Tonight at 7p.na twice and Houston in between. James, who usually puts in the most points for the Cavs, has only managed 27, 22 and 13 respectively in the last 3 games he has played against the Knicks. Due to double teaming, or just good old fashioned NY defense, he has not fared well vs the Knicks.
New York will counter that staunch attack with a host of players that can put the ball through the bucket. In New York's last 3 games ( Seattle, Washington and an on fire Phoenix) M. Taylor is 20-36 (55.5%), N. Robinson is 13-28 (46.4%), E. Curry is 17-32 (53.1%), C. Frye is 18-24 (75%), D. Lee is 15-17 (88.2%) and S. Marbury is 29-65 for 44.6%. The Knicks will be without Jamal Crawford for the third game in a row. Crawford accounted for 25 and 22 pts, respectively, the last 2 encounters with Cleveland. Stephen Marbury, Maurice Taylor, Ed Curry and Nate Robinson have stepped up the pace a bit in his absence, and will do so again tonight. Quentin Richardson, who has been out due to a back injury and just returned last game for the Knicks (1of4 and 5 pts) may see some game time, but it will be limited. Antonio Davis is also day to day with a back unjury.
The spread on this game opened at Cleveland -8' and a game total around 203. The oddsmakers could well be correct in the assumption that the game will be high scoring, and I feel that it will probably go over the total, but not decisively. James will score his share, and made a statement after one of the Cavs/Knicks games, saying something to the effect that "teams that come to Cleveland to play, have to be shown that they are playing a team." What he meant, I have no idea, but the Knicks will come to play tonight. I look for a solid game from Marbury and Taylor, since they have faced the Cavs before. The rest of the youngsters on the Knicks team, if they are not intimidated by LeBron James's performance, should also fare well. On the other hand, for the Cavs, James and Gooden should account for about 50% of the point total. How well Ilgauskas plays tonight, and the Cav bench strength may well be the deciding factors in this game. I am fairly certain regarding the Knick's bench. All in all, the line seems to be set a bit too high on this game, so I tend to favor the Knicks. Whatever your play is, I hope you do well.
And always remember......"Everybody plays the fool sometimes.....there's no exception to the rule."
