The NY Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are playing on the NBA preseason schedule from Syracuse on Tuesday night and the matchup from the Carrier Dome in New York comes as the Knicks are 1-2 and so are the Sixers heading into the stretch of the preseason and both teams are looking to bounce back after tough years in the east and Carmelo Anthony comes in with a new head coach in Derek Fisher and the game starts up past 7 pm ET.
The Knicks come into the game after losing to the Raptors in a preseason matchup and now they will play the Sixers before a matchup with the Bucks. The team has Milwaukee next on the schedule at MSG and it comes after this game in upstate New York. The Knicks have very high expectations for this season and while they are just 1-2 in the preseason, Phil Jackson has said that he sees plenty of positive and that the win loss record is not always the best barometer this early.
The Knicks brought back Carmelo Anthony and signed Derek Fisher and now they have Jackson in for five years as well. All three are looking to build together and this will be step one for the franchise after what happened last season. The team won just 37 games last year and missed the playoffs and now they are looking to get back to the postseason as NY builds a winner. The team started 3-13 last season and that was too much to get out of and Jackson has the team primed for a solid run this year with the trades and moves he has made.
The Knicks ranked eighth in points allowed per game last season, but they have to do better on offense and they need more support for Carmelo Anthony. The team ranked in the bottom half of the league in scoring last season and the triangle should open up more things for Melo. The Knicks have plenty of questions and they feel that this team is more talented than last year with the addition of Jose Calderon over Raymond Felton. Last season Felton and Tyson Chandler were terrible and now they are with the Mavericks after a deal by Jackson.
The team opened with two games against the Boston Celtics in the preseason and they had the Raptors next and lost that game before a matchup with the Sixers. The team has the Bucks and the Wizards next on the schedule before finishing up with the Raptors and they start the season with the Bulls and that matchup will be at home at MSG. The team then plays agonist the Cavaliers after opening with the Bulls and they will play that on the road in Cleveland before coming back to play the Hornets.
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