The New York Knicks’ comeback magic ran out somewhat on Saturday. After erasing 20-point deficits to steal each of the first two games of their second-round series against the second-seeded Boston Celtics, New York was unable to get anything going in a 115-93 Game 3 loss. If Boston wins tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks’ home-court advantage will be erased entirely.
A good performance from center Karl-Anthony Towns will be critical if New York wants to take a 3-1 lead. The Knicks’ marquee offseason acquisition was dominant in Game 2, scoring 21 points and adding 17 rebounds, but he was rather inefficient in Game 3 even if he had 21 and 15. So far these playoffs, Towns has averaged just 19.3 points per game, a 5.1-point downturn from the regular season, although he has hit 40.6% of his three-pointers.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, New York is a 6.5-point underdog for Game 4, with the total is set for 208. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bets centered around Big Purr.
Best Karl-Anthony Towns Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Karl-Anthony Towns 13+ Rebounds (+115)
Regardless of whether or not Towns’ shot is clicking, he’s a monster on the boards. For his career, he’s averaged 11.1 rebounds per game, the 27th-highest average in NBA history, and this season, he averaged 12.8, which ranked second in the NBA. During the regular season, he snagged 13 or more boards in 34 of his 72 games, including two of the four regular-season contests against the Celtics.
In the regular season, Boston was fairly stout on the glass, posting the league’s sixth-highest total rebounding percentage, and so far this series, it has nabbed 50.7 boards per game, the most of any conference semifinals participant. But the Celtics have a major reason to be concerned: Kristaps Porzingis, their seven-foot-two center who doubles as one of the league’s best rim protectors, has played just 46 total minutes across the first three games of the series while dealing with an illness, and in Games 2 and 3, his minutes had little overlap with Towns’. So far these playoffs, opponents’ rebounding percentage has been 2.9 percentage points higher with Porzingis off the floor and 0.3 percentage points higher with Al Horford on it.
Karl-Anthony Towns O1.5 Three-Pointers Made (+135)
The fact that the Knicks ranked fourth-to-last in three point attempts per game during the regular season despite employing the services of arguably the greatest big-man shooter ever is, frankly, inexcusable. They then took just 30.2 per game — the third-fewest — during their first-round win over the Detroit Pistons and 30.1 so far this series despite ranking near the middle of the pack in accuracy. To make matters worse, their aggressiveness has dropped on a game-by-game basis, as they attempted 37 in Game 1, 31 in Game 2, and just 25 in Game 3.
But at least Towns is launching — in Game 5, he took five after attempting just one in each of the first two games of the series. Three of his attempts came with at least four feet of separation, which he hit at a 42.6% clip during the regular season. With some improved shooting luck and continued aggressiveness, he should easily get to two made triples: of the 51 games in which he has attempted four or more three-pointers so far this season, he has made two or more in 40 of them.
