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There is a mini four-game NBA slate on Tuesday, January 28, but the vast majority of teams will play on Wednesday, as we have an 11-game card. Two games will feature on ESPN, as the Denver Nuggets take on the New York Knicks in NYC, while the Western Conference-leading OKC Thunder travel to Golden State to face the Warriors for the second leg of ESPN’s doubleheader.
The Knicks and Nuggets sit in 3rd and 4th place in their respective conferences, and a win for either team will go a long way toward their final placement in the standings. Let’s preview this matchup and provide my favorite NBA picks for Denver @ New York.
The Denver Nuggets are in 4th place in the Western Conference and are once again led by Nikola Jokic. The Serbian national averages the most points (30.0 PPG), rebounds (13.1 REB), assists (10.2 AST) and steals (1.8 STL) and only trails the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race. As good as Jokic has been this season, Denver still sits 9.5 games behind the Thunder in the Western Conference and has lost two straight games entering this matchup.
The Nuggets are 14-10 on the road this year and have lost two in a row away from home. Additionally, this game marks the 3rd of a five-game road trip for Denver, so if they don’t turn things around, it could be a difficult week for Denver. They’ll need other role players such as Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun to pick up the scoring, but things won’t get easier against a Knicks defense allowing just 110.8 PPG (8th in the NBA).
The New York Knicks trail the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference, as they are in 3rd place and have 6.5 games to make up on Cleveland. The hosts have been playing extremely well, as they’ve won 4 straight contests and currently carry a 16-8 record at Madison Square Garden this season. PG Jalen Brunson is the leader of this team, as he averages 25.8 PPG and 7.4 AST, but Karl-Anthony Towns has also fit in well in the Big City, as the former Timberwolves big man puts up 24.9 points and 13.8 rebounds per game.
This New York team is putting things together after a shaky start to the year. KAT is finally settling in, and so long as everyone stays healthy, the Knicks can challenge anyone in the East. In this game, they should be able to attack Denver on the offensive glass and in transition, as Denver gives up 14.4 second chance PPG (20th in the NBA) and allows 17.3 PPG in transition (26th in the NBA).
This game should be evenly matched, as both teams had an off day on Tuesday, so both lineups shouldn’t feature significant absentees. These two teams faced off in November at Denver, as the Knicks ran away with a 145-118 victory. I don’t expect the Knicks to post another 71.2 effective field goal % or grab 25.8% of offensive rebounds as they did in that game, so Wednesday’s contest should be tighter.
New York is riding a four-game win streak, and Josh Hart has been dominating the glass. The former Villanova guard has recorded 10, 18, 12 and 9 rebounds in those games and has averaged 12.4 rebounds per game over the Knicks’ last 10 contests. He’s recorded 9+ rebounds in 11 straight home contests and 11+ rebounds in 8 of those contests. Expect another big game for Hard on the glass, and back him to record 10+ rebounds.
Luke Lindholm is an avid basketball, baseball, football, hockey and soccer fan who specializes in writing promotional content for multiple sportsbooks and prediction-based articles across a variety of sports. His work has been featured on prominent websites including Sports Illustrated, Pickswise, Men’s Journal, TheStreet, Athlon Sports and more. He started as a college football handicapper for Pickswise in 2016 and is a current member of the Pickswise NFL handicapping team.