The Indiana Pacers get a second shot at closing out the Knicks and punching their ticket to the NBA Finals Saturday night in Game 6.
Indiana leads the series 3-2 and is 5-2 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the playoffs. The Knicks are 6-2 on the road in the playoffs and coming off a Game 5 performance where they led the entire game and held the Pacers to a playoff-low 94 points.
Is all the pressure now back on the Pacers, or did they coast in Game 5 expecting to wrap things up at home? Meanwhile, Oklahoma City awaits the winner of this series in the NBA Finals.
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Knicks at Pacers Game 6 Odds
The winning team has covered the first five games in this series. New York is 10-7 against the spread in the playoffs. The Pacers are 10-5 against the spread during the playoffs.
Indiana is laying anywhere from 3.5 to four points for Game 6. The total is 219.5. Three of the five games in this series have hit the under, but four of the Pacers last five home games against the Knicks have gone over.
This season, Indiana is 39-18 as favorites, while the Knicks are 10-16 as underdogs. The Pacers have won their last eight games after a loss; that’s a big one to me. Indiana has also won 51 of its last 72 games.
But man, the Knicks have been Road Warriors all season. They’re 25-13 in their last 38 games on the road. New York has no quit in them.
Knicks at Pacers Game 6 Preview
In Game 5, the Pacers looked like a team that was on cruise control. They looked passive. Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton had only seven shots. Jalen Brunson had 32 for the Knicks, which is one off his 33-point average in the series, and Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 and 13 for New York.
The 17-point win was the biggest margin of victory in this series. The average margin is eight. The average total is 231.5, but that’s skewed by the crazy stuff in the Game 1 overtime.
At home, the Pacers have been better. They have led at halftime in each of their last nine playoff home games against the Knicks.
There’s no new strategy for either team to try. The Knicks have swapped out Josh Hart for Mitchell Robinson in their starting lineup for a little more defense. The Pacers have overcome some injuries. Game 6 will come down to who executes on offense faster and who makes shots. Don’t overthink it. Indiana can’t stop Brunson. The Knicks can’t stop Haliburton consistently. We know what Brunson will do: drive, absorb contact, and score. We know what the Pacers will do: fire the ball around and find the open look.
Knicks at Pacers Game 6 Pick
I’ve been backing the Pacers all series, and I am not stopping now. The Knicks haven’t covered a spread the last four times after a win.
It almost came through the screen in Game 5 that the Pacers were going to sorta try, and see if the Knicks might hand them one, but New York had too much resolve.
The only thing that hasn’t happened in this series is a Pacers blowout. There will be lots of energy in the building for Indiana. I think the Pacers get off to a good start, the Knicks rally to make it interesting in the fourth, but the Pacers cover the spread comfortably.
The NBA betting Pick: Pacers -4.0 (-105 at DraftKings)
