Best NBA Betting Lines January 20: Our Picks for Pelicans vs Knicks, Suns vs Mavericks, and Pacers vs Warriors

Tonight’s NBA slate is small but mighty. At the top of the card is a tasty Western Conference showdown between Devin Booker and the Suns and Luka Doncic’s Mavericks in Dallas. Both teams are expected to make noise in the playoffs this season, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them face off in a seven-game series later this year.

Elsewhere, the Pelicans head to MSG to battle the Knicks, and the Pacers meet Steph Curry and Golden State. 

Here are our preferred NBA lines in all three contests. Good luck:

New Orleans @ New York

The Bet: Knicks -2.5 (-110, Borgata)

It’s been an up and down season for the Knicks this year (both straight up and against the spread), but it’s been more up than down in January. 

You could say something similar about New Orleans, but maybe more down than up this month. They’re 4-5 ATS and 3-6 straight up since we hit 2022, and they’re only 1-3 ATS on the road over that span.

The Knicks have been excellent at home against the spread of late, covering five of six at MSG this month. This spread is low enough for them to make it six of seven in the world’s most famous basketball arena. Back the Knicks. 

Phoenix @ Dallas

The Bet: Suns -2.5 (-110, Bet MGM)

With so many games on the schedule last night, a couple playing tonight are on the second half of a back-to-back, and that includes the Mavericks, who are in the unenviable position of facing the best team in the league on zero nights of rest.

They’re not a bad team with a rest disadvantage (6-4 ATS this season), but they’re actually fairly poor at home against the spread (10-11), and their opponent is 13-8 ATS when traveling. 

The Phoenix Suns are also 9-7 ATS when they have a rest advantage. They’re 3-1 ATS on their current road trip that ends tonight, and they’ve covered every game this season in which the point spread was 2.5 points or less in either direction. They should be able to keep that streak going in Dallas.

Indiana @ Golden State

The Bet: Pacers +10.5 (-110, Bet MGM)

This is not an enviable spot for the Pacers. They just played last night against the Lakers, and they’re learning how to play without their big rim protector, Myles Turner, who will miss several weeks at least with a foot injury.

But for all their struggles this season – they’re the third worst team straight up in the Eastern Conference – they’ve been pretty respectable against the spread at 21-22-1, and they’ve rarely been this disrespected by oddsmakers. This is the second most points they’ve ever been given behind a game at Utah in November when they were 10.5-point underdogs.

Golden State, meanwhile, is just 3-6 ATS in their last nine games, and last time they played Indiana, the Pacers kept it quite close, only going down by two. They can perform noticeably worse tonight and still cover the spread. Take the double digit dogs.