The conference round of the NBA Playoffs resumes with one standalone matchup on Wednesday night, as Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and Knicks takes center stage at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT.
Our staff of basketball betting experts dug into the latest odds and identified 5 NBA picks for tonight's contest. Continue below for our NBA best bets and predictions for Wednesday, May 21.
NBA Playoffs Best Bets, Picks, Predictions: Wednesday, May 21
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Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NBA Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Pacers vs. Knicks
By Joe Dellera
The Knicks begin their revenge tour against the Pacers tonight, who defeated them in seven games last season in the playoffs.
New York's roster is actually healthy this time, but the biggest swing is the fact that KAT is in town.
Towns has destroyed the Pacers this season with 21, 30, and 40 point games. They struggle to match up with his ability to score from both the interior and the perimeter, and have not had success inverting any of his matchups yet.
If Indiana sells out to stop Brunson, this will only open things up more for the big man. I’ll back KAT in Game 1.
Pick: Karl-Anthony Towns Over 22.5 Points (-115)
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Pacers vs. Knicks
By Alex Hinton
The Pacers are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year behind the strength of their depth.
They will be a difficult matchup for the Knicks because they can legitimately go 10 deep, particularly in the backcourt with Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and TJ McConnell off the bench.
McConnell keeps the Pacers' offense humming when he enters the game with his scoring and playmaking.
This postseason, McConnell is averaging 8.6 points per game after averaging 9.1 points per game in the regular season. He has scored seven points in six of the Pacers' 10 playoff games thus far and finished with six in another. In five of the overs, he reached double digits.
He has cleared this number at a 71% clip for the season, but he has also given the Knicks fits over the last few years as well.
McConnell is averaging 9.7 points over his last 17 games against the Knicks, clearing this number in 11 of those games.
In last year's second series, McConnell averaged 11.9 points against the Knicks and scored seven in six games of those seven games.
The Knicks made some roster tweaks and are healthier this season. However, McConnell still cleared this number in two of the three regular season meetings. If he gets his usual 15 to 20 minutes tonight, I expect those trends to continue.
Pick: TJ McConnell Over 6.5 Points (+110)
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Pacers vs. Knicks
Myles Turner should attempt to do what Kristaps Porzingis couldn't.
For the Pacers to find offensive success, I think Turner will almost need to be a key component by stretching KAT out to 25+ feet and raining in threes.
Porzingis wasn't healthy enough to do this, as he did in the regular season.
And Rick Carlisle understands that you want to get KAT moving on defense, and setting up the Tyrese Haliburton + Turner pick-and-pop is one of many ways to do that, but could be among the cleanest.
Even if KAT doesn't get this matchup, this should be Turner's primary offensive focus. You can generate threes against the Knicks, and hit them at a high clip.
They haven't seen a playmaker anywhere near Haliburton this postseason yet, and making threes is all about ball movement — not too many dribble pull-ups — which is one thing Indy excels at and Turner should benefit from.
Pick: Myles Turner Over 1.5 Three-Pointers Made (-135)
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Pacers vs. Knicks
The sharp sides in the spread and total markets for this game are the Knicks and Over per market signals.
