{"id":60393,"date":"2013-03-07T14:42:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T22:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=60393"},"modified":"2013-03-07T14:42:13","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T22:42:13","slug":"oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-new-york-knicks-gambling-predictions-preview-7313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-new-york-knicks-gambling-predictions-preview-7313\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC Thunder vs. N.Y. Knicks Cappers TNT NBA Preview & Free Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thunder vs Knicks NBA Handicapping<\/h2>\n

Does anybody have to be told exactly what it would mean to the Knicks\u2019 chances of a deep playoff run if Carmelo Anthony isn\u2019t at 100 percent about five weeks from now? <\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder (44-16) at New York Knicks (37-21)<\/strong>
\n Thursday, March 7<\/strong>
\n Madison Square Garden, New York, New York<\/strong>
\n 8 p.m. EST<\/strong>
\n Odds: OKC -8 | OU: 206 at Betonline<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Matchup<\/a> | Preview<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Check Out Ray’s NBA Plays Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who has handled Anthony and the superstar scorer\u2019s ego about as well as any of the kid\u2019s coaches have, said last night that the high-scoring forward has fluid in the back of his right knee. No one knows how serious this is, but Anthony missed last night\u2019s victory over Detroit (no problem \u2013 the Pistons have half their key players out).<\/p>\n

As for tonight, who knows if Anthony will have enough juice to go against Kevin Durant and the Thunder?<\/p>\n

CLICK GRAB OUR BEST Expert NBA Hoops Picks for 2013 GAMBLING season!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

With Anthony, things aren\u2019t always as they seem. On Monday night in Cleveland, Anthony was left in the game in the second half with the Cavaliers up by 22 points. Woodson kept him in, and a few minutes later Anthony collapsed at mid-court.<\/p>\n

He got up and walked off the court, and the New York Post went so far as to say that Anthony might have been OK and just embarrassed that the Cavs were administering such a beatdown.<\/p>\n

If Anthony is hurt, it raises all kinds of red flags going forward. New York has nasty home games against the suddenly red-hot Thunder and then Utah on Saturday before embarking on a five-game, eight-day West Coast road trip (Golden State, Denver, Portland, Los Angeles Clippers, Utah).<\/p>\n

For his part, Woodson appears to be applying a little passive-aggressive pressure on Anthony as the Knicks battle it out overt the final 24 games with the Pacers for the No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. \u201cRest will probably be the best thing for him,\u201d said Woodson. [ad-6571516]<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got to make that commitment. If he wants to sit down and rest a game or two we\u2019ll do that. It\u2019s still a long season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder are just two back of the Spurs in the loss column as they head for the home stretch in what is shaping up as a fun race for the No. 1 playoff seed in the Western Conference. After a hiccup (3 losses in a row) in mid-February, the Thunder are getting MVP-type play from Kevin Durant and hit the Big Apple with five wins in six games.<\/p>\n

FREE NBA PICK<\/h3>\n

With no decision on Anthony\u2019s status expected until perhaps an hour (or less) before tipoff, it\u2019s doubtful bettors will see a line on this game. If Anthony goes, the game will be close to PK; if he can\u2019t, the Knicks would certainly get at least a field goal.<\/p>\n

Pressure will be intense of the Knicks backcourt as OKC tries to force a wide-open 94-foot game. Against the Pistons, New York \u2013 which hasn\u2019t had a problem with turnovers this season \u2013 coughed it up 11 times in the first period and 21 in the game. Anything approaching that will make tonight\u2019s result very ugly.<\/p>\n

(With Anthony) \u2013 OKC 107, New York 103
\n(Without Anthony) \u2013 OKC 112, New York 94<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thunder vs Knicks NBA Handicapping Does anybody have to be told exactly what it would mean to the Knicks\u2019 chances of a deep playoff run if Carmelo Anthony isn\u2019t at 100 percent about five weeks from now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":30463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60393","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=60393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60454,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60393\/revisions\/60454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}