It’s early, but the New York Knicks are better than the Golden State Warriors in at least one statistic that matters – covering the spread. New York has failed to cover just once in its first five outings while the champs are 2-3 ATS early on. Unfortunately for Knicks bettors, I don’t think this trend continues tonight. The Warriors opened as a 12-point favorite at MSG. The total opened at 227.
- The Knicks are 1-11 SU and 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games at home vs teams with winning records.
- The total has gone UNDER in 14 of the Warriors’ last 19 games (avg. combined score: 215.79).
- The Warriors are 6-2 ATS in their last eight games on the road vs the Knicks.
Warriors vs Knicks Game Center
Golden State Doing Golden State Things
The Warriors are a two-point road loss in Denver from being perfect through five games this season. After starting the season a little slowly with three straight ATS losses, Steve Kerr’s guys have won their past two games by 20 and 22 points respectively as they begin a three-game road trip tonight.
Steph Curry leads the league with 34.6 points per game and 33 three-pointers made. Kevin Durant is 13th in league scoring at 27.4 points per game. The Warriors aren’t just all offense, though, as they’ve kept opponents to 109.6 points per game, good for 11th in the Association.
Knicks Having Trouble Scoring
The once-great Knicks are stuck in a perpetual grind and have missed the playoffs for the past five seasons, finishing no higher than 11th in the East along the way. Through five games this season they are 24th in points per game at 106.4 and I expect them to be under that average when they play the champs.
New York is 27th in field-goal percentage (41.9%), 24th in rebounding (43.2 RPG) and 19th in three-point percentage (34.8%). When you’re not shooting well and not getting it back off your misses, it makes for a long night.
My Pick for Tonight
I like the Warriors to cover 12 points in this game. In early action, the line has slid to 12.5 at some books so if you’re thinking of getting on Golden State, do so sooner than later. Our consensus data shows the majority of money is coming in on the champs.
It looks like Golden State is hitting its stride with big wins in its last two outings. The Warriors have been dominating New York in recent years and I don’t think this changes in 2018-19.
