NBA Basketball: Los Angeles Clippers at New York Knicks – Clippers Favored
Team Page: Los Angeles :: New York
62% of Bets Placed on Los Angeles -1 | Matchup | NBA Picks
Eddy Curry appears to have found some motivation.
The New York Knicks center looks for another strong performance after being left off the Eastern Conference All-Star roster Tuesday when the Los Angeles Clippers visit Madison Square Garden.
Oddsmakers have made Los Angeles -1 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 198 total points (View NBA Sports Books).
Curry had 27 points and six rebounds Saturday to lead the Knicks (21-28) to a 94-86 win at Orlando, and claimed the All-Star snub was on his mind.
"I was upset I didn’t make the All-Star team because I felt with the season I was having, I should have been there," Curry said.
Curry leads New York in scoring with a career-high 19.5 points and his 7.0 rebounds are also a personal best.
"Eddy’s one of the best centers in the league and the more we win, the more he’ll be acknowledged," Knicks shooting guard Jamal Crawford said.
A former fourth overall draft pick out of high school by Chicago in 2001, Curry entered this season coming off a difficult 2005-06 – his first season with New York – when he averaged 13.6 points and 6.0 boards in 72 games.
Curry has been hampered by injuries for the majority of his five-plus seasons in the NBA, including an irregular heartbeat in 2004-05. Despite the ailment, the Knicks still felt he was capable of living up to his high draft selection and acquired him from the Bulls in a five-player trade that included two first-round picks.
Curry appears to be developing into the inside presence the Knicks have lacked since Patrick Ewing left the team after 1999-2000. Curry has also remained durable this season, sitting out only one game with a sore calf.
He hopes to continue his stellar play and help the Knicks snap a four-game losing streak to the Clippers, which includes a 90-80 defeat to them on Dec. 31 at Staples Center. Curry struggled in that loss, scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds.
The Clippers (24-23) hope Chris Kaman can contain Curry in their third contest of a season-high seven-game road trip.
Kaman has struggled in his last five games, shooting 27.6 percent (8-for-29) for 20 total points. The center is making 44.6 percent of his shots overall and averaging 9.6 points per game.
His troubles were emphasized Sunday, when he made only 1-of-11 shots and scored two points in Los Angeles’ worst defensive showing of the season, a 122-100 loss at Toronto.
"It was just a bad luck day and kind of compounds if you haven’t been playing well," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said of Kaman. "Defensively we must not have been very good to let them shoot 58 percent for the game."
Los Angeles is holding opponents to 91.2 points in its victories compared to 104.3 in its losses.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
More NBA Basketball Coverage from theSpread.com
– NBA Basketball teams
– NBA Basketball standings
– NBA Basketball schedule
– NBA Basketball scoreboard
– NBA Basketball injuries
– NBA Basketball matchups
– NBA Basketball stats
– NBA Basketball odds
– NBA Basketball public betting chart
– NBA Basketball news wire
– NBA Basketball top stories
– NBA Basketball trends
– AccuScore NBA Basketball predictions
– Expert NBA Basketball picks
– Comments and discussion
– Signup for theSpread.com daily newsletter
– NBA Basketball Home
