Check Out Ray’s NBA Plays Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nOn a team loaded with big-money players and a fan base littered with TV and movie stars, Woodson is content to take a back seat \u2013 as long as the team is winning.<\/p>\n
And winning the Knicks are. New York has taken over possession of the Eastern Conference with the team\u2019s best November\/December start in decades. The team that takes the court tonight against the crosstown rival Nets has helped revitalize pro basketball in the league\u2019s most important market. Whatever salary Woodson is bringing down, it\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n
Woodson cut his head coaching teeth during a forgettable seven-year run in Atlanta, during which time the Hawks seem to always be getting better but never able to move into the next level. With many surprised that he\u2019s gotten a second chance, Woodson is taking full advantage.<\/p>\n
Under Woodson, the Knicks are actually doing it by playing a little defense. They\u2019re just outside the top 10 in the league in fewest points allowed, and in their season signature win, at Miami a few weeks ago, they held the Heat to 92 in a 20-point blowout.<\/p>\n
Woodson and the Knicks are winning with some key players out of the lineup. Amare Stoudemire hasn\u2019t played a minute this season as he recovers from knee surgery, although he has started working out with the team\u2019s D-League affiliate. And leading scorer (27.9) Carmelo Anthony has missed the last two games after suffering a sprained ankle last Friday night in New York\u2019s victory over the Lakers. [ad-6571516]<\/p>\n
Short-handed, Woodson was forced to start a makeup lineup Monday night against Houston, with two point guards (Ray Felton and Jason Kidd) along with Chris Copeland, Tyson Chandler and Ronnie Brewer. It added up to a blowout loss at home to Jeremy Linn and the Rockets.<\/p>\n
The Nets, who have split two games with the Knicks this season, have issues of their own to deal with. They\u2019ve lost two straight and seven of nine, and PG Deron Williams is starting to make noises about not liking the offense.<\/p>\n
There are reports that the average price of a ticket on the secondary market is $630.<\/p>\n
THE PICK <\/strong>\u2013 The 7.5-point spread no doubt assumes that Anthony \u2013 who is a game-time decision \u2013 will be a go . . .<\/p>\nBoth of the games between the teams this season have been relatively close \u2013 Brooklyn won the first one by 7, and in the second meeting Kidd\u2019s go-ahead 3-pointer was the difference in the Knicks\u2019 100-97 victory . . .<\/p>\n
The Nets, who lost to Utah at home last night, need rest.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll get three days off after this one, then start a killer stretch of five games in seven days.<\/p>\n
Play tonight is NEW YORK and the UNDER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nets vs Knicks NBA Handicapping It\u2019s doubtful that casual NBA fans know that Mike Woodson is the coach of the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":30058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[57385,57386,22387,4045,23074,57184,3942,57387,25354,25355],"class_list":["post-58410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-brooklyn-nets-vs-n-y-knicks","tag-brooklyn-nets-vs-n-y-knicks-odds","tag-free-nba-hoops-prediction","tag-free-nba-picks","tag-nba-betting-picks","tag-nba-betting-prediction","tag-nba-handicapping","tag-nets-knicks-free-prediction","tag-nets-knicks-picks","tag-nets-vs-knicks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58410"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58452,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58410\/revisions\/58452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}