Mavericks vs. Knicks

Dallas -8 vs. New York

A once promising season for the New York Knicks now resembles many of their seasons of the last decade. The NBA and fans of the Knicks hopeful of a renaissance in Madison Square Garden may have spoke to soon as New York has dropped eight out of their last ten.

Some hope was reborn with New York (13-20) defeated Boston on Sunday, but the fact that the Celtics have been losing to everyone lately and the Knicks followed that victory with a devastating loss to the doormat of the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 107-99, on Tuesday. Any hope was deflated.

Thursday the Knicks can attempt their next rise from the ashes as they travel to Dallas to take on the Mavericks. It will be quite the uphill battle for New York who has not won in eight trips to Dallas, their last road win was in 1999. The Mavericks (21-13) also look to wrap up the two-game season sweep, having beaten the Knicks at MSG 124-114 in overtime on November 16th. A victory Thursday will give the Mavericks nine straight victories over the Knicks and victories in 14 of the last 15 matchups between the teams.

Dallas continues their stretch against some of the weaker teams in the league and while they have been victorious in most games, they have struggled, including overcoming double-digit deficits in wins over Minnesota and Philadelphia and a 20 point loss to the cellar dwelling Memphis Grizzlies.

Tuesday the Dallas Mavericks rebounded with a 107-102 home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Dirk Nowitzki blocked a shot and nailed the game winner with under a minute to play. Dallas has now 11-2 in their last 13 home games. Still Dallas had to go on an 11-1 run to come back and win.

InSpin.com

Iowa vs. Minnesota

Hawkeyes vs. Golden Gophers

The number 22 Golden Gophers of Minnesota are no longer in the ranks of the nation’s unbeaten masses, but they are still off to their best start in 12 years. Two games ago, Minnesota was beaten at home by, then-number 10, Michigan State, but rebounded to a victory against Ohio State 68-59 last Saturday. But now the Gophers will set off on an odyssey of which they are unfamiliar with: the road.

Unbelievably at this point in the season, Minnesota (13-1, 1-1) has played only one road game at Colorado State on November 22nd, a 72-71 victory. Thursday night they will travel to rival Iowa for their first road conference game and they will feature a team that has not lost at home in nine tries.

You would have to look hard in the Minnesota records to find a season when they started this well. That is because the last time that they did, 15-1 at the start of 1996-97, the records were expunged because of NCAA sanctions, which wiped a Final Four appearance off of the books.

The Gophers are residents of the Top 25 for the first time since 2002. They have done it with a balance offensive attack which scores 73.1 points per game, but the production is spread around because Minnesota has only one player in the top 25 scorers within the Big Ten. Lawrence Westbrook is the lone representative with 13 points per contest.

The Iowa Hawkeyes’s promising start has been derailed by alternating wins and losses over their last five games. They will look to win two straight for the first time in about a month after beating Indiana 65-60 last Saturday. The Hawkeyes (11-4) remained perfect at home by defeating the Hoosiers. At home, Iowa is holding opponents to a mere 50.6 points and 37.7 percent shooting. On the season, both home and away, Iowa is holding opponents to 55.9 points per game, good for a place in the top 10 in the country.

Minnesota is technically 2-0 on the road this season, having also beaten, then-number nine, Louisville at the neutral site of Glendale, Arizona on December 20th. A season ago, the Gophers were 4-8 on the road last season and have dropped their last four and seven of eight at Iowa.

InSpin.com