The New York Knicks and Houston Rockets will face off on Thursday night in a nationally televised game on TNT and the matchup will be going down at 8:00 pm from Madison Square Garden and the game will be streaming online live from the NBA League Pass.
The Knicks are coming into the game after a win against the Atlanta Hawks and that came after the team lost three straight and now they return home after a disappointing home loss to the San Antonio Spurs by 30 points at the Garden and now another solid West team comes in to try and do it. The game also marks the return of Jeremy Lin back to MSG as well and the Rockets will be looking to get a win to improve to 6-4 and after getting off to a solid start, the team has slumped a bit, but they are one of the best offensive teams in the league to start the season. The Knicks come in ranked in the top 10 in defensive scoring through seven games, but they are ranked 26th in scoring and they have some issues playing consistently as a team and adding JR Smith back to the mix should help as well, although the battle down low could be an issue with Tyson Chandler out of the lineup for over a month.
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The Knicks are coming in after winning against the Hawks, but the team gave up a big lead and that could be troubling going forward and after playing the Houston Rockets, the team will host the Hawks at the Garden after last playing on the road. The Knicks got 25 points from Carmelo Anthony and a solid game from Andrea Bargnani with 11 rebounds, while Iman Shumpert responded to trade rumors with nine assists on the night. The Knicks and Denver Nuggets were reportedly in discussions about an Iman Shumpert for Kenneth Faried deal, but things died down after the initial reports came out and now it looks like Shumpert will remain at the Garden at least for the time being.
The Houston Rockets come into the game with the third best scoring offense in the league with 107 points per game and the Knicks defense will have to be top notch to get a win on Thursday night. The Rockets came into the season with super high expectations after signing Dwight Howard and now Jeremy Lin will get the chance to be the center of attention as well as he returns to the site of Linsanity. The Rockets have a 27th ranked defense and that could be some good news for the Knicks, but the Rockets are coming in with a top ranked unit in rebounding with nearly 50 per game, with Howard putting up some great numbers so far. Howard has put up over 20 rebounds multiple times already this season and he is coming off of a 15 board game in the overtime loss to the Sixers, while the star point guard had 34 points and 12 assists in the matchup.
The Knicks have won two of the last three games of the season on the schedule and if they can get onto a good roll, that could help pull out of the bottom part of the Atlantic division and could help ensure that Anthony stays heading into next year. The team plays the Rockets and Hawks at home before heading on the road to take on the Pistons and then the team has a huge game against the Indiana Pacers at home. The team then has a road trip with the Wizards before heading out west to play the Portland Trail Blazers, LA Clippers and Denver Nuggets.