NBA Free Premium Play 02/05: Portland Trail Blazers @ New York Knicks

Portland  at New York

NBA - 707 Portland Trail Blazers @ 708 New York Knicks Play #3 POR is struggling a bit right now w/ 1-3 SU in the last 4 games and the main culprit IMO for this bad run is related w/ the lack of production of their offense. In those 3 losses, POR had a subpar avg. Off. Rtg. = 92.3 vs. 113.8 of their season average. They need L. Aldridge to be effective down low, and especially, they need their Pick n Roll game to be sharp and this has been a problem for them lately. However, these struggles are easy to understand IMO, as POR simply has faced some elite defensive teams vs. Pick n Roll's and obviously it's tougher to have great offensive numbers. Defensive P&R Ball Handler rankings of POR’s L4 opponents: GSW #8 MEM #25 (but w/ Gasol back, they are “another” team) TOR #3 WAS #2 So, what about the Knicks’ P&R defense? You might ask… Well, they are dead last in the league by allowing 0.89 PPP, and they are coming from a game in which Brandon Knight completely torched them w/ 25 points & 7 assists, enough said... We can expect D. Lillard and POR’s backcourt to completely torch NYK’s backcourt unit of Felton, Prigioni, JR Smith and Tim Hardaway JR.  Obviously, NYK will have some edge on the offensive end vs. POR poor defense but I expect Batum to be a tough matchup for Carmelo Anthony, while NYK’s on and off the court problems have been another distraction for the team: Amare Stoudemire wants to play more minutes & Mike Woodson’s firing saga is returning to action… I’m taking POR tonight as my Single Dime Play. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 707 Portland Trail Blazers (-2) @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline