If success is defined as setting a goal and attaining it, then the New York Knicks are one of the most successful teams in the NBA. With overt tanking procedures well underway, New York has won just two games in its last 23 outings and is a 12.5-point underdog in North Carolina tonight vs the Hornets. The total for this game is 220 and climbing.
- The total has gone UNDER in seven of the Knicks’ last nine games (avg. combined score: 215.7).
- The total has gone UNDER in five of the Hornets’ last seven games (avg. combined score: 215.4).
- The Knicks are 1-10 SU and 6-5 ATS in January with a -8.8 point differential.
Teams Have Split Meetings This Season
One of the two wins that New York has in its last 23 games is over the Hornets in Charlotte. As a 10-point dog on December 14, the Knicks won the game outright 126-124 on a night when they shot 48 percent from the floor – their seventh-best shooting performance of the season.
Five days earlier, the Hornets covered a 6-point spread by winning 119-107 at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks shot 47.3 percent from the floor that night, which was their eighth-best shooting performance of the season. Interestingly, the Hornets also shot 48 and 47 percent in those two games and both went well OVER 220 points.
Statistically Speaking, Charlotte Is Struggling
2019 has not been kind to the Hornets thus far as they are shooting 38.6 percent from the floor for just 107 points per game in January. Both are season lows.
Additionally, opposing teams are shooting 43.1 percent and scoring 112.9 points per game against them – the worst marks in any of their first four months this year.
Charlotte is turning the ball over 14.3 times per game this month, which is eighth-worst in the NBA, while they are only stealing the ball 6.2 times per game (fifth-worst).
Kemba Walker will play for the Hornets as he deals with a neck injury from a collision with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
My Best Bet for Tonight
Given that the spread is so large and the Knicks have played pretty well against the Hornets this year, I like the Knicks +12. It should be noted that New York is 1-7 SU and ATS in the second game of back-to-backs this season, including the 12-point loss to Charlotte in December.
Charlotte is 1-3 ATS in its last four games as a double-digit favorite, including the aforementioned straight-up loss to the Knicks in December. Three of those four games went UNDER the closing total while both teams have also been trending UNDER here in January.
