The New Orleans Pelicans and New York Knicks have both had disappointing first halves of their season. Here, they will look to pick up a win that they hope can get them moving in the right direction early in the second half of their campaigns. In our NBA betting picks for Thursday night, we look at the Pelicans vs Knicks matchup and determine where the best bet is for this matchup at Madison Square Garden.
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Pelicans vs Knicks Betting Pick
This game will be played at Madison Square Garden at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, January 20, 2022.
Why Bet The Knicks:
✅ While the Knicks did lose to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their last outing, they seemed to have found a bit of a rhythm offensively. They broke the 110 point mark for just the fourth time over the last month. Against a Pelicans team that ranks 24th in defensive rating and 21st in points per game allowed, the Knicks should continue to trend upward on that end of the floor.
✅ Only four teams in the NBA have a worse average point differential than the Pelicans this season. Those teams are the Pistons, Magic, Rockets, and Thunder. The Pelicans are 20-24 against the spread this season despite being substantial underdogs in many of their games, and they should drop to 20-25 ATS here.
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✅ The New Orleans Pelicans haven’t won a road game since before Christmas, when they beat the Orlando Magic on December 23. New Orleans has lost the first two games of their current road trip, with both of those losses coming by double figures against the Nets and Celtics. Here, the Pelicans may not lose by double digits, but they are going to fall short on the road again.
New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans have lost two straight games heading into Thursday night against the Knicks. Those losses came on the road against the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics. And while there is no shame in losing to the Nets and Celtics, those losses were the fourth and fifth straight road losses for the Pelicans, who will look to end their losing streak away from home in the world’s most famous arena.
For the Pelicans to pick up a win in this game, they will look to take advantage of a defensive deficiency with the Knicks at the center position. Knicks starting center Mitchell Robinson is very reluctant to come out of the paint area to defend bigs who can shoot from the outside. Jonas Valanciunas certainly fits that description, and he might be able to take advantage of Robinson’s lack of perimeter defense.
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks have lost two straight games at home, falling against the Charlotte Hornets and Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday and Tuesday. The Knicks were not up to par defensively in either of those games, allowing the Hornets and Timberwolves to get out to double digit leads. Here, the Knicks will look to get off to a quicker start to avoid falling into another insurmountable hole.
New York will hope to get more out of Julius Randle than they have been getting lately, as they look to get back to .500 with a win against the Pelicans. Randle hasn’t led the Knicks in scoring since their Christmas Day game against the Atlanta Hawks. While the Knicks have other scoring options, Randle’s regression has been a big story of their season so far.