So after we congratulate the Knicks for taking care of business in a five game homestand against inferior opponents, the Knicks come back with an uninspiring 106-96 loss to the Wizards. The Wizards are a far better team with
The linear regression line, which is basically horizontal, shows that for the Knicks, there is no statistically significant relationship between the opponent’s winning percentage and the scoring margin. Compare that to two of the Knicks fellow Eastern Conference foes, the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat:
Both of those linear regression lines have negative slope. If you test significance, you do find that there is a statistically significant relationship between the two variables for both the Nets and the Heat
Scouting Minnesota
What’s the best way to escape the oncoming Snowmageddon named after a lovable cartoon fish? By flying to Minnesota, of course.
The Timberwolves are similar to the Wizards in that they’ve both been hampered by injuries. Kevin Love, Andrei Kirilenko, and Chase Budinger are all not expected to play Friday, and that doesn’t include the fact the Timberwolves were missing Ricky Rubio for the first two months of the season with his torn ACL.
Rubio is a more gifted passer than Wall, but while the Wizards showed their strength on the perimeter, the Timberwolves leading scorer in the non Kevin Love division is center Nikola Pekovic. While Pekovic has had success against the Knicks (42 points and 30 rebounds in their last two meetings), look for an energetic Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire to stop the Timberwolves inside.