Pre-Game: 76ers vs. Knicks 12:00 PM

The New York Knicks will play the Philadelphia 76ers today at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are coming off a 0-4 road trip in which they struggled to do things right. Turnovers have hampered this team all season long and that continued the last road trip. This team needs to find a way to limit the turnovers and keep the opposition from earning more possessions.

Carmelo Anthony seems to be turning around his offensive game as he is becoming more like his old self. Last game Anthony came out on fire and really helped the team get off to a nice start. He ended up scoring 22 points in the teams lost to the Bucks. As the teams leader Anthony has to come out every game looking to get the team off in the right direction. His offensive game is the best in the league and he proves that in most games.

Amare Stoudemire scored 27 points in the last game and he seems to be getting better as well. But the defensive game of Stoudemire is terrible and it seems he struggles to react on helping out his teammates when their beat by the offensive player. The Knicks need Stoudemire to be better on the help defense and that will really help them win some games.

The backcourt of Jeremy Lin and Baron Davis may be the solution to the Knicks offensive woes. In the last game Lin and Davis were the catalyst for sparking a run that saw the Knicks get back into the game. Today that backcourt could possibly be used against the 76ers. Also look for Iman Shumpert to have a bigger role today as the Knicks go up against a very young and physical 76ers team. Shumpert played in just 5 minutes against the Bucks, but expect more minutes for him today.

JR Smith was fined $25,000 by the league for an inappropriate picture he posted on his Twitter account. Smith has struggled with inconsistency this season, but today expect a better effort from him. This team needs Smith to have a huge influence on the game. Smith needs to be an aggressive scorer when he plays with the 2nd unit.

This game will need the second unit to be very productive otherwise the Knicks will lose another game. Today the Knicks will play at 12:00 PM marking the only time this season that they will play this early. This game can be seen on MSG at 12:00 PM as the Knicks look to beat a very good 76ers team. Let’s go Knicks!