Hornets vs Knicks Picks and Predictions: Hornets Let Burks Keep Cooking From Long Range

After alternating wins and losses for the past few games, the Charlotte Hornets look to build some momentum in their chase for the higher East play-in bracket, currently a game back of Brooklyn with six left to play.

Tonight, they visit the New York Knicks, who have little left to play for beyond lottery balls. The Knicks are 4.5 games back of Atlanta for the final play-in spot, and while not mathematically eliminated, have next to no hope of catching up. 

Can they summon the will to win as underdogs tonight? Find out with our Hornets vs. Knicks NBA picks and predictions for Wednesday, March 30.

Hornets vs Knicks odds

This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.

Charlotte opened as a -1.5 favorite at most books, and still sits there at the majority of them as of Wednesday morning. the total opened north of 225 and has been bet down to the 223-223.5 range.

Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until tip-off and be sure to check out the full NBA odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.

Hornets vs Knicks predictions

• Prediction: Charlotte -1.5 (-110)
• Prediction: Over 233 (-110)
• Best bet: Burks Over 2.5 made threes (+115)

Predictions made on 3/30/2022 at 9:15 a.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.

Hornets vs Knicks game info

• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
• Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
• Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: Bally Sports Southeast, MSG

Hornets vs Knicks betting preview

Key injuries

Hornets: Gordon Hayward SF (Out).
Knicks: Derrick Rose PG (Out), Nerlens Noel C (Out), Quentin Grimes SG (Out), Cam Reddish SF (Out), Kemba Walker PG (Out). 
Find our latest NBA injury reports.

Betting trend to know

The Hornets are 13-3-1 ATS in their last 17 road games. Find more NBA betting trends for Hornets vs. Knicks.

Hornets vs Knicks picks and predictions

Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.

Spread analysis

The Knicks have won four in a row, the first of those being a 121-106 swatting of the Hornets (without Julius Randle or Mitchell Robinson) in which they outscored Charlotte 40-26 in the first quarter and never let it back in the game. New York was unconscious from three and murdered the Hornets on an array of backdoor cuts and lobs.

While the Knicks aren't typically a potent offense, the Hornets are definitely among the teams that can suffer lapses and give up easy buckets. Ranked 23rd on defense, they have few ball-stoppers and little rim protection to speak of.

Charlotte had gotten by on the back of its Top-5 offense most of the season, but even that has gone cold, ranked 18th over the last five games, during which time the Hornets have cracked the 110-point plateau just once. This stretch hasn't exactly come against a lineup of strong defenses (zero in the Top 10), and it's fair to attribute some of it to bad variance.

Take the loss to the Knicks, for example: Charlotte is normally a Top-10 team from 3-point land, hitting 36.3% of its treys. In that game, it shot 46 threes (five more than any team in the league attempts this year) and hit just 28% of them. Conversely, the Knicks, a marginally worse shooting team in both volume and accuracy, shot 44% on 45 attempts. Don't count on that repeating itself.

Charlotte can still beat good basketball teams — it's taken Ws against the Nets, Jazz, and Mavericks in its last six games. The lack of consistency is to be expected; it's a byproduct of a young team that plays fast and without a ton of discipline. 

But after letting one slip against the short-handed Knicks very recently, count on the Hornets to be doubly motivated, both by revenge and their very precarious play-in position. The Knicks are just 15-22 against the spread at home — one of the worst marks in the league. Their spirited run to end the season shows heart, but that can only get you so far when the playoff picture fades. 

Charlotte's the better team at the peak of its powers (and 21-15-1 ATS on the road), and tonight's stakes should be sufficient to get its best efforts.

Prediction: Charlotte -1.5 (-110 at bet365)

Over/Under analysis

We kind of hate this total, for a bunch of reasons. 

Namely: The Hornets are a high-scoring team that hasn't scored much lately, and the Knicks are a low-scoring team that has selectively lit up bad defenses this month. 

Charlotte's still scoring 116.8 points over its last 10 games, with New York lagging behind at 109.8, which would still put us over this total in a neutral game. But the Hornets have an edge to press on offense, as the league's fourth-fastest team that still scores at a Top-10 rate, despite its recent swoon. 

Expect the Hornets to control the tempo here and get back to what's made them successful this season. And while they'll have to work hard against a Knicks D that's been playing well of late, the flipside is that New York has been scoring more, and there's too much potential for the Knicks to run amok on Charlotte's half-assed defense in a game that plays faster and looser than Tom Thibodeau would like. 

Again, we suggest this with the utmost caution, but if we're leaning in one direction, it's with the Over. 

Prediction: Over 223 (-110 at DraftKings)

Best bet

Alec Burks has had to play out of position as the Knicks' de facto starting PG for the bulk of this season with Derrick Rose injured, Kemba Walker imploding, and Immanuel Quickley a victim of Thibs' general disdain for young players.

The results haven't always been automatic, but Burks has done a solid job as a complementary scorer and playmaker for an offense that can often find itself lacking. 

Burks is as legitimate a spacing threat as the Knicks have, shooting 41.7% on 5.8 three attempts per game in March. But even that stellar number is selling Burks' current form short, as he's hitting at a 48.8% clip over his past seven games.

Burks is getting plus money tonight for his Over 2.5 threes prop, which he's cashed in six straight games. 

Facing the Hornets — who are trash on defense, play at a fast pace, and concede threes at the NBA's fifth-highest frequency — we have to back the trend to continue.

Pick: Alec Burks Over 2.5 threes made (+115)

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