New York Knicks vs Charlotte Hornets Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 03/26/26

Fresh off their 5-point win over the Pelicans, the New York Knicks are looking to extend their win streak to 8 games in a row as they take on the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday. So far it hasn’t been a competitive series between these two sides, New York dominated the first two meetings by 28 and 15 points. However, those games were played back in late November and early December, before the Hornets turned their season around. New York is the better defense in the painted area, but I feel like the key here will be how the Knicks defend the three-point line. Over the past 15 games the Hornets are making an NBA high 19.7 threes per game on average and that’s something the Knicks have to pay attention to here.

Whoever gets to play the Hornets in the 1st Round of the Playoffs won’t be too happy, we are witnessing one of the biggest turnarounds to a season in history over the past couple of months. The offense has been clicking on all cylinders, if we look at the last 15 games no team in the NBA has a better offensive rating than the Hornets do. They’re also toying with opponents, blowing them out by 16.2 points per win. Granted, some of those wins came against tanking teams which inflates the numbers a bit, but regardless of that they still have to be taken seriously. I’m sure the two double-digit losses against the Knicks from earlier this season have been stuck in the heads of the Hornets players ever since they happened, that in itself will be a motivating factor for LaMelo and co. on Thursday night.

These two teams are evenly matched, but with the Hornets playing at home I think they’ll be the ones dictating the tempo here. The Knicks have struggled a bit defending the perimeter lately, allowing their last 3 opponents to make 39.5% of their shots from beyond the arc. That’s worrisome considering those 3 opponents were the Pelicans, Wizards and Nets. Charlotte is cooking on offense, they’ve scored 130+ in 3 of 4 games, I’ll side with them since they’ve covered in 9 of 10 home games.

New York Knicks vs Charlotte Hornets Predictions: Hornets -1 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.