The Knicks fought off elimination on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, putting together by far their most complete game of the series to force a Game 6 on Saturday night in Indiana. The pressure now shifts to the Pacers to close the series out, with a potential Game 7 at MSG in which New York would have all of the momentum looming. Let’s breakdown betting angles for Game 6.
The Pacers have been the better team for the majority of the series, particularly when they push the pace. That wasn’t the case in their worst outing of the series, which was clearly Game 5. Indy walked the ball up the floor, giving a desperate Knicks team a chance to clamp down on defense. It resulted in the Pacers scoring just 94 points — their first game of the postseason with less than 100.
I expect Game 6 of this series to have a strong resemblance to Game 4. The Pacers were off a disappointing loss in the previous game, and came out at home in Game 4 and controlled the tempo and led wire-to-wire. Indy finished that game with 130 points, which is its most in the series in regulation, fueled by Tyrese Haliburton’s historic triple-double. New York also finished Game 3 playing some of its best defense of the series, as it did in Game 5, and the Pacers came prepared with adjustments to start the following game. While the Knicks will really put an emphasis on slowing the game down, I expect the Pacers to find ways to play uptempo at home with the season on the line.
I’ll take Indy to go wire-to-wire again in Game 6 and advance to the NBA Finals. You can bet them on the double result (lead at halftime and win the game) at even money, and/or lay the -4 on the Pacers at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Best Bet: Halftime/Fulltime Double Result (+100) – 1.5-units
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