Philadelphia looks to earn its first win following the all-star break against the Knicks in the teams’ final meeting of the season. In their last match-up, the lone Sixers victory of the teams’ previous three games, Jrue Holiday dropped a career-high 35 points. Thad Young is hopeful to play tonight which would be a huge boost for a Sixers squad badly in need of a spark to break its four-game losing streak.
However, the Knicks have been on a skid of their own, also dropping their previous four outings. The Knicks recently signed Kenyon Martin to a 10-game contract after trading Ronnie Brewer to the Thunder for a second-round draft pick. The addition of Kenyon Martin is intended to bring defensive toughness and rebounding to the Knicks’ second unit (as well as team with JR Smith to form a dynamite neck tattoo duo). Trading Brewer was a strange move, though, considering he was part of the most-used 5-man line-up for the Knicks this season as well as the team’s best perimeter defender. The Knicks are hoping that with Iman Shumpert now seemingly recovered from offseason ACL surgery he can take over Brewer’s role in that capacity.
Keys to the Game:
- Holiday has to convincingly win his match-up with Raymond Felton much as he did in the teams’ last game. Tyson Chandler constitutes arguably the best interior defender in the league, making points from the Sixers front court very difficult to come by in this match-up. Even more so than usual, Holiday will be the engine that drives the Sixers in any potential victory.
- Someone up front will have to match Amare Stoudemire’s production, who has averaged 14 and 6 in his last 10 games as he settles into his role as first big man off the bench. Hopefully, the return of Thad Young will account for that level of play. Without his return, someone from the Lavoy Allen/Arnett Moultrie caste of Sixers big men will have to step their game up.
- Finally, the Sixers will have to contain Knicks’ leading scorer Carmelo Anthony. Although, he’s adjusted well this season to more of a power forward role with the team, he can still fall in love at times with inefficient long jumpers. Philadelphia will need to do its best to prevent Melo from getting easy shots in the paint and finding his groove from the field. Force him into outside shots and hope he doesn’t have a hot shooting performance.
Prediction: The Sixers traveling on the second game of a back-to-back continue their downward spiral in the second half of the season. Thad Young either doesn’t play or is slowed down in his return from injury and Chandler and Stoudemire eat the soft Sixers front court alive. Despite a solid effort from Jrue Holiday, Carmelo more than matches his production as the Knicks break their own losing streak in an easy victory.
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