NBA - 511 Atlanta Hawks @ 512 New York Knicks
Projected line: NY Knicks by 9 points
Melo returned to the lineup and the Knicks lost. However, I must say that the Knicks didn't lose just because of him. The Knicks lost because they were completely dominated by the Nets, who had a tremendous physical edge. Deron Williams was fired up to dominate Lin and he was so aggressive that he only played 34 minutes because he was fouled out! Besides that, the Nets frontcourt dominated the Knicks frontline, something unexpected as in theory Amare and Chandler should be able to dominate Humphries and Petro, but the Nets players had a lot more energy. In theory, Shumpert would guard Deron, but he was out of the game. The Knicks had no legs for their outside game with 5-21 3pts, but they also failed some incredibly easy shots at the rim with 18-35 FG at the rim and 1-7 FG from 3-9 feet. The Knicks also shot 8-22 FG on spot ups and 2-10 FG on cuts! On the other hand, the Nets had their usual game, with problems on the inside with 9-23 FG at the rim and 1-7 FG from 3-9 feet, but they are an outside jump shooting team and they were very well on the 3pts shooting with 15-31!
On the other side, Atlanta is coming from a game in Chicago, where their starting lineup was Teague + Green + Josh Smith + Johnson + Zaza! Having in account Tracy McGrady complained about his playing time, he may start today as Johnson is out of this game. Anyway, the Hawks have been struggling in getting rebounds, grabbing just 45% of rebounds in their last 5 games. They have no interior game, as they shot just 51% FG at the rim in their last 5 games. In terms of matchups, the Knicks may have some interesting edges, as Lin will face Teague and even though Teague is a decent player, he isn't as good as Deron nor he plays on a similar style as the Nets PG, as Deron burned the Knicks with 3pts shots, while Teague likes to penetrate more and the Knicks have been defending well at the rim lately by allowing 60% FG at the rim and 56% FG from 3-9 feet in their last 5 games. Then, the matchup between Josh and Amare will be a tough one for both players, while there will be a clear edge for Chandler over Zaza in terms of rebounds, besides the Hawks have nobody on the frontcourt bench that can offer good rebounding.
The Knicks will be trying to bounce back today and they have a good opponent to do that today, as the Hawks are banged up and struggling right now. The Knicks have a clear edge on the frontcourt and on the PG position on this contest, therefore I'll take them in here, as I believe they have the necessary conditions to blowout the Hawks tonight.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 512 New York Knicks (-6) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
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