A big win by the Washington Wizards on Monday have the team from the nation’s capital flying high as they continue their strong surge since the New Year. The Wizards will have a nice match up to help them pad their record even more on Thursday when they head north to take on the New York Knicks in the Big Apple. Washington hasn’t done quite as well on the road as at home during their recent streak, but New York hasn’t particularly played well regardless of the location of late.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, January 19, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Led by a strong offense centered on guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, the Wizards have won eight of their last 11 games to climb into the fifth spot in the NBA Eastern Conference standings and a couple games over .500.
Washington’s record ATS has mirrored their SU record at 21-19 though the team is 4-2 ATS in their last six games, and have been even better than that when you look at a bit of a larger sample size, covering the spread in 12 of its last 17 games.
On the other side of the court, the Knicks are a team in a constant state of free fall after a one-point loss to the Hawks on Monday. They’ve got too much talent to be as bad as they’ve been, yet they’ve lost 10 of their last 12 games, winning just twice since Christmas Day. They typically don’t get blown out, but they cannot seem to get the win.
Since that time they’ve been a bit better ATS given some close games, going 6-7, but are 2-4 ATS in their last six games, even failing to live up to their new lowered expectations.
Injury Report
Kristaps Porzingis has now missed three straight games with a sore left Achilles and has sat out five of the team’s last nine games with the same injury.
The second year player at of Latvia is an integral part of the Knicks’ team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. He’s second on the team scoring with 19.4 PPG and in rebounds with 7.4 per game and first in blocks with two per game—Joakim Noah is the next highest in blocks with 0.9 per game.
Even with Porzingis on the court, the Knicks are merely average in scoring with 105.2 PPG and a 44.6-percent field goal percentage. They’re also near the bottom defensively, allowing 108.3 PPG. That all said, they do typically win the battle of the boards, but without Porzingis that leaves Noah and Carmelo Anthony as the primary rebounders and Anthony is much more of a scorer than a rebounder.
In short, Porzingis’ injury potentially leaves this team a bit short inside where they had the better matchup against the Wizards given the strong play of Beal and Wall.
Key Stat
With the Wizards’ primary scorers in the guard position, they have a nice balanced backcourt, but rank No. 27 in the league on the glass with 42.4 RPG. That’s ticked up a bit over their recent run, but still puts them at a distinct disadvantage in at least one aspect of the games against a team like New York—particularly if Porzingis is healthy enough to play.
Washington’s rebound numbers have trickled into the team’s scoring and defensive metrics, though they are still ranked higher both offensively and defensively than the Knicks both in points per game scored and allowed.
In the Wizards’ big 120-101 win over Portland on Monday, the notched 51 rebounds, also winning the battle inside the paint. Markieff Morris and Tomas Satoransky each had a double-double in the game, combing for 23 rebounds.
Meanwhile, on the other side of this matchup, the Knicks took on Atlanta on Monday and got 17 rebounds from Noah, who had 10 on the defensive end of the court alone. That helped keep the team close as they recorded 53 rebounds in the loss.
Free NBA ATS Picks
Washington beat the Knicks back in November and that was before the Wizards’ recent run of success and before New York’s free fall.
Look for Noah to rack up the rebounds and Anthony to score more than his share of points, but this is a team that’s lacking in support around them; particularly if Porzingis remains out.
Derrick Rose has always been a good player that cannot stay on the court. He’s been reasonably healthy in New York, but hasn’t been the difference maker on the outside that they had hoped. Washington will outperform the Knicks on the parameter and cruise to win a solid win on the road, but in typical Knicks fashion, they’ll keep it close before falling short.
NBA Odds: Wizards 109, New York 104
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