New York and Portland have more in common that you might think. Both teams are obviously having disappointing seasons. But two-point victories for each in their respective last games were quite welcome as they ended long losing streaks.

The Knicks had lost four in a row before downing Golden State 116-114 on Thursday. They are still 3-10 their last 13 games. That they pulled the upset over the Warriors, without RJ Barrett, was pretty impressive. But I don’t see the Knicks scoring that many points again here. They’re only averaging 104.7 per game for the year. Barrett is probably out again.

The Blazers beat the Lakers 107-105 on Wednesday. They’d dropped six in a row before that. It’s now a vastly different look than we’re used to seeing in Portland. For the last couple years, this team was carried by its backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Lillard is injured and McCollum was just traded.

The most points scored by Portland in any of its last six games is 108. Four times they’ve been held below 100. The Knicks are pretty good defensively, keeping teams to 106.0 per game.

The Blazers aren’t very good defensively, but they shouldn’t feel threatened by the Knicks, who won’t get to the free throw line here as much as they did against Golden State. Take the Under