Two teams fighting for position in the Eastern Conference meet in this early Monday tip. Charlotte is 7th with a 23-20 record and New York is 10th with a 22-21 record. As you can tell, it’s a tightly packed race for those play-in spots to the playoff tournament.

Charlotte had a four-game win streak snapped on Friday with a bad loss to Orlando. They were 11-point favorites in the 116-109 setback. I expect the Hornets to tighten up their defense here, after allowing the Magic to shoot 51% from the field.

The Under is 4-0 this season when the Hornets play on exactly two days' rest.

The Knicks are also coming off a relatively high scoring game, only they won, 117-108 at Atlanta. It was the third straight win for the Knicks and they’ve covered the spread in all three games. High-scoring games have been uncommon for them, however. Their last five games have averaged just 202.6 total points.

Saturday’s win over the Hawks was NY’s highest scoring game since before Christmas. Going back to X-Mas, the Knicks have held 8 of 11 opponents below 100 points. Take the UNDER here.