays Center, Nets weren’t able to please the home crowd for 9 consecutive matches, whereas they are on a 4 game losing streak in away games. In other words, Nets have not won a home match in year 2017. The last game Nets lost was against Miami Heat (104:96). The match starter with Nets getting a 4 point lead (28:32). The lead was soon lost, with Heat outscoring Nets in 2nd quarter by 8 points (28:20). The next 2 quarters did not offer many chances for Nets, as Miami proven to be a better opponent and they won by 8 points. Quite frankly, I expected a higher win from Miami, but in the end they still won. Statistic show Nets shooting with 42.5% accuracy, they also accumulated 16 turnovers and 7 steals. Miami shot better, with 47.6% accuracy, committed 11 turnovers and had 9 steals. Top scorers of the match were all Miami players: Dragic (20pts), Waiters (19pts) and Johnson (17pts).
Today’s visiting team is doing a bit better compared to Nets, but are coming into this match with 2 consecutive defeats behind them, with Hawks (142:139) (OT) and Wizards (117:101) both proven to be too strong. However, Knicks were able to win two out of the last five games, which is OK, or at least better compared to the Nets. Two teams that were defeated by Knicks are: Pacers (103:109) and Hornets (110:107). In the last game, Knicks ended the 1st quarter against Washington with a tie (28:28), but this was not the case for the next 36 minutes, as Washington slowly but surely increased their lead with each passing quarter (31:26), (32:22) and (26:25). Knicks were just unable to hit the basket as they had 36.6% shot accuracy and that surely cost them a win. Statistics: NY Knicks had 36.6%FG, 12 turnovers and 8 steals, Wizards shot much better, with 55.7% accuracy, had the same amount of turnovers (12) and stole the ball 4 times. Top scorers: Beal (28pts), Anthony (26pts) and Morris Mark (24pts).
Verdict & Prediction
As I stated in my previous previews, Nets are not in a good spot and are surely considered a team you must win against as they do not come off as a real “threat” for (almost) any of the teams. We cannot go past the fact that Knicks are not as good as they could be recently, but in the end they still perform better than Nets. They managed to get to OT against Hawks, which is a great accomplishment in my eyes, despite the loss. In addition, winning against Pacers is not an easy task, especially at Bankers Life FIeldhouse. With that in mind, Knicks are a better opponent in my eyes.
Prediction: New York Knicks -2.00 points
Odds: 1.90 SBOBET
