Three Straight For Sonics?
The New York Knicks appeared to be getting their season back on track, but a trip to the West Coast has them stumbling again.
On Saturday night, the Knicks will try to avoid going winless during a five-game road trip as they visit the Seattle SuperSonics, who are trying to win three straight for the first time in almost a year.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Seattle -4 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 202 total points (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 78% of bets for this game have been placed on Seattle -4 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
After winning just eight of its first 32 games, New York (14-32) went 6-4 from Jan.8-25, but has been unable to continue that success.
New York is coming off a 94-88 overtime loss to Portland on Friday, after losses at Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah. The Knicks have not completed a five-game road trip without a win since Dec. 3-10, 2003, which included defeats to the SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Lakers and Jazz.
On Friday, New York led by as many as 15 points, but finished just 37-of-94 from the floor, and 2-of-17 from beyond the arc.
"We couldn’t make a shot,” New York coach Isiah Thomas said. "We just went cold.”
Zach Randolph led the Knicks with 25 points and 13 rebounds in his first game back in Portland after being traded to New York in June.
Jamal Crawford had 13 points on 6-of-27 shooting and was just 1-of-11 from 3-point range. Crawford had 29 points in New York’s 117-110 loss to the Sonics on Dec. 12, and is averaging 27.3 points on 12-of-21 shooting from 3-point range in his last three games against them.
Randolph had 27 points and 16 rebounds against Seattle in December.
The Knicks have lost two straight to the Sonics, and haven’t dropped three consecutive games to them since April 8, 1996-Feb. 21, 1997.
Seattle (11-35) stunned Cleveland 101-95 on Thursday, two nights after snapping its franchise-record 14-game losing streak by beating defending champion San Antonio 88-85. It was the first time the Sonics have won back-to-back home games since Dec. 12-14 – they’ll try to win three in a row for the first time since March 27-30.
Seattle scored a season-high 40 first-quarter points against the Cavaliers, who played without LeBron James, and led by 22 in the first half. It almost wasn’t enough, however, as Cleveland cut the Sonics’ lead to just three with 2:51 left, before rookie Kevin Durant scored four straight points to put the game out of reach.
"The next time we have a 20-point lead, we’ll close out better,” Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said.
The Sonics shot 56.4 percent on Thursday, their best performance since connecting on a season-high 58.0 percent from the floor in December’s win over the Knicks.
Durant had 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting against the Cavs. He scored 30 on 11-of-20 shooting against New York earlier this season.
Chris Wilcox had 18 points – including Seattle’s first 10 – on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds on Thursday. Wilcox is averaging 15.8 points on 60.5 percent shooting and 9.5 boards in his last four games
He had averaged 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in his previous six.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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