Best Player Prop Bets for Warriors vs Knicks as Fans Return to MSG on Tuesday Night

• Fans are back in the seats at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night as the Warriors play the host Knicks
• Steph Curry and Draymond Green should put on a show as they’ve done historically at MSG
• See the player props and best bets for tonight below

New York City has been dead since last March. OK, that is a bit of an overstatement – but not by much. Manhattan is a vast wasteland of empty office buildings, boarded up businesses and huddled, masked, freezing miserable people. It is Ground Zero for Coronavirus fatigue.

But that will start to change tonight as fans are allowed into Madison Square Garden for the first time all season – just in time to see Steph Curry’s annual visit to the Big Apple – a place where he has had some of the best games of his career.

The Dubs are 3-point favorites, and the total opened at a mere 215.5 – a testament to the strong defense the Knicks have been playing under coach Tom Thibodeau – but has since moved to over 220.

That being said, Curry should excel on the big stage in the Big Apple this evening.

Stephen Curry Player Props vs Knicks

Odds taken from FanDuel February 23rd

Curry Has Put Up Monster Numbers at MSG

The Warriors have a six-game winning streak against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and the last time the Knicks won at home against the Warriors was on February 27, 2013 (109-105). In that game, Curry scored 54 points (18-28 FG, 11-13 3P, 7-7 FT) while playing all 48 minutes.

The place will not be rocking the way it was eight years ago, but having fans back in the building is a huge step for New Yorkers, who were already the grumpiest of all Americans even before the pandemic hit. Trust me (I am one of them), they have gotten worse.

Both teams will be in the expanded playoffs, and New York currently sits seventh in the East with a slim possibility that Julius Randle will be chosen as an All-Star reserve tonight. Golden State is eighth in the West with Curry playing at the highest level of his career, according to Steve Kerr.

And when you think about that, it is a mouthful. Curry is a two-time MVP who has been killing it over the course of this month, averaging 34.4 points while attempting – wait for it – 139 three-pointers. Yes, one hundred and thirty-nine (he has made 62 of them). If you feel confident that Curry will make the first bucket of the night, that wager is available at +470 at DraftKings Sportsbook.

How Much Will the Warriors Play Through Steph?

Logic dictates that most of the action will revolve around Curry, who has been a human highlight reel this month. Did you see this one from practice the day after Christmas? The Warriors videotaped it, for which they should be nominated for an Emmy or something. Curry has scored 25 or more points in each of the last 12 games he has played in (1/25 – 2/19), averaging 33.3 points per game in that span.

It’s a career-best streak, surpassing his previous high of 10 straight games. The league leader in 3-pointers made this season (151), Curry has made at least one three-pointer in 92 consecutive games, the league’s longest active streak (entering 2020-21, Curry had made a triple in 62 straight games) and the fourth-longest streak in NBA history.

The line on Curry scoring 40 or more is +680 at FanDuel, and that book thinks a 25-point game from Curry is such a certainty that he is at odds of -280 to score 25+ points.

Curry has only three 40-point games this season, but one was a career-high 62 against Portland on Jan. 3.

When Will Books Get Clued in on Oubre Jr.?

Another Warriors player to watch is Kelly Oubre Jr., who has shaken off a rough start to the season (back when Dubs Nation was all boo-hoo over the loss of Klay Thompson for another season) and has scored 20 or more points in each of the last three games. Oubre Jr. is averaging 24.7 points per game (.528 FG%, .500 3P%) in that span and has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games.

The Warriors played 20 games in December and January, and Oubre reached 20 just twice. That stretch included super-dud games of 1-for-11, 2-for-11 and 1-for-10 shooting nights. But he has shot 50 percent of better in five of 11 games this month, and his minutes totals were 37, 37 and 44 in his last three games.

So Oubre will be out there a lot tonight, it’s just a question of how ‘on” he is. There are not many Oubre props out there because the books are not yet clued-in enough him. They will get there, trust me, but William Hill is offering a +333 prop on Oubre scoring 20 and Golden State winning.

Styles Clashing in Tuesday Matchup

Golden State is averaging just over 114 points per game but has reached 120 or more in four of the past five.

The Knicks have won four of five and have held five of their last six opponents under 100 points, so what we have here is a clash of styles in which Thibodeau is going to have to devise a scheme to defend the 3-point line more than usual. Curry did not play in the Warriors last game, a loss at Charlotte, because of an illness.

Let’s assume that this guy is going to be ready to roll tonight, because that’s what he usually does in his annual visit to MSG. On 2/28/14 at New York, Curry recorded his fourth career triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in 30 minutes to become just the fifth player (second visiting) to post a 50-point game (54 points on 2/27/13) and a triple-double in separate games at Madison Square Garden since it was moved to its present location in 1968.

Another Golden State player to watch closely is Draymond Green – who must atone for his cranial flatulence episode in Charlotte two nights ago – when he drew two technicals with 8 seconds left, allowing the Hornets to tie a game that they eventually won on a buzzer-beater by Terry Rozier.

Green’s first career start came at MSG, and two of his franchise-record 24 triple-doubles have come against the Knicks.

Nobody is talking about the Knicks or Warriors as championship contenders, and and this point nobody should. The Lakers, Nets and Sixers are getting almost all of the action at the major U.S. sportsbooks, for obvious reasons.  But the trade deadline is still ahead of us, and the Warriors are priced around +10000, while the Knicks are generally +25000.

What happens if one of those two teams acquires Andre Drummond, J.J. Redick, or Lonzo Ball? You never know.

Just making it to the Finals might be a more realistic flier proposition. New York is +15000 to win the East; Golden State is +5000 to win the West. Strange things happen over the course of an NBA season.

Just some food for thought on a night when the concession stands will finally reopen in NYC.