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We are now into February, which means it is time to lock into the NBA regular season. The NBA All-Star Break is right around the corner, along with the trade deadline, so things are starting to heat up. We have a great matchup tonight on ABC, with the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers traveling east to take on the New York Knicks.
Throughout this article, we will review each team’s season thus far, preview this matchup and make a pick.
The Lakers’ season has started well, with them currently sitting as the five-seed in the Western Conference with a record of 27-19. Unfortunately for them, Anthony Davis has gone down with an abdominal strain and will be re-evaluated next week. It was just a matter of time before Davis missed some time, as he has dealt with injuries his whole career.
It is a huge loss because Davis was leading this team in scoring (25.7), rebounds (11.9), steals (1.3) and blocks (2.1). Luckily, they still have one of the greatest basketball players of all time, LeBron James. James is averaging 23.8 points per game, 9.0 assists and 7.5 rebounds.
In the first game without Davis on Thursday, the Lakers blew out the Wizards 134-96. They were led by LeBron in that one, who had 24 points and 11 assists in just 27 minutes. It was a dominant performance by the Lakers, as the game was never in doubt.
Jaxson Hayes entered the starting lineup for Anthony Davis and filled in admirably. He posted a 10-10 double-double while also blocking three shots, making his presence known from tip-off. This will be a much tougher test for the Lakers in this one against the Knicks.
The Knicks have had a great start to the season, sitting with a 32-16 record and the three-seed in the Eastern Conference. They revamped their team this offseason, acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The two-man game between him and Jalen Brunson, who leads the team in scoring (25.9), has been outstanding.
Towns is averaging 24.6 points and 13.7 rebounds this year and has been terrific on the offensive side of the floor. We know what we get from him defensively (which is not great), but they have done a great job surrounding him and Jalen Brunson with elite wing defenders.
They have Mikal Bridges, whose size and length cause a lot of issues for opposing teams. You also have Josh Hart, who leads the team in steals per game (1.6) and OG Anunoby, who leads the team in blocks per game (0.9). Tom Thibodeau has done a great job as head coach, and it finally seems like the Knicks have a team he wants and can make a deep playoff run.
This matchup between the Knicks and the Lakers is an interesting one, especially with the Lakers being without Anthony Davis. The Lakers were able to dominate the Wizards without Davis, but this is a much bigger test. With the wing depth the Knicks have, they can throw multiple defenders at LeBron James and Austin Reeves, making life tough on the offense with them ranking 13th in defensive efficiency.
Looking at the defensive side of things for the Lakers, Jaxson Hayes did his best AD impression, blocking three shots against the Wizards. However, this is a much bigger test for him if the Lakers go in that direction and try to defend Karl-Anthony Towns. The Lakers rank in the bottom 10 of the league in defensive efficiency, even with Davis, so it could be a nightmare for them without him against a top-two offensive-rated team in the NBA.
However, we like the Knicks to win this game on the back of a big night from Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns, who has had a rough time shooting from a distance as of late. He considers himself the best shooting big of all time, but he has shot just 3-27 from three-point range in his last five games. Towns is a career 40% shooter, so that has to regress to the mean shortly. We expect that to happen tonight against a bad defensive Lakers team without Anthony Davis. Our Lakers vs. Knicks pick tonight is for Karl-Anthony Towns to make two or more three-pointers.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.