Washington Wizards at New York Knicks Betting Preview

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— Thursday, December 23rd Washington Wizards @ New York Knicks

We’ve got a close matchup between the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks. Each of these teams is ready to do battle in the Eastern Conference. The Washington Wizards are currently seated at the No.6 spot in the division.

They’ll hope to land a win over the Knicks and increase their positioning. However, the New York Knicks won’t go down without a fight.

New York is on the outskirts of the Eastern Conference. They sit at the No.12 spot and desperately need wins to get back into the mix. Although there are plenty of games left, the Knicks need to kick it into gear.

They’ve now lost Derrick Rose for at least eight weeks for his surgery. The good news for New York is that the Wizards are missing some key players too.

Washington Wizards: No Hachimura or Caldwell-Pope

Although both teams are coming in with injuries, these ones will hurt the Wizards. It also doesn’t help that Thomas Bryant is out as well. They’ll have to rely heavily on Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma in this one.

Beal is their best scorer, averaging 23.3 points per game. However, the Wizards will need Kuzma to step up the scoring in Caldwell-Pope’s absence.

To stop the Knicks, they need to focus on Julius Randle. The rest of the team is pretty battered, so the main key is slowing down Randle’s efficiency. If they can do that, they’ll have a good shot at winning this game.

This process will be much easier said than done, considering all of the players the Wizards are missing. However, they aren’t the only team fighting the injury bug.

New York Knicks: New York will be missing a lot of depth

This could be a problem for New York as many of their bench players are out of the lineup. Players such as Immanuel Quickley and Kevin Knox II are both out. They’ll also be without their starting center, Nerlens Noel.

So, beating the Washington Wizards isn’t going to be an easy task with their bench players out. They overcame these injuries in a recent win against Detroit.

The Knicks will need to find ways to get Julius Randle in more one-on-one scenarios. This will allow him to do what he does best, work inside and score points. Offensive rebounding will be key here, too, as it usually means second-chance points.

The Knicks have to play this game smart, avoid fouls and stay ahead on the boards. If they can do that, they can pull this one-off.

Our pick for the Washington Wizards at New York Knicks

It might be a long shot, but we like the New York Knicks here. Their performance against Detroit proved they can overcome these injuries and win games. They have enough talent to do the same thing here. Although they haven’t been great against the spread this season, we trust them to pull this off.

Our main reason for trusting them here is actually the players missing for the Wizards. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope plays a distinct role in the Wizards offense. Without him, the weight will shift to Bradley Beal. New York can focus on Beal and shut him down, which should win them the game.

DunkelIndex Free Pick: New York Knicks +1, UNDER

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