Knicks host 1-6 Bulls at the Garden with a chance to get back to .500

The Knicks get the Chicago Bulls again Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, and on paper it's the easiest game they've had this season. New York is 3-4 and would get back to .500 with a win. Chicago comes in at 1-6, the worst record in the league, and has lost five straight.

SB Nation's Posting and Toasting lays out how far Chicago has fallen. The Bulls have the NBA's worst point differential and have already lost games by 19, 35 and 43 points. They give up 128.8 points a night, and opponents are hitting close to 40 percent of their threes against them. Thiago Splitter is in his first season as head coach and is running a young roster. No. 4 overall pick Caleb Wilson, a rookie forward out of North Carolina, has been the bright spot. Josh Giddey has dropped from 17 points a game last season to about nine and is shooting under 37 percent. The outlet says there is talk that a wrist injury is bothering him. Matas Buzelis has also struggled early, and veteran Norman Powell is new to the team. SB Nation's Moritz Wollert called anything short of a Knicks win "unacceptable."

Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game airs on MSG.

What it means for Wednesday

These teams met eight days ago. The Knicks won 133-127 at the United Center on October 28, their only road win so far. It was also by far their highest-scoring game. Outside that night, the Knicks have played low-scoring games. Across all seven games they average about 106 points and allow about 105. Their four losses came by 9 points or fewer: 4 to Boston, 5 to Philadelphia, 6 to Philadelphia in the opener and 9 to Orlando. They have won two of their last three, most recently a 103-90 home win over Brooklyn. They are 2-2 at the Garden.

The Knicks are heavy favorites on this site's board, which tracks 12 venues. Novig has New York favored at -525 to win outright, which pays $19.05 per $100. Chicago is +506. On the spread, Novig lists the Knicks at -11.5 (-108) and the Bulls at +11.5 (+104). The best number for Chicago anywhere is at FanDuel, which gives a full 12.5 points at -110. The venues are within a point of each other on the spread, and the sportsbooks' hold runs from 2.9 to 5.2 percent.

The total is set much higher than most Knicks games this season. Novig has it at 234.5, with the over at +106 and the under at -108. The lowest number anywhere is bet365's 233.5 at -112. Six of the Knicks' seven games have finished between 191 and 213 combined points. The exception was last week's 260-point game in Chicago. The total assumes Chicago's defense will turn this into another track meet, which is how the first meeting went. The Knicks' results so far suggest a slower game, more like the Brooklyn win.

A win evens the record and gives the Knicks two straight at home. A loss would put them three games under .500 in early November, against the team that came in with the league's worst record.