Thursday rankings and play...

Sides:

1) SA, 2) Min

Totals:

1) SA ov, 2) Min ov

San Antonio Spurs Pick, laying $105 to win $100 -- I like the revenge spot here...The Knicks had a remarkable comeback at SA 7 weeks ago to the day, down about 15 points with about 6 minutes left to win that game..And they were celebrating like they won the title...And I made a mental note of that as I watched the entire 2H of that game...I don't think the Spurs' players liked the way the Knicks were celebrating down the stretch after every made basket going into a timeout and the celebration after the game...I remember mentally circling that game...Spurs are 5-2-1 ATS on back-enders, while the Knicks I believe are 1-3 ATS when they have rest and their opponent does not...The Knicks are in a bad habit of falling behind early in games lately...I watched the entire game vs. Portland and I heard on the Knicks post-game show that they have trailed in their last 6 games after the 1st quarter...NY was able to come back numerous times this season (including at SA) from big deficits but this will, and has, caught up with them...The Knicks miss Raymond Felton badly...They miss his scoring badly...Jason Kidd was 0-for-5 with zero points and 3 or 4 total bricks last time out in 33 minutes and Pablo Prigioni wasn't much better, with 2 points in 22 minutes...Amare Stoudamire returning, a RUSTY Amare Stoudamire, just confuses the rotations for Coach Woodson until Amare gets going...Teams are starting to take Steve Novak out of the Knicks' offense as they have someone hanging on Novak at all times now and his production is disappearing...Ronnie Brewer is not the answer, either...Carmelo and J.R. Smith combined for 73 points against PORT, and they still lost...And those 2 guys are the only offense the Knicks have right now...And Melo got dinged up again late in the PORT game...Meanwhile, the Spurs, after a brief rough patch a few weeks ago, are now clicking on all cylinders again...And it sounds like Parker and the other veterans are looking forward to this game as I believe they have payback on their minds and I don't think the Knicks are going to be able to stop them, no matter how much they talk about clamping down their defense in their post-game interviews...I see the Knicks' recent struggles at MSG continuing tonight as the Spurs should win this one...

GL...