The New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers return for some basketball gambling action on Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs remain NBA online betting favorites to win the Eastern Conference and the BNA championship while the Knicks are still the Knicks.
The Knickerbockers had their fifth loss in the last seven games against the Thunder on Wednesday. Carmelo Anthony had 30 points – 19 in the first quarter – while Derrick Rose scored 25 and seven assists, and Courtney Lee added 16. NY shot 73% in the first quarter to take a 39-27 lead. The Knicks shot 56% in the first half and were ahead by 17 in the second quarter though Melo was held to one point. After making his first seven shots Anthony made hit just four of his final 13 shots. Moreover, The Knicks were outscored 26-20 in the third period. Center Joakim Noah missed his fifth game in a row with a sore left hamstring, while guard Brandon Jennings was out with a sore Achilles tendon. Willy Hernangomez started in lieu of Noah and had eight points and 10 rebounds. The Knicks will have had a week’s rest with the exceptions of Anthony, Hernangomez, and Kristaps Porzingis, who won the Skills Challenge during the All Star Weekend. In NBA online betting trends, NY is 4-1 against the basketball gambling spread in the last five games when playing on the road against the Cavs and 4-14 SU in the last 18 games when playing on the road against the Cavaliers.
The Cavs won three straight games and seven of the last eight before the All Star Break. Cleveland beat Indiana 113-104 on Wednesday. LeBron James had 31 points and limited Paul George to 13 points on 4-for-19 shooting, Kyrie Irving added 26, Tristan Thompson had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double in the last six games, and Kyle Korver made six 3-point shots to finish with 22 points. Korver and Irving nailed back-to-back threes to break an 83-83 tie in the third quarter, and then a couple more to put the Cavs ahead 97-87. Korver made yet another 3 and scored on a layup to make it 106-89. Korver became the seventh player to make more than 2000 treys. Korver sealed his performance with his first dunk with the Cavs. Cleveland was without Kevin Love and JR Smith but James and Irving did just fine, topping the 30-point 20-point marks for the 13th and 40th times this season, respectively. Head coach Tyronn Lue confessed that even though Love’s knee was already bothering him when the power forward played in back-to-back road games last week, Lue played him anyway because he was “heading for surgery” and Lue didn’t regret doing so. Well, Love means never having to say you’re sorry. In NBA online betting trends, the Cavs are 1-4 against the basketball gambling spread in the last five games when playing at home against the Knicks and 5-0 SU in the last five games when playing NY.