Filip Tomic

KAT didn’t have the best of games on MLK Day against Atlanta as he scored just 13 points, his lowest output in January so far. With that game out of the way though, I am expecting a bounce-back performance against the Nets tonight. He’s been cooking from three-point land this month, knocking down 2.3 threes per game on an insane 50% efficiency.

In 9 games played he has scored a pair of triples a total of 6 times, and that number should improve against a Nets team that ranks bottom of the league in three-point defense this year. Opponents are making 38% of their shots from deep against Brooklyn and over their last 3 games that number has increased to 39.4%. The first 2 meetings of the year saw 32 and 30 threes scored between the 2 teams, so expect another high-scoring game and a KAT bounce-back performance to boost our Knicks vs Nets Same Game Parlay.

Playing against his former team, you just know that Mikal Bridges will want to prove Brooklyn wrong once again for trading him away. In the 2 games since going across town to the Knicks, Bridges has played the Nets twice and scored 21 and 22 points. That continued a streak of 5 games in a row of at least 20 points in head-to-head meetings. New York’s ironman has logged 45 and 41 minutes against the Nets this year, and if he sees that much gametime again then he’s bound to fill up the stat sheet. Brooklyn’s defense really struggled during their 6-game West Coast road trip and they have Ben Simmons on the injury report which would be a devastating blow in trying to defend Bridges.

It’s no secret that the Brooklyn Nets are struggling in the playmaking department, as in their last 3 games they’ve scored 101, 101 and 67 points. D’Angelo Russell did not play in that historic loss to the Clippers, as the team finished with just 15 total assists with only 6 of them coming from the starting unit. Since the Nets acquired Russell from the Lakers, he has played in 6 games and has averaged 7.3 assists. In only 1 of the games he has failed to clear this number, which was against Philadelphia over 2 weeks ago where he played just 14 minutes.

Everything goes through Russell on offense for the Nets, and even on nights when they get blown out by opponents he still produces in the assists department. Against the Knicks, Russell has cleared this line twice over the last 4 meetings. The 2 games between the Knicks and Nets this season were decided by 2 and 10 points, so I think it’s realistic to expect another close finish here. If that’s the case then Russell should play a big part in getting his teammates involved.