San Antonio Spurs vs New York Knicks Prediction: The Knicks are tough at road

NBA is on and we are amidst another spectacular season that has brought us brilliant memories. Some performances have been record-shattering a new precedent is set every day. For instance, Luka Doncic dropped 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in what was a Wilt Chamberlain-styled statline that broke record after record. On the receiving was the New York Knicks which will face the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs enter the game after suffering a 114:130 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder despite a 20 points performance by Devin Vassell. Despite the loss, the second half of the month has gone much better for the Spurs which has won half of its ten games after undergoing an 11-game losing streak. They are placed with 11 wins and 23 losses which is on par with what was expected out of a team that has either young or unestabilished players. Coach Pop has continued to instill great ball-sharing principles though.

Because of that, despite having a bunch of cold shooting nights, the Spurs are a top-three to top-five squad in assists with around 27 a game. However, they don’t get to the free-throw line often and are dead last in made free-throws. Their two major options are Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell, who have shot past 50% from the three-point range consistently, but apart from these two, the offense is massively undermanned and there are holes in multiple fronts, mostly due to the lack of experience. The Spurs are heading into the lottery, a prospect which isn’t all that muddled considering next season’s loaded draft.

The Knicks come into this game after self-inflicting late-game wounds and losing to the Mavericks 121:126 in Overtime as Luka Doncic’s monster night of 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists buried them. The Knicks had the game in the bag, being up nine with just 44 seconds to go but then the combination of poor defense and rebounding gave the game away as the team allowed Doncic to dominate them in all spheres. This was the fourth straight loss for the Knicks, which had gone on an eight-game winning streak earlier. As a result, they have now 18 wins and 17 losses.

They have had these late-game losses repeatedly and strangely, just like last season, the team has been performing much better away from home. They have 10 wins and seven losses away from home while the losses exceed the wins at home. The Knicks have three consistent sub-20 points scorers in Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson, and RJ Barrett, although the latter’s numbers have been up-and-down. The team lacks a reliable scoring wing and middle player which has been a cause of worry.

• Spurs: Game-Time Decisions: Devin Vassell, Doug McDermott, Keldon Johnson;
• Knicks: OUT: Obi Toppin, Trevor Keels, RJ Barrett. QUESTIONABLE: Jalen Brunson.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Julius Randle(27-35 Points), Devin Vassell(22-26 Points)-QUES;
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Julius Randle(10-13 Rebounds), Jakob Poeltl(8-10 Rebounds), Jeremy Sochan(7-10 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Jalen Brunson(6-9 Assists), Tre Jones(6-9 Assists).

Both teams have key players in the injury list which plays a huge role in the dynamics here. For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson is a Game-Time call whereas RJ Barrett will miss the game, this means a lot of burden will shift upon Julius Randle. In the last game, the Knicks saw Quinten Grimes take over the patches of the game, whereas Miles McBride, Evan Fournier, and Derrick Rose despite their inconsistencies make a decent guard depth scenario. That’s why I back the Knicks to win. I predict a scorleine of 120:113 in their favor.