NBA Betting – Lay the Points With This Home Favorite on Wednesday

Frankly, one might have thought the New Orleans Pelicans would have done a lot better this season, with a healthier Zion Williamson, an emerging Brandon Ingram, a new coach in Stan Van Gundy, and some interesting role players added to the roster.

But that hasn’t happened. Well, we should check that. The Pelicans have been better, but still not quite good enough in the hyper-competitive Western Conference, where they are struggling just to qualify for the play-in tournament.

Online Sportsbooks for NBA Betting

Meanwhile, the New York Knicks have been a big surprise, not only positioning themselves for the playoffs but doing a very good job against the number.

The Knicks (28-27 SU, 32-21-1 ATS) and the Pelicans (25-29 SU & ATS) will clash on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Arena, and we’ve got a winner that you can cash at America’s Bookie.

New York Knicks vs. New Orleans Pelicans Preview

Knicks vs. Pelicans Predictions

When: 8 PM ET (Wednesday)

NBA Betting Lines: Pelicans -3 / Total 220

Of course the key for the Knicks involves the “defensive culture” that has been established by head coach Tom Thibodeau, and he has done that amazingly quickly after his arrival.

The Knicks are a game above .500 and in sixth place in the East, with an opportunity to move up. And that is cause for optimism after years of ineptitude, despite the presence of executives like Phil Jackson.

They have been one of the NBA’s elite defensive teams all season long, ranking first against three-point shooting (33.8%) as well as overall shooting (44.1%). And because they operate at a pace that is the slowest in the NBA, they naturally give up fewer points than anyone else as well (104.2 per game).

Julius Randle, a former member of the Pelicans, gained an All-Star berth this season and deserved it. Randle averages 23 points and 10.7 rebounds to go with six assists, so he has been the guys who does everything on a team that still does not have that blue-chip point guard.

And as you probably know, the Knicks are no offensive juggernaut, ranking only 29th in the NBA, for example, in two-point shooting percentage. And they are not a team that relies upon the triple, not by a long shot. Even so, they come into this contest on a three-game winning streak.

Expert NBA Picks Tonight

But so does New Orleans, which is currently the 11th-place team in the West. Ingram and Williamson have combined to score almost 51 points per game, and there is the presence of defensive stalwart Eric Bledsoe, bruising center Steven Adams and others, including recent signee Isaiah Thomas.

The Pelicans do a number of things well, and one of them is hitting the glass. This team is #1 in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage and second in defensive rebounding percentage, so by definition you know that they get a lot of second-shot opportunities and prevent those on the party of the opponent.

Where they’ve been vulnerable is out on the perimeter. New Orleans allows 15 triples per game,at a rate of 39%,which puts them 29th in the league. At the same time, they are not a big three-point shooting team.

Well, here they may be in luck. For the Knicks to take a lot of three-point shots may be out of character for them.And since the Pels don’t have to lean on long-range marksmanship, they don’t fall victim to what the Knicks do best on defense the way some other teams might.

So matchups may work to their advantage. And we haven’t seen that manifest itself, because these teams haven’t played each other yet (and they’ll meet again Sunday).

Sure, we know that point guard Lonzo Ball isn’t likely to play here, but he’s missed the last three games and the Pelicans have won all of them. This is a pretty good spot for Van Gundy and his team.

The Play: NEW ORLEANS -3