The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks will meet at the World's Most Famous arena tonight. Madison Square Garden is the site for Saturday's heavyweight NBA matchup.
Tonight will be the 300th regular season meeting between these two franchises. The Lakers lead the all-time series 173-126. New York and LA have split the season series in four consecutive seasons. Los Angeles has posted a record of 27-19.
That strong record has the Lakers seeded fifth in the West and first in the Pacific Division. LA enters this contest red hot, winning five of their last six games.
Continue below for my NBA parlay picks for Knicks vs. Lakers on Saturday, February 1.
Knicks vs. Lakers Same Game Parlay
- Knicks Moneyline
- Karl-Anthony Towns 25+ Points
- LeBron James 25+ Points
Parlay Payout: +235
Knicks Moneyline (-500)
Lakers vs Knicks, 8:30 p.m. ET
One area in which Los Angeles has struggled this season is on the road. First-year head coach JJ Redick's team is 11-13 playing on the road this year compared to 16-6 at home. Los Angeles will be playing their fifth straight game on the road.
The Lakers are coming off a blowout 134-96 win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.
Anthony Davis leads the Lakers with 25.7 points per game and 11.9 rebounds. Davis will be reevaluated next week with an abdominal strain.
LeBron James has shown no signs of slowing down at the age of 40. James has averaged 23.8 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, and a team-leading 9.0 assists, which ranks fourth in the NBA.
Former Oklahoma standout Austin Reaves has averaged a career-high 18.2 points per game and 6.1 assists. Los Angeles has averaged 111.8 points per game, ranking 17th in the NBA.
New York begins this contest with a record of 32-16. The Knicks have posted the third-best record in the East, entering the season; the expectations were high for this Knicks team.
New York added stars Karl Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in the off-season, bolstering their roster into one of the best in the NBA. Tom Thibodeau's team reached the second round of the playoffs last season, but the Pacers upset them in a seven-game series. New York has not reached the Conference Finals since 2000.
Tonight, the Knicks can stretch their win streak to six games. New York's five-game win streak is tied for the longest in the NBA. Former Villanova National Champion Jalen Brunson leads the squad with 25.9 points per game and 7.9 assists.
Karl Anthony Towns has enjoyed a strong season in year one, with the Knicks averaging 24.6 points and 13.7 rebounds per game.
Mikal Bridges has added 18.2 points and 3.1 rebounds. New York has averaged 117.9 points per game (4th in NBA).
New York is playing as well as any team in the NBA right now.The Lakers are in a difficult position on the road shorthanded without Anthony Davis.
The Knicks rank first in the NBA in rebounds per game and will dominate the glass in this matchup. We will fade the public 'dog and trust New York to continue rolling tonight.
Karl-Anthony Towns 25+ Points (-120)
Lakers vs Knicks, 8:30 p.m. ET
Towns will have a favorable matchup tonight facing this shorthanded Lakers lineup.
In the absence of Davis, the Lakers lack rim protection, leading to easy looks for Towns tonight.
Towns has averaged 24.6 points per game this season.
LeBron James 25+ Points (-180)
Lakers vs Knicks, 8:30 p.m. ET
James has had a knack for playing well at the Garden.
The future Hall of Famer has averaged 28.2 points per game in his career playing in New York.
James will need to carry the scoring load without Davis tonight.
LeBron has averaged 32.2 points per game in games without Davis this season.
