NBA Odds – New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers

New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers (-12, 198 o/u)

The New York Knicks will visit the Quicken Loans Arena tonight trying to bounce back from a loss in their season opener. Unfortunately, they will be taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers and the NBA’s newest “Big-3”: LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving.  This game will mark James’ regular season return to Cleveland and the entire city is in a tizzy, dropping big bucks for the chance to witness history first-hand. 

In the last ten meetings between these teams, the Knicks leads the series 6-4. However, with James and Love added to the mix, you cantoss out everyone’s recent head-to-head against the Cavs.

King James is a headache for opponents at both ends of the floor. He was third in scoring last season with 27.1 PPG, and also led Miami in rebounding (7.1 RBP), assists (4.8 APG), and steals (1.8 SPG). The new, thinner LeBron figures to have increased stamina, as well. (So don’t expect any cramps this season.)

There was initially some question whether Kevin Love would be in the starting lineup tonight, as the 6’10” power forward injured his ribs in practice this week. However, the latest information says Love is good to go.

On the other side, Carmelo Anthony is still the man in New York, after signing a massive five-year, $124 million contract to stay in the Big Apple. Anthony was second in scoring in the NBA last season with 27.4 PPG. How he fits into coach Derek Fisher’s new Phil Jackson-inspired triangle offense remains to be seen, however. In last night’s game against Chicago, the answer was: not well. Anthony finished with just 14 points on 5/13 shooting.

The Cavaliers are 12-point favorites and the over/under sits at 198.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (LeBron James) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped from its original.)