NBA Picks 4/2 – Washington Wizards @ New York Knicks

NBA Picks 4/2 – Washington Wizards @ New York Knicks

by Thomas Quaynor – NBA analyst for Wannamakeabet.com

The Washington Wizards (34-43) face the New York Knicks (45-33) tonight at Madison Square Garden, New York is a 12-point favorite and the total is 223.5. This is the fourth and final meeting between these teams, the road team has won the previous three matchups with the Knicks winning twice (112-108 and 115-109) in Washington and the Wizards winning 116-105 in New York on January 18.

Both teams will be without their star players tonight, Washington’s three leading scorers Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma are all out, while the Knicks will be without its leading scorer Julius Randle. The New York Knicks are currently locked in as the 5th seed in the East as they are 3 games behind 4th place Cleveland and 2.5 games ahead of Brooklyn for 6th. Washington sits in 11th place in the East and is 3 games out of the play-in round. 

A WAR OF ATTRITION? 

Tonight’s game could be viewed as a War of Attrition as four 20-point scorers will not play tonight. Bradley Beal (23.2 ppg), Kristaps Porzingis (23.2ppg) and Kyle Kuzma (21.2 ppg) will be out for Washington and New York’s Julius Randle (25.1 ppg) is out with an ankle injury.

Washington appears to be waving the white flag on the season, so the absence of their top three players isn’t surprising. Washington may be using its final five games to showcase their younger players and position themselves for a higher lottery pick in the June draft. 

Second-year forward Corey Kispert has played very well in the absence of the Wizards ‘Big 3’, he’s coming off a career-high 27 points (9-14 from 3) in Friday’s loss to Orlando and is averaging 17.1 ppg over his last 10 games. Forward Deni Avdija, who the Wizards selected 9th overall in the 2020 draft, is averaging 16.3 ppg over his last 6 games.

The New York Knicks suffered a devastating blow when All-Star forward Julius Randle sprained his left ankle in the second quarter of Wednesday’s 101-92 win at Miami, he’ll be out for at least two weeks. Randle could potentially miss the start of the playoffs which start on April 15.

In the Knicks first game without Randle, guard Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 48 points in a win at Cleveland (their likely first round playoff opponent), he also added 9 assists and 4 rebounds. Brunson has thrived in his first season with the Knicks averaging 24.0 points and 6.2 assists per game, which are both career-highs. 

Forward Obi Toppin, who the Knicks selected 8th overall in the 2020 draft, made his first start of the season in Randle’s absence on Friday night in Cleveland. Toppin scored 12 points in 19 minutes, he hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations in his three seasons in the NBA but has the opportunity to make a bigger impact over these final four games of the regular season and beyond if Randle is unable to return for the start of the playoffs. 

THE PICK

Washington has clearly given up on this season, I think the Knicks win this won comfortably, Lay the 12 with the Knicks!!