The Knicks take on the Cavaliers on Friday night and if you were previewing the contest based solely on the betting lines, you’d think this was a late 90’s NBA contest. The over/under comes in 197.0 (PointsBet), a total that’s out of wack with today’s high scoring NBA.
However, several factors come into play. New York is last in the league in pace with roughly 96.7 possessions per game. Cleveland doesn’t play much fast, ranking 27th at 97.5.
Cleveland will be without Collin Sexton (ankle) and Darius Garland (shoulder) again and newcomers Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince are not yet making their debut. Slow play combined with missing talent isn’t a formula for a high-scoring affair, especially given the Knicks’ improved defense under Tom Thibodeau.
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- Anthony Davis, who has been experiencing lower back tightness, is available to play tonight vs. the Pelicans, per Jovan Buha. Davis may be in for a big game against his former team. Aside from the revenge factor, only four teams have given up more fantasy points to opposing power forwards than New Orleans has, per Hashtag Basketball.
- Kristaps Porzingis (knee) is likely to play against the Bucks. He made his season debut for the Mavs on Wednesday against the Hornet, seeing just 21 minutes of action and the big man still got up 16 shots (making just six of them) to score 16 points while adding four rebounds and two blocks. Porzingis saw much of his action at the center spot on Wednesday and the Bucks present a tough matchup, ranking in the top-5 in terms of fantasy points given up to the position.
- Jordan Clarkson has been a risk/reward player in daily fantasy and Spencer Limbach of Rotoworld has him as a top tournament play vs. the Hawks tonight. The former Cavaliers guard has had at least 38.0 fantasy points in two of his last three games.
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