NBA Battle of the Top Scorers, 76ers Take on the Clippers with Chris Paul

The NBA’s Atlantic Division had the day off on Saturday but they’ll return to action on Sunday. First up is the New York Knicks (20-30) vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder (40-12).

One of Sunday’s storylines includes a battle of the league’s top two scorers: the Knicks Carmelo Anthony vs. the Thunder’s Kevin Durant. Anthony has a 27.4-point average but over the previous eight games, has been averaging 33.6 points with 51.3 percent shooting from the field. In his last game in Oklahoma City, on April 7, 2013 with a 125-120 Knicks win, Anthony had 36 points with 12 rebounds.

He missed the most recent game on Christmas where the Thunder crushed the Knicks 123-94–the most dominant road victory by a league team on Christmas.

Carmelo Anthony

But fast forward to a month later and who can forget Anthony’s 62-point, franchise-record game on Jan. 24? It’s hard not to ask if this will be the last game with those two where Anthony will be wearing a Knicks uniform as questions continue swirling on whether he’ll be traded as the Feb. 20 deadline is looming.

Then there’s Durant, who has also been impressive this season. He has a 31-point per game average but he’s had 40 or more points per games five times this season with a 54-pointer on Jan. 17. In January, he had 12 consecutive games with 30 or greater points.

Anthony recently said of Durant via the New York Daily News, “Oh, spectacular season. Just top to bottom, everything he’s doing, the way guys are actually putting him in position to succeed. He keeps getting better. That’s something that I love about him. He keeps getting better. He works hard and he’s going to continue getting better in this league.”

All of this one-man Durant Show has come as teammate Russell Westbrook has watched from the sidelines with a knee injury. But along with Durant’s impressive good play, has been the recent action by his teammate Serge Ibaka, who has a 19.7 point-average over the last nine games with 65.0 percent shooting. In his last game against the Knicks, he had 24 points (10 of 14 from the field).

While the Knicks will keep their eyes on these two players, the Thunder will want to watch the Knicks’ bench. Infamous sixth man J.R. Smith in his six previous games, has a 19.5 point average with Tim Hardaway Jr. averaging 15.2 points during these same games. And in the two prior games, Amare Stoudemire has 32 points with 15 boards over 41 minutes of play.

The Knicks will enter this game confidently after Friday’s 117-90 win over the Denver Nuggets (27-22). This ended their three-game losing streak as Anthony had a 31-point game (even though he missed the final quarter); the team shot 56.5 percent from the field.

It’s hard not to wonder what this team will look like after the trade deadline, will it be missing Anthony and its coach Mike Woodson? For now, the Knicks will focus on the present. They’ll see another loss on Sunday as the Thunder gets the win (-9.5, 200.5 o/u).

Other Sunday Games….

The Philadelphia 76ers (15-36) have lost five straight and will try to snap this on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers (35-18).

Unfortunately for Philadelphia, Chris Paul will be returning to play after sitting on the sidelines since Jan. 3 with a shoulder injury. The team has done just fine without him, going 12-6. While Paul will need to shake off some rust, the team is only likely to play better in his return.

Evan Turner

For the 76ers, they sit at the bottom of the league as they allow 110.0 points per game and in their current losing streak, have given up a 114.4 point average.

Look for a Clippers’ win (-15, 225 o/u).

Additional Sunday games include the Dallas Mavericks (30-21)(-4, 198.5 o/u) at the Boston Celtics (18-33) and the New Orleans Pelicans (22-27) at the Brooklyn Nets (-5, 194 o/u)(22-26).