Battle of the Boroughs: Part IV

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Knicks have their last battle of the regular season against the Nets at Madison Square Garden at 3:00 PM. The last time that these two teams played together at the Garden was on December 19th, back in 2012. Now it is 2013 and the Nets are doing great to start off the New Year only losing one game! That’s stupendous! The Knicks, however, have not been looking very good getting their first three game losing streak while having Mike Woodson as head coach during the regular season. I still think though that the Knicks and Nets will play some phenomenal basketball.

In my opinion, I think that Carmelo Anthony will easily hit 30. The reason I say that Carmelo will get 30 points because against the Nets he averages 37 points per game. Here is how many points he scored in each of the battles: Part I: 35 points, Part II: 45 points, Part III: 31 points. I’m saying: Part IV: 30 or more points. This game should definitely be a very rough one, but still a close game. I believe that it might come down to the very final shot, maybe even at the buzzer of the 4th quarter. Just like Parts I and II of the battle. Part I: Overtime Thriller as Nets hold on to win 96-89, Part II: Jason Kidd hits a three pointer and the foul with around 15 seconds left, misses the free throw, but the Nets could not tie the game, Knicks win 100-97, Part III: Knicks win in blow out 100-86. As you can see, it will be rough, for neither team has gotten one point more than 100 in all three battles. That is some good defense and hustle! Raymond Felton will not play in the game because he fractured his right pinky finger on Christmas Day against the Lakers.

Next up are the matchups. They are: Point Guards: Jason Kidd vs. Deron Williams. I think that it will be tough for D-Will to score on Jason Kidd because Kidd has an extremely high basketball I.Q. However, I think Deron Williams will win this matchup because he has speed over the 38 year old Jason Kidd. Also, as being one of the rising stars in the NBA, Deron Williams can hit contested shots over Kidd. In my opinion, the point guard matchup goes to the Nets. Shooting Guards: Iman Shumpert vs. Joe Johnson. I think that Iman Shumpert will play great defense on Joe Johnson, but has still not fully recovered from his big injury yet, so I think the shooting guard matchup goes to the Nets, as well. Small Forwards: Chris Copeland vs. Gerald Wallace. I know that most people are going to disagree with me on this, but I think Copeland wins this matchup. Chris Copeland shoots with such confidence over defenders and makes it in. He also has had about 4 or 5 games this year where he started and got 20 or more points. Gerald Wallace, on the other hand, gets injured way too much. That’s why they call him CRASH! In my opinion, the small forward matchup goes to the Knicks. Power Forwards: Carmelo Anthony vs. Kris Humphries. This is probably the easiest choice to make and I have got to go with Carmelo. I think this matchup goes to the Knicks. Centers: Tyson Chandler vs. Brook Lopez. I think that Brook Lopez is really overrated and Tyson Chandler is clearly better. The centers matchup goes to the Knicks.

I think and hope that the Knicks win. I think that the Knicks can win the season series against the Nets as 3 wins and 1 loss.

I cannot wait to see this game Brooklyn vs. Manhattan, Nets vs. Knicks. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and please comment!