Free NBA Picks Today for Tuesday, January 18th, 2022

Free NBA Picks Today for Tuesday, January 18th, 2022
Tue 18th January 2022

Our free NBA picks are out for Tuesday, January 18th, 2022! Make sure you check our NBA picks before the action kicks off.

Look below to find our free NBA picks for the two games on today’s schedule!

Minnesota Timberwolves @ New York Knicks – 7.30pm ET

Tuesday night’s slate kicks off with a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The Timberwolves snapped their two game losing streak last time out with a win over the Warriors, 119-99. The Knicks have a season record of 22-22, after losing to the Hornets, 87-97, last time out.

Denis Kirilov

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks will go head-to-head on Tuesday night in the NBA. The two teams have had their ups and downs throughout the season so far as they both share pretty similar records. The Timberwolves are 8th in the West with 21 wins and 22 losses, while the Knicks hold 11th place in the Eastern Conference with an even 22-22 record. The team from New York seems to be picking up some pace recently as they went for a 3-game winning streak defeating the likes of the Spurs, the Mavericks, and the Hawks. RJ Barrett levelled up his game which was the main reason for their late success.

The Timberwolves, on the other hand, continue relying on their attacking trio that can simply do miracles for the team. They outclassed the Golden State Warriors in their last meeting who played without Steph Curry. However, they still had the likes of Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole, and Andrew Wiggins on the court which makes the Timberwolves win a legit one. The Knicks have won five games in a row in Madison Square Garden before dropping a match against the Hawks. The Timberwolves are 0-2 in their most recent road games in the NBA after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans Pelicans. In my opinion, the Knicks will continue their progress as I expect to see yet another home victory in Madison Square Garden. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: New York Knicks (+102)

Michael Lantz

The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off a huge win against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night. Even with Anthony Edwards only scoring nine points and D’Angelo Russell only adding seven, the Timberwolves were able to ride Karl Anthony Towns double-double to victory, to knock out one of basketball’s best teams by 20 points. It was a huge confidence builder for a young Timberwolves team that’s looking to compete in the Western Conference. On Tuesday they’ll play a New York Knicks team that’s looking to get back into the stunning form they were in last season.


The Knicks were on a three-game win streak before last night, when they lost to a Charlotte Hornets team that has one of the best offenses in basketball. Still, at 22-22 the Knicks are still very much in the playoff race. They’ll look to slow down an exhilarating Timberwolves offense on Tuesday at MSG. While the Timberwolves keep impressing the league with their play, I think the Knicks will use their defense to frustrate them in front of a home crowd. I’ll pick the Knicks to pull off a close win in this one.

Michael’s NBA Pick: New York Knicks (+102)

Noah Dunlap 

This is a matchup of two teams that virtually no one has any idea of how you go about trying to predict games in which they play. The New York Knicks played great basketball for about a month, before completely falling flat, but have still managed to fight and claw to a .500 record at 22-22. In my opinion, I think they’re still a bit too reliant on Julius Randle to lead the way, but if they can get decent minutes from guys like Derrick Rose, RJ Barrett, and newly acquired Cam Reddish, I think this is still a team that can at least make the postseason in the East, and potentially look to make a decent run. 

They get the Minnesota Timberwolves in this one, and Minnesota is no easier to try to predict. They have one of the best trios in the league, with Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, and Anthony Edwards being the leaders, but the depth is somewhat lacking, which is the biggest reason they’re still only 21-22 on the year. When everyone for this Wolves squad is playing well, they have the ability to beat anyone in the league, as they showed in their last outing by knocking off Golden State, but the question is always whether they can get to that level on any given night. As for this one, I think they get a solid night from the trio, and just enough help from the bench to let them sneak by New York at MSG. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Minnesota Timberwolves (-120)
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Detroit Pistons @ Golden State Warriors – 10pm ET

The second and final game on Tuesday night’s slate will see the Detroit Pistons travel to California to take on the Golden State Warriors. The Pistons have won three of their last five games, and this includes wins over the Magic, Jazz and Raptors. The Warriors continue to struggle in the new year, winning only four of their nine games so far in 2022.

Denis Kirilov

The Golden State Warriors have had a lot of troubles recently. First of all, they are trying to give Klay Thompson more chances to adapt to the current situation in the NBA. Secondly, Draymond Green and Steph Curry have been sidelined due to injuries, while on top of that, Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins have been underperforming in certain matches. They might have defeated the Chicago Bulls by 42 points, but they were without Zach LaVine who injured himself early in the first quarter. The team will most probably take a couple more serious hits in the upcoming games, since Curry is recovering from a hand injury. However, they can afford that, since they have such a big advantage over the 5th spot in the West.

The Detroit Pistons is a team on the other pole in the NBA. They are second-to-last in the Eastern Conference with 10 wins and 32 losses which makes them an attractive destination for almost every single squad in the League. However, they are on a 3-2 run in their last five games after some surprising victories over the Utah Jazz and the Toronto Raptors. Their performance away from home has been quite awful as they lost their last game to the Chicago Bulls by 46 points. In their previous two meetings they were whitewashed by the Charlotte Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies by approximately 30 points. I think this is becoming a tendency and I hope that Klay Thompson will make his first 20-point game this season. My pick here goes in favour of the Warriors to cover their spread and I will suggest that Klay will score a lot of points in this match. 

Denis’ NBA Pick: Golden State Warriors -14.5 (-110)

Michael Lantz

Two teams on opposite sides of the league standings go at it on Tuesday as the 10-32 Detroit Pistons face the 31-12 Golden State Warriors in the Bay Area. That doesn’t mean Detroit should be counted out: the Pistons recently had big wins against conference leaders including the Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks. Their young team that includes Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey have definitely shown some upside despite their record. But, they’ll need to play their best basketball possible when going up against a team like Golden State.


The reason for the Warriors recent vulnerability? No Draymond Green. Green will continue to miss time with a calf injury and his absence on both sides of the ball has been incredibly evident. The Warriors have lost three of their last four, even with Klay Thompson returning to the lineup. Still, even without Green, the Warriors have no excuse to lose to an awful Pistons team at home. I think the safe bet here is to pick Golden State to cover.

Michael’s NBA Pick: Golden State Warriors -14.5 (-110)

Noah Dunlap 

It’s still early in the new year, and Klay Thompson still hasn’t had enough minutes to really begin to get back to what we expect from him eventually, so I think it’s too early to panic too much about the Golden State Warriors play as of late, but if it doesn’t start to improve over the next week or so, I think there may be serious questions to address. Steph’s play has dropped dramatically over the last two weeks or so (could he potentially be getting tired?) and I’m just not sure that I trust Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole to be enough to lead a team themselves. 

What should be good news for this Warriors team however, is the fact that they get the Detroit Pistons at home in this one, which should be an easy win. Detroit is one of the worst two teams in the league and I don’t think it’s really a question, and that’s with them winning three of their last five. The talent isn’t there, and most of the talent they do have is extremely young, which makes me question whether they’re ready to travel to the Bay Area and pick up a win over a Golden State team that’s desperate for a win. With that in mind, give me Golden State and the points here, as I think they use this game against an overmatched opponent to try to get back on track. 

Noah’s NBA Pick: Golden State Warriors -14.5 (-110)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.

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