Knicks vs. 76ers Preview
Philadelphia, PA (AP) – The New York Knicks have made their intentions clear. Whether it matters or not for the postseason, they want to finish ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Knicks will bring a four-game winning streak Wednesday night to Philadelphia as they try to take over sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
According to NBA odds and oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made the 76ers 4.5-point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Knicks. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 73% of more than 95 bets for this game have been placed on the 76ers –4.5.
Both teams are playoff-bound. New York (39-38) is in the postseason for the first time in seven seasons and trails Philadelphia (40-38) by one-half game.
There may not a benefit either way in finishing sixth or seventh since Atlantic Division champion Boston and Southeast Division champion Miami are in a tight race for the No. 2 seed.
Still, the Knicks want to carry the momentum they have built over the last week and gain the No. 6 seed.
“It’s just something we want to do,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I don’t know if it’s important or not, I don’t think we’ll know until we look back on it, and you might not even know then. So it’s just that tonight, they’re playing well, (Philadelphia is a) hard team on the road, let’s learn to try to win on the road, let’s keep building on what we got.”
The Knicks have dropped five straight on the road while the 76ers have won 14 of their last 17 at home against Eastern foes.
This is the first time the Knicks will face the 76ers since acquiring Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups from Denver on Feb. 22. Philadelphia has won two of the first three matchups.
“It’s going to be a big game (Wednesday) night, a very important game for us,” All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire said. “We’re really trying to make a push to move up the standings. And so Philly’s playing well, and we owe them boys.”
New York finished a perfect four-game homestand with its second-best shooting performance of the season, a 57.7 percent effort in Tuesday’s 131-118 win over Toronto. The Knicks had 78 points in their highest-scoring first half of the season, making 12 of 16 from beyond the arc in the first 24 minutes.
Toney Douglas made six 3-pointers and scored 28 points while Anthony had five 3s and 23 points.
“I thought we did a great job of getting the ball out fast, getting stops first and foremost, getting the ball out and running,” Billups said. “Melo got hot obviously in that first half and he was rolling and we just kind of fed off his energy and his shots.”
While New York was playing the worst team in the Atlantic on Tuesday, Philadelphia played the best and fell 99-82 at Boston. Rookie Evan Turner came off the bench for a team-high 21 points.
“When we play a team like this, I told our guys we want to keep growing every single game,” coach Doug Collins said. “That’s why coming down this stretch these games give us a blueprint on what we have to do to beat these teams.”
Elton Brand, playing with a fracture in his left hand, is averaging 27.0 points and 9.3 rebounds against New York this season compared to Stoudemire’s nearly identical averages of 27.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in those meetings.
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