NBA Trends: The Knicks have been money against the spread

We've entered the home stretch of the NBA season, and now have a strong set of data to dive into.

Let's break down the latest metrics from around the league, and determine which trends you should take advantage of as the playoffs near.

Mini Series Trends

All season long, we've been following NBA mini series and tracking the best bets to make. In all mini series combined, the Under is an impressive 25-12-1 in the second game of the mini series.

In the 36 mini series that have been played in the Western Conference, the Under is 36-33-1. The team that lost the first game is 23-12-1 ATS in the second game.

In the 31 mini series that have been played in the Eastern Conference, the team that covered the first game is 16-15 ATS in the second game.

The week of Unders

In the past seven days, the Under went an impressive 29-19 in non-OT games. There was even one rare OT game that stayed Under the total. On the full season, Unders are 426-396 in all non-OT games.

Some of the best situations for the Under to look for include when the Charlotte Hornets are the home team (18-7-1), when the Dallas Mavericks are an underdog (18-3), when the Los Angeles Lakers are a road favorite (14-4), and when the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing the second game of a back-to-back (10-3).

The Knicks are no joke

The New York Knicks are no longer the laughingstock of the NBA. They have now covered the spread in 11 straight games and are 37-21-1 ATS on the season. Only the Memphis Grizzlies have a better ATS record this year.

New York is also a great team out of the starting gates. The Knicks are 38-18-2 in the first half ATS on the season, and 11-3-1 1H ATS in their last 15 games.

In fact, they are greater than 80% ATS in three situations:

• They are 11-2 ATS when they are a home favorite
• They are 5-1-1 ATS when they are on 2-3 days of rest
• They are 12-3-1 ATS when they have the rest advantage over their opponent

The Knicks are on the rise and the odds makers have not yet caught on to how for real this team is.  

The Kings have been overthrown

The Sacramento Kings have now lost 10 of their last 12 games overall. They are also 3-8-1 ATS over that period. They are 25-33-1 ATS on the entire season, and seem to have gone into full tank mode.

Sacramento is especially bad in certain situations. When the Kings are coming off a loss, they are 11-23-1 ATS. When they are a home underdog, they are 5-10 ATS. When they have exactly one day off between games, they are 12-23 ATS.