We head to Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks welcome in the Oklahoma City Thunder. NY comes in off a frustrating overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs 130-126. Jalen Brunson scored 61 pts, one shy of the Knicks franchise record, as NY now trails a half game behind the Cavaliers for the 4th seed in the East. This is a huge bounce back spot, after probably looking ahead to this Easter matchup disregarding the lowly spurs.

OKC defeated New York earlier in the year 129-120 December 27th at home. The Thunder come into this game tied with Minnesota for the #1 seed in the Western Conference. MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous Alexander was listed as doubtful last night, but was seen today at shoot around. He can’t afford to miss many games with Luka, Edwards and Jokic playing the way they’re for him to win the award. He clearly won’t be 100% and hopefully takes some bad shots trying to pad his stats.

I took this game last night because I truly thought SGA would sit out. WIth that said, I still believe this is a Knicks spot in front of the home crowd off of a bad loss. NY needs this game especially with the Cavaliers having to face the Nuggets today in Denver. A Knicks win puts them back ahead for the 4th seed. It won’t be all Jalen Brunson tonight. The bench has to step up in a major way after only scoring eight points against San Antonio.

Official Pick: Knicks ML -125

By the Black Bookie

Photo courtesy the MSG group