The New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing on Thursday night in the TNT doubleheader and the game will be live on TV and streaming online from Turner Network Television and the NBA.com website from Madison Square Garden and comes after the All-Star reserves are announced and this pits Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving against each other and the game comes before the Clippers and Warriors later.
The Knicks come into the game struggling this season, but they are playing better of late and after Carmelo Anthony dropped 60 points, the team won over the Boston Celtics and he had 24 points in that game and now the Knicks are hosting the Cavs. The team had a huge matchup with the Miami Heat coming up next on Saturdays night and that game will be from the Garden and the matchup fits in with the NY hype of the Super Bowl, as LeBron James and company come to town after the team hosted Kevin Durant and the Thunder in Miami and the King lost that game after the team got off to an 18-2 run to start the game.
Carmelo Anthony has been in the news all season for his future and whether he will stay with the Knicks are not and he has the chance to opt out of his contract this summer and all signs point to him doing that. The team is hoping to re-sign him, but after winning the division and over 50 games last season, the Knicks are struggling just to get in playoff position and that has put even more pressure on Anthony. Reports have the Chicago Bulls and the LA Clippers as the favorites to sign him, but others say that he will not be leaving NY. Anthony has tons of pressure on him to stay and he can make the most money in NY and he is leading the team with 27 points per game and nine rebounds per contest this season.
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The Knicks started off the season terribly and now are starting to pull out of it, but they remain down in the standings and out of the playoff picture and they are now third in the Atlantic division and are chasing the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors after they were predicted to be the favorites to win the group. The team is averaging 96 points per game to rank 22nd in the league and they are 10th in points allowed and the Knicks need to continue playing solid defense to rise in the east and winning games at home is important as well.
The Knicks have not played well at home by any stretch of the imagination and they are just 10-15 at the Garden and they need to start winning games against bad teams like the Cavs at MSG. The Cavaliers have had their own issues as well, as Kyrie Irving is likely to leave in the future and there have been issues with Dion Waiters and the team also traded away Andrew Bynum this season and now they are way out of the playoff picture as well after they thought they could contend for one of the bottom spots this season and they are averaging 96 points per game this season as well. Irving comes in after scoring 23 points in the loss to the Pelicans and now they play the Knicks on the road before visiting the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.