NBA: New Orleans Pelicans vs. New York Knicks Preview, Odds, Prediction

The New Orleans Pelicans continue their tour through the East Coast against the New York Knicks. This will be a perfect game for watching between two sides who are desperate to win and keep their playoff chances alive. For the moment, both the Pels and the Knicks have back-to-back losses, and that creates the pressure before tonight’s event. We need to say that these franchises had high hopes before the start of this campaign, but that as it progressed, they slowly faded away.

Preview

New Orleans Pelicans (16-28, +125) play much better at home than on the road, and the proof for that is their overall score. Though, their previous two rivals were fairly hard, the Nets and the Celtics. After losing to Brooklyn at Barclays, 120-105, Pels suffered another defeat, this time at the TD Garden, 104-92.

Boston created the difference in the final 12 minutes, winning that part of the game 33-23. Meanwhile, the Pelicans started the contest better, limiting the hosts to only 18 buckets, while dropping 29 on the other end.

Jonas Valanciunas was their best player with a double-double, 22 points, and 14 boards. Herbert Jones had 16, while Josh Hart added 13 and had nine boards. Brandon Ingram and Devonte Graham couldn’t get it going, with the first delivering only 16 points and the latter 11. Ingram also had 10 rebounds and six assists but failed to fulfill his primary assignment – scoring.

New York Knicks (22-23, -154) have lost the last two home events, and that is something they can’t afford at this stage of the season. Tom Thibodeau’s unit needs to maximize its home-court advantage, otherwise, the playoffs will be only a dream.

After losing to Hornets, 97-87, they failed to beat the Timberwolves, with the final results being 112-110 for the guests from Minneapolis. The Knicks had everything in their hands, but allowed the rivals to flip the result in the final period, scoring only 19 points and allowing 26 on the other end.

Evan Fournier was the leading player in this matchup, with 27 points, 10-for-17 from the field. Julius Randle was awfully close to posting a triple-double, having 21 points with nine boards and assists each, also recording four blocks. Kemba Walkers was in the starting lineup and he had 19 points, while RJ Barrett slowed down a bit compared to his recent performances, contributing with only 17 points.

Head to Head Games

The first meeting of the year was in late October in the Big Easy. The Knicks took back home a win, 123-117. Barrett was absolutely unstoppable, having 35 points with eight boards and six assists. On the other side, Valanciunas had a strong double-double with 27 points and 14 boards.

Prediction

Even though they lost the last two events, the Pelicans are looking much healthier than the Knicks, who have shown signs of massive struggle in their game. Something tells us that we might see a surprise here and the guests’ victory. Ingram and Graham failed to have a decent performance in Boston, and it is hard to believe that they are going to do it twice in a row. This is just a pure hunch, take it with reserve, and don’t put any high stakes on it.

Pick: Pelicans win