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There are seven games on the New Years Eve NBA schedule, starting in the afternoon. Get in on the action on Monkey Knife Fight.
In the evening games, the Sacramento Kings are in Houston to take on the Rockets. The Kings are 3-1 to start the season while the Rockets are 0-2.
The New York Knicks will face the Toronto Raptors in Tampa Bay. The Raptors are winless through three games, and are in desperate need of a win, going against a 2-2 Knicks team.
In the later games, the 2-2 New Orleans Pelicans visit the 1-2 Oklahoma City Thunder before the Phoenix Suns travel to Utah to take on the Jazz. The Suns are 3-1, the Jazz are 2-1.
Here are some angles to consider for Thursday evening’s slate of NBA games on Monkey Knife Fight.
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STAR SHOOTOUT - EARLY GAMES
MORE OR LESS
James Harden MORE THAN 31.5 POINTS
Maybe the biggest story in the league right now is surrounding Harden and his apparent desire to get out of Houston. Then the story was about how Harden showed up looking like he was out of shape. Well, he’s scored 78 points in two games and even though the Sacramento Kings are 3-1 early in this season, they are also allowing 114 points per game, so they aren’t the team to slow down The Beard.
Pascal Siakam MORE THAN 20.5 POINTS
After a disastrous experience in the Orlando bubble to end last season, the Raptors forward needed to recapture his form this season and it hasn’t quite happened yet. He’s shooting just 39.3% from the field, while averaging 18.7 points per game. The Knicks defense has also been better than average in the early going but the reason to be optimistic about Siakam is that his shooting should improve and his usage is significant enough that even a little improvement will get him to more than 20 points for the first time this season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander LESS THAN 23.5 POINTS
As expected, SGA has become the offensive leader on a rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder team and he is averaging 23.3 points per game but he faces a New Orleans Pelicans team that has been stingy defensively, allowing 104.0 points per game and a league-low 15.5 free throw attempts per game.
RAPID FIRE
Kyle Lowry +0.5 assists vs. John Wall
While the Raptors have struggled early in the season, losing their first three games, it hasn’t had a negative impact on Lowry, the veteran point guard who is averaging 9.7 assists per game. Wall hasn’t played in an NBA game in more than two years and he averaged 8.7 assists per game in the last season that he played.
Julius Randle -1.5 rebounds vs. Christian Wood
Randle has been a force in the frontcourt for the Knicks, grabbing 10.5 rebounds per game. Wood has been effective, averaging 8.0 rebounds per game, grabbing 13 then three in two games.
STAR SHOOTOUT - LATE GAMES
MORE OR LESS
Zion Williamson LESS THAN 25.5 POINTS
Zion is averaging 21.3 points per game this season and faces an Oklahoma City Thunder squad that is about league average defensively. He obviously has the potential to go off but there hasn’t been enough consistency yet.
Devin Booker LESS THAN 24.5 POINTS
Booker is struggling early in the season, averaging 19.0 points per game and coming off a loss to New Orleans in which he was held to eight points. The Jazz are good enough defensively that they aren’t likely to be Booker’s way out of his early slump.
Donovan Mitchell LESS THAN 23.5 POINTS
Mitchell went off in last year’s playoffs, putting up a couple of 50-point games against Denver, but he has started slowly this season, averaging 20.3 points per game on 32.3% shooting from the field. Phoenix has had the league’s best defense early going, the only team to allow less than 100 points per game, so it’s not going to be easy for Mitchell to bust out.
RAPID FIRE
Chris Paul -1.5 assists vs. Lonzo Ball
Paul has been okay in his first four games with the Suns and is averaging 9.5 assists per game. Ball has bizarrely low assist numbers, managing 3.5 assists per game. He’s better than that but it still makes more sense to side with Paul’s reliability.
