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Free NBA Picks New York Knicks: Season-Long Handicapping and Specialization 1/13/2025

by Spencer Toth - 1/13/2025

Free NBA picks New York Knicks season long handicapping Cade Cunningham Detroit Pistons

The New York Knicks will look to navigate a back-to-back, as they host the Detroit Pistons tonight. You have found the right place for all your New York Knicks betting needs, as Doc’s Sports will be breaking down every Knicks weekday game this season. 

On Friday night, the Knicks accepted their second defeat in a week against the Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 126-101. While the 27-point halftime lead for the Thunder was no fluke, there are still positives to be taken away. The Knicks lost two straight games to OKC, but they shot 4/31 and 9/32 from deep, while the Thunder shot exactly 14/27 in both contests. The discrepancy in three-point shooting is certainly a concern, but the Knicks are just going through a cold spell from deep and are still doing all the little things right. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby going a combined 2/17 from the floor certainly didn’t help. New York will need to prove themselves against the top teams in the league if they expect to go on a deep playoff run this season. 

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From a betting perspective, we went 0-2. Josh Hart only got two assists, but poor shooting from his teammates certainly didn’t help that cause. We also missed Under 225.5, as the total went over by a single bucket. 

The Knicks got back on track last night, as they easily took down the Milwaukee Bucks 140-106. Jalen Brunson poured in 44 points against the Bucks, while Karl-Anthony Towns scored 30 points with 18 rebounds. No one on Milwaukee aside from Lillard, Antetokounmpo, and Middleton scored double-digit points, as the Knicks did a great job at slowing down the Bucks on the defensive end. 

Tonight, the New York Knicks (26-14) will look to win back-to-back games for the first time in 2025 when they host the Detroit Pistons (20-19). Detroit has had an excellent season thus far and is just three wins away from eclipsing their best win total in the last five years. This team has been in the basement for the last half-decade and finally looks poised to play meaningful basketball into the tail end of the season. Cade Cunningham is the clear leader of this rebuild, and the Pistons have done a great job surrounding him with complementary players. Cunningham was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft and has blossomed into a superstar this season. His 24.2 PPG on 45.8% from the floor and 37.8% from deep are all career highs, but his impact as a distributor is what has vaulted the Pistons up the standings. His 9.5 Assists per game is by far his career best and is good for 3rd in the NBA. He has been able to make everyone around him better and is starting to look eerily similar to Trae Young and his career path. The Pistons losing second-leading sorcerer Jaden Ivey with a broken leg has dented their postseason aspirations, but a pair of veterans in Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. are still more than capable of keeping Detroit afloat. 

The Knicks have been excellent against the Pistons in recent seasons but had their 16-game win streak against Detroit snapped earlier this season. They cannot afford to take the Pistons lightly, as Detroit has won 9 of their last 11 games and is back in the play-in tournament position. New York is just 2-2 this season on 0 days rest, and a lingering injury to Karl-Anthony Towns could dent their aspirations in this matchup. 

New York has begun to see some rotation on a nightly basis, but the heavy workload from head coach Tom Thibodeau will eventually catch up to them. Even in a 34-point blowout, Thibodeau still rode his starters 30+ minutes each on the first night of a back-to-back. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart lead the league in minutes with 38.9 and 37.5 per game, and all five of the Knicks starters are inside the top 30. This kind of heavy workload can be effective in the playoffs, but it leaves New York susceptible to injury. Not only do the minutes accumulating increase the chance of injury, but plugging the hole becomes that much harder for Thibodeau when he hasn’t developed the bench unit. 

Tonight’s matchup is the perfect test for New York. The Pistons are a team the Knicks should beat, especially at home, but will need to avoid taking them lightly tonight. Detroit has a clean injury report aside from Ivey and will be locked in on this game since they don’t play again until Thursday. Cunningham and Brunson will be an interesting duo to watch on the Knicks defensive end. Brunson will need to stay active on defense and use his physicality to throw Cunningham off his rhythm. He can match his scoring on the other end, but Cunningham’s role in the Detroit offense cannot be overemphasized. While Brunson has improved his defense in recent weeks, he is still the weak link and will be exposed by Cunningham. The point spread is at -8 points in favor of the Knicks, and this spread feels a little too wide considering the external factors at play. Taking the Pistons at +8 will be the first bet of the evening. 

For the second bet of this game, we will take Cunningham to take a night off in the assist department and look to attack Brunson directly. He has only eclipsed his assists line of 9.5 in one of his last eight games and will stay under that total here. Brunson will not force Cunningham into tough situations, and I expect the Pistons point guard to create his own offense tonight. OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart all do a great job at cutting off passing lanes, and Cunningham will elect to take the ball to the hoop more often than usual tonight. His points line is at 24.5 points, and we will also be sprinkling on him to surpass that in addition to the Under on the assists. 

Pick: Detroit Pistons (+8) 4 Units

Pick: Cade Cunningham Under 9.5 Assists 7 Units

Pick: Cade Cunningham Over 24.5 Points 3 Units

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