Filip Tomic
Just 10 days following their clash at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Warriors close out their regular-season series on Saturday at Chase Center. Catch the tipoff at 8.30 pm ET on ABC, I’ve prepared a Same Game Parlay for this matchup priced at +382 odds.
We also have predictions for Saturday’s slate on our NBA Picks page, but let’s jump into my SGP bet now.
Mikal Bridges to score 15+ points (-260)
Karl-Anthony Towns Over 2.5 made threes (+154)
Draymond Green to record 6+ rebounds (-210)
Same Game Parlay odds: +382
Mikal Bridges to score 15+ points (-260)
Bridges is coming off arguably his best game of the season after scoring 33 points and the game winning dagger three to beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Concerns have been raised about the Knicks starters logging too many minutes, but I do not believe Bridges will be affected by this, after all he is known as the NBA’s iron man having played in 539 consecutive games. With Brunson being out the rest of the Knicks starters have to step up and provide a spark on offense, Bridges has taken it upon himself to be that guy. He’s cleared this line in 4 of his last 5 games, while over his last 10 he’s averaging 16.7 per game on better than 52% shooting. Going up against Jimmy Butler will be a tough task, but I have the outmost confidence Bridges can score 15 points. He had exactly that many in the first meeting at MSG played 10 days ago, while over the last 8 vs the Warriors he’s averaging 18.9 per game.
Karl-Anthony Towns Over 2.5 made threes (+154)
Slowly but surely Karl-Anthony Towns is starting to look like that player who had back-to-back 40+ point games for the Knicks just before the all-star break. A minor injury slowed him down at the start of March, but in his last 3 games KAT has scored 20+ vs the Clippers, Kings and Blazers, all on the road. His shot percentage has improved in 4 consecutive games, while from downtown he’s knocked down at least 3 threes in 2 of his last 3 games. If we expand that to the last 10 games he’s played in – he’s at 2.4 made threes per game on over 40% efficiency. Playing the three-point happy Warriors is always a motivating factor for Towns. He’s averaging 2.8 made 3s per game in the last 10 meetings while shooting exactly 40%. The last time he played at Chase Center he finished with 33 points and 5 threes made — so let’s hope he can display some of that shooting touch in tonight’s game, as well.
Draymond Green to record 6+ rebounds (-210)
It was a very unusual game for Draymond Green on Thursday, when he scored 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting — eclipsing his previous season high of 21 points scored. For Saturday’s game I believe he will focus more on the other end of the floor, especially on the rebounding side of things. The Knicks have been plagued with poor rebounding all season, averaging just 51.2 boards a night — which ranks them just 22nd in the NBA. During this road trip they have struggled to maintain consistency in that aspect of their game, as their last 3 opponents have averaged 53.7 rebounds per game. That’s an increase of 4.2 compared to their season average. Earlier this week the Portland Trail Blazers grabbed 52 rebounds against them, I think we can all agree the Warriors are a better rebounding team than Portland. Green has cleared this line in 8 of the last 10 meetings fairly easily, if it wasn’t for the 0 rebounds game in which he got injured and had to leave early, his average of 8.2 per game during that stretch would have been a lot higher.
