After a tough loss on the road their last time out, the Pelicans look much better today on their home court. They have jumped out to a 49-45 lead against the Knicks.

The Pelicans entered the match with five straight defeats and they’re well on their way to making it six. Can they turn things around, or will the Knicks hand them another loss? Only time will tell.

Who’s Playing

New York Knicks @ New Orleans Pelicans

Current Records: New York 17-10, New Orleans 5-23

How To Watch

• When: Saturday, December 21, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET
• Where: Smoothie King Center — New Orleans, Louisiana
• TV: NBATV
• Follow: CBS Sports App
• Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
• Ticket Cost: $5.92

What to Know

The Knicks and the Pelicans are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2020, but not for long. The New York Knicks will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the New Orleans Pelicans at 8:00 p.m. ET at Smoothie King Center. Coming in fresh off a victory as the underdog, the Knicks will stroll into this one as the favorite.

The Knicks’ offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Thursday, when they got past the Timberwolves’ usually-dominant defense. Everything went the Knicks’ way against the Timberwolves as the Knicks made off with a 133-107 win. With New York ahead 73-51 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

It was another big night for Karl-Anthony Towns, who shot 5-for-5 from long range and dropped a double-double on 32 points and 20 rebounds. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 25 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Mikal Bridges, who went 12 for 18 en route to 29 points plus six assists and six rebounds.

The Knicks smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That’s the most offensive rebounds they’ve posted since back in May.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans’ recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their fifth straight loss. They suffered a grim 133-113 defeat to the Rockets. New Orleans was down 99-79 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

The Pelicans’ loss came about despite a quality game from Trey Murphy III, who went 10 for 17 en route to 28 points. What’s more, Murphy III also posted a 66.7% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he’s posted since back in April.

New York is on a roll lately: they’ve won seven of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 17-10 record this season. As for New Orleans, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-23.

Keep an eye on the arc in Saturday’s match: The Knicks have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 14.4 threes per game. It’s a different story for the Pelicans, though, as they’ve been averaging only 11. Given the Knicks’ sizable advantage in that area, the Pelicans will need to find a way to close that gap.

The Knicks took their victory against the Pelicans when the teams last played on December 1st by a conclusive 118-85. In that game, the Knicks amassed a halftime lead of 57-28, an impressive feat they’ll look to repeat on Saturday.

Odds

New York is a big 8.5-point favorite against New Orleans, according to the latest NBA odds.

The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 8.5-point spread, and stayed right there.

The over/under is 225.5 points.

See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get picks now.

Series History

New Orleans and New York both have 5 wins in their last 10 games.

• Dec 01, 2024 – New York 118 vs. New Orleans 85
• Feb 27, 2024 – New Orleans 115 vs. New York 92
• Oct 28, 2023 – New Orleans 96 vs. New York 87
• Apr 07, 2023 – New Orleans 113 vs. New York 105
• Feb 25, 2023 – New York 128 vs. New Orleans 106
• Jan 20, 2022 – New Orleans 102 vs. New York 91
• Oct 30, 2021 – New York 123 vs. New Orleans 117
• Apr 18, 2021 – New York 122 vs. New Orleans 112
• Apr 14, 2021 – New York 116 vs. New Orleans 106
• Jan 10, 2020 – New Orleans 123 vs. New York 111