The New York Knicks opened the season with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden and the team will get right back into things on Thursday night with a game on the road against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in a game that will be part of an NBA doubleheader on TNT with the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Knicks will be broadcast on ESPN Radio in New York and the Bulls will be on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. The Bulls started off the season with a tough loss to the Miami Heat on the road in South Florida and the Knicks are hitting the road with a victory and now will look to try and match their start to last season when they opened with six straight wins.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks in scoring with 19 points in the win over the Bucks and he also added 10 rebounds in what could have been a blowout win before the Knicks let it get close with a tough third quarter. The team pulled out to a big lead midway through the game before letting the Bucks get back in it, but Anthony and Tyson Chandler were able to push through for the first Knicks win of the season against the Bucks at MSG.
The bench was very solid for the Knicks and they will need that on Thursday against the Bulls, as they will be motivated after losing their opening game against the Miami Heat. The only other game on Thursday will be the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers and one Friday the rest of the league will be in action with the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets playing the Barclays Center opener. Some of the other notable games includes the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN, as well as the Dallas Mavericks visiting the Houston Rockets. The Detroit Pistons are visiting the Memphis Grizzlies and before that the New Orleans Pelicans will play against the Orlando Magic.
After playing against the Bulls on the road, the Knicks will play the Minnesota Timberwolves before two against the Charlotte Bobcats and then the team plays the San Antonio Spurs before a matchup against the Atlanta Hawks that will be on national TV. The team is ranked first in scoring defense early after holding down the Bucks and the first big upset of the season came against the Miami Heat, as the Sixers were able to beat them in their second game of the season to drop Miami to 1-1.
The Knicks are expected to win a championship according to their owner and while that will be tough, it is not impossible and one team they will have to get past is the Miami Heat. People can imagine the Knicks beating the Indiana Pacer or Chicago Bulls and even that will be tough, but right now it's hard to see the Knicks defeating the Miami Heat. The first matchup between the two teams doesn't come until January and then after that the team also faces off against Indiana. The Pacers are being looked at as a sleeper team in the NBA and they could make a nice run in the east as well.
The Knicks and Bulls are playing as part of an NBA doubleheader on TNT on Thursday before the Warriors and Clippers.
