The New York Knicks have been one of the worst teams in the NBA this season at home and on Christmas Day they will play against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden and the matchup starts at 2:30 pm on ABC on TV and the game will be streaming online and is the second game on the schedule for the league Wednesday.
The Knicks are coming off of a close win on the road against the Orlando Magic and the team is looking to get back on track at home against a team that has lost 10 games in a row on holidays. The Knicks have just nine wins this season and have twice as many losses and while they are third in the Atlantic division, the team still is within reach in the eastern conference because of how bad everyone else has been. The Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat look like the top two teams and the Chicago Bulls and the Knicks have faded a bit after coming into the season with high expectations. The Knicks have a chance to make a run here and that could save their season, as they play the Thunder and then the Raptors at home at Madison Square Garden and some positive play at home could really turn the season around.
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The Thunder come into the game 22-5 and as one of the best teams in the western conference and they are coming into the game against a team that is scoring just 95 points per game. The Knicks have been wildly inconsistent this year and this last stretch at the end of the season with a game on Wednesday and Friday against the Toronto Raptors they can start to turn things around. Kevin Durant comes into the game leading the team in scoring with 28 points, while Anthony is right behind at 26 points per game and the Knicks are a bit more banged up than Oklahoma City and New York also has Tyson Chandler back after he missed over a month after breaking his leg.
The Thunder are second in the Northwest division behind the Portland Trail Blazers and they are coming into the game after after a loss to the Toronto Raptors and they next will play on the road against the Charlotte Bobcats. Russell Westbrook comes into the game after leading the team in scoring, rebounds and dimes against the Raptors, putting up 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the game and they come into the matchup ranked first overall in rebounds per game this season. The Thunder are third in the league in scoring at 105 points per game and the team is ranked in the top 10 in points allowed with under 100 per game.
The Knicks have not been good for most of the season and Carmelo Anthony is coming in with an ankle injury and there is a chance he could miss the game and he has always played well against the Thunder, averaging over 30 points against the team in the past nine games. The Knicks came into the season with high expectations and after losing Tyson Chandler after only a few games, the team got off to a horrendous start and now they have a big hole to pull themselves out of, but luckily they play in the east and not the west and it's much easier to get back into things. Mike Woodson's seat could get very hot if the team doesn't pull through against OKC.