After losing Game 3 at home, the Indiana Pacers bounced back and beat the New York Knicks by nine points on Tuesday. Tonight, at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Pacers can clinch their first NBA Finals berth since 2000.
Pacers star G Tyrese Haliburton had a monster game with 32 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds in Game 4, but his co-star Pascal Siakam also totaled 30 points in the contest. Here is my favorite prop bet for Siakam against the Knicks in Game 5.
Pascal Siakam over 20.5 Points (-120)
In this series against the Knicks, Siakam has had a high ceiling and low floor. He has scored 17, 39, 17, and 30 points in each game. Although he hasn’t had two straight games with 21-plus points in this series, he is bound to do so eventually. Siakam has hit this scoring mark in four of his previous six games. You can get Siakam at -120 on DraftKings Sportsbook to record over 20.5 points tonight.
In Siakam’s last game at Madison Square Garden, he dropped 39 points, his season high. Dating back to last year’s playoffs, he has had more than 20.5 points in two of the previous four matchups in New York. He averages 20.8 points per game in the postseason, slightly more than in the regular season (20.2).
The Pacers have won their last four games when Siakam scored at least 21 points in the playoffs. If Indiana wants to win its first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000, it will need to make it a priority to get Siakam involved early in the contest. Siakam has had 20 or more field goal attempts in three of his last five games, and when he hits that mark, a good offensive performance is likely.
