Look, I get it that McBride is going to play a lot tonight with the Knicks so short-handed and get plenty of shots. But he's averaging 5.5 ppg this season. All of a sudden he will be Bernard King with heavy minutes? He may well score 30. But to me this feels more like that little girl Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory who ate too much blueberry gum and like exploded or whatever (overreach, etc.). Hey, it makes sense in my noggin. Plus, this price ...

The Mavericks were active at the trade deadline, acquiring Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. Neither of them will be available for this game, and they shipped out Grant Williams, Seth Curry and Richaun Holmes in the deals. Dereck Lively II (nose) is also out, while Maxi Kleber (toe) is listed as questionable. Josh Green should be left to play a ton of minutes. He has already scored at least 11 points in eight of his last 10 games, so I’m rolling with this over.

Maybe the Knicks were due to eventually cool down, but the numbers are still pretty good across the past month (16-3 SU, 14-5 vs. line since New Year's). And we're just talking about the last two games that the Knicks didn't cover, though they were shorthanded in the loss to the Lakers and still beat the Grizzlies on Tuesday night. The concern tonight is that Jalen Brunson likely joins Julius Randle and OJ Anunoby on the sidelines, and Dallas enters having won at both Philly and Brooklyn (in Kyrie Irving's return game vs. the Nets). This, however, looks a perfect spot for Tom Thibodeau to deploy his various defensive tricks, and note NY is also on an 18-3 "under" run. Play Mavs-Knicks "Under"

Luka is averaging a combined 18.2 Rebounds & Assists this season, however that number shrinks to just 16.6 when Kyrie Irving is active which will be the case this evening when Luka and co. take on the Knicks at MSG. The Knicks surrender the fewest rebounds (48.6) to opponents, in addition to the 9th fewest APG (29.5). New York averages just 100.2 possessions per game, good for the 2nd fewest in the league which explains why they give up such low RA numbers. Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson may also miss this game which would provide some additional blowout outs.

This is all about whether Jalen Brunson plays after spraining his ankle Tuesday against Memphis when Coach Tom Thibodeau -- as he is known to do -- put Brunson in a game late when he didn't need to. I don't miss Thibs after also wrecking Derrick Rose, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior due to overuse. Cross-sport props there, but you get the point. Reading the NY papers, and yep I'm still a newspaper guy, it will be a surprise if Brunson plays (questionable), and if he doesn't this obviously rises a fair amount (I'm sure a little is already baked in the number) with OG Anunoby, Quentin Grimes and Julius Randle all still out. Luka and Kyrie are both listed probable.