We have a massive swing game tonight at Madison Square Garden as the Indiana Pacers try and win their 3rd straight vs the New York Knicks. Undoubtedly the momentum is on Indiana’s side here following their 32 point win in Game 4 on Sunday. Indy led by as many as 43 points in that game, dominating every single aspect of it. They’re just the healthier team right now and the deeper we go into this series, the more of that will show. Blowing out the Knicks meant that not a single starter for Indy logged more than 28 minutes, so they’ll be fresh and ready to go for Game 5. Winning for them at MSG has been tough over the years, they’ve done so just twice in their last 9 visits, however one of those games was in the regular season this year.
The Knicks just don’t have any more juice left. They’ve completely fallen apart over the weekend, it was only a matter of time when that would happen as they’re missing 4 really important rotation players. This has forced head coach Tom Thibodeau to play Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart 441 and 407 minutes so far this postseason, no other player in the NBA is yet to reach the 400 mark. OG Anunoby’s absence was felt in both games in Indiana. When he plays the Knicks are 26-5 SU and 20-11 ATS, while without him they’re just 13-17 SU. His hamstring injury isn’t getting any better and he’ll likely sit out Game 5 as well, which puts the Knicks in a difficult situation. Despite all of this the oddsmakers see New York as a 2.5-point favorite ahead of Tuesday’s game.
