The Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks are playing on the NBA schedule Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The game starts at 7:30 pm ET as Carmelo Anthony takes on Chris Paul in a battle of east and west teams.
The Knicks have been playing well at home over the past month and the team now will try and extend their home winning streak against the visiting Clippers. The Clippers will be without Blake Griffin for the game as he continues to recover from a quad injury and that is an advantage for the Knicks. The Clippers just traded Josh Smith to Houston and now the team will try and stop the Knicks from continuing their streak at MSG.
The Knicks have won six in a row at home and will go for number seven on Friday and they are currently on their biggest home winning streak in the past three years. The team won 10 in a row at home a few years ago and now they have the chance to keep things going. The Knicks arte 22-22 coming into the game and that is a major improvement from last season, as they only had six wins in January. The team win in double overtime against the Sixers earlier in the week and also won over the Jazz before playing against the Clippers on this home stand.
Carmelo Anthony has been playing at a high level after dealing with an ankle injury before last week and he comes in after scoring 30 points and adding nine assists and seven rebounds in the win over Utah. Anthony is doing a little bit of everything this season and his strong play is a big factor in why the Knicks have been improving this year. The Knicks have lost six in a row against the Clippers and LA comes into the game as one of the top teams in the west.
The Clippers lost against the Cavaliers on Thursday and that snapped a six game winning streak on the road for the Clips. Chris Paul has been playing well without Griffin in the lineup and he had 30 points and nine assists in the loss in Cleveland. The team has been playing well overall despite the absence of Griffin, as the Clippers won the first nine games that he missed.
The team has now lost two of the past three, but they will try and bounce back against the Knicks. DeAndre Jordan has been picking up the slack without Griffin in the lineup and he has 10 straight games with a double-double, while Kristaps Porzingis will be the main focus for the Knicks. The rookie has been playing very well this season and is averaging 14 points per game.
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