{"id":13601,"date":"2011-02-23T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=13601"},"modified":"2011-02-23T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T20:15:08","slug":"melo-debut-milwaukee-bucks-at-new-york-knicks-betting-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/melo-debut-milwaukee-bucks-at-new-york-knicks-betting-preview-13601\/","title":{"rendered":"Melo Debut: Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks Betting Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Milwaukee Bucks AT New York Knicks
\nFeb 23, 2011 at 7:30 PM EST
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 NY -7.5
\nCurrent Line: NY -7
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 199
\nCurrent Total: 200
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 NY -310 \/ Mil +260
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 NY -300 \/ Mil +250<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Carmelo will be donning a Knicks Uni Tonight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This game is sure to be about one thing:\u00a0 Carmelo Anthony.\u00a0 After being discussed as the main part of a trade rumor between both the Knicks and the Nets, he finally landed in a Knick uniform and will now team with Amar’e Stoudemire to launch the Knicks into contention — Well, maybe.\u00a0 Even with Carmelo and Amar’e paired, it may not be enough to overcome the talent amassed by the other top teams in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

However, one must be careful to remember that the Knicks also acquired Billups.\u00a0 While Billups may not have a lot left in the tank, he is going to be a viable starter at point guard for the next few seasons.\u00a0 It would have to be assumed that the Knicks would have rather kept Felton, but that obviously wasn’t an option for them.\u00a0 Either way, Billups will be a great point guard to facilitate Anthony and Stoudemire.<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

Milwaukee is 3-8 SU In their last 11 games and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of Milwaukee’s last 5 games on the road.\u00a0 Milwaukee is 0-5 SU in their last 5 road games and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of the last 8 games against the Knicks.\u00a0 Milwaukee is 8-1 SU in their last 9 against New York and the total has gone UNDER in 5 of Milwaukee’s last 6 games on the road against the Knicks.\u00a0 Milwaukee is 4-1 SU in their last 5 games on the road against the Knicks.<\/p>\n

The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York’s last 6 games and it has gone OVER in 4 of their last 6 at home.\u00a0 New York is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 against Milwaukee.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 6 of New York’s last 8 games against Milwaukee.\u00a0 New York is 1-8 SU in their last 9 games against Milwaukee and they are 1-4 SU in their last 5 home games against the Bucks.\u00a0 New York is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games against the Bucks and the total has gone UNDER in 5 of the last 6 games at home against Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Key Matchups:<\/p>\n

Brandon Jennings vs. Chauncey Billups<\/strong><\/p>\n

Youth vs. Experience.\u00a0 Jennings’ “youth” shows up at the wrong times, as he is prone to launching bad shots and making risky passes, but he still remains one of the top prospects at the point guard spot in the game.\u00a0 He’s exciting (he was going to be in the dunk contest if not for recently coming back from injury) and knows how to make his teammates better.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball is Billups, who has been perpetually underrated his entire career.\u00a0 Fittingly, at least, he has the nickname “Mister Big Shot,” but how could he be denied that nickname given his late game heroics?\u00a0 Billups has been playing less minutes this year (32 a game) and his stats are down mainly due to that.\u00a0 His field goal percentage is actually UP, so his efficiency has improved slightly, even if his point total has decreased.\u00a0 Jennings is averaging 15.5 points per game and 6.0 assists per game for his career against New York.\u00a0 Billups should be able to slow him down a little, and wear him out defensively, where he will be quite undersized to cover Billups.
\n
\nLuc Richard Mbah a Moute vs. Amar’e Stoudemire & Carmelo Anthony<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, if only the Bucks could clone the “Prince” and use one of each of the clones to cover Amar’e and Melo.\u00a0 He’ll do a great job on whomever he is covering, but there will then be the other to do the damage.\u00a0 Normally, when a team struts out their starting 5 they have at best one forward that needs to be covered intensely, but the Knicks now have TWO.\u00a0 Ersan Ilyasova isn’t a bad defender, but for Carmelo he will be too slow, and for Amar’e, too weak.\u00a0 Mbah a Moute won’t score much, but that really isn’t his job.\u00a0 Like I said, his only downfall is that there is only one of him to go around.<\/p>\n

The Knicks now have one of the most potent teams in the league.\u00a0 People could raise questions about their ability to defend, but Amar’e has improved dramatically as a defender and Billups is able to cover even the best point guards.\u00a0 If Melo can improve his intensity and effort on defense, the Knicks might be able to contend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Milwaukee Bucks AT New York Knicks Feb 23, 2011 at 7:30 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 NY -7.5 Current Line: NY -7 Opening Total:\u00a0 199 Current Total: 200 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 NY -310 \/ Mil +260 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 NY -300 \/ Mil +250 This game is sure to be about one thing:\u00a0 Carmelo Anthony.\u00a0 After being discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":9421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[669,274,49,13,663,115],"class_list":["post-13601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-amare-stoudemire","tag-brandon-jennings","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-luc-richard-mbah-a-moute","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-new-york-knicks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13601"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13603,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions\/13603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}