The second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs has already been great, and both fans and bettors will be glued to the TVs tonight for Game 2 of the Knicks vs. Pacers tonight (8:00 p.m. ET, TNT/ Sling ).
If you're looking to find an edge on BetMGM this evening, Sporting News has identified multiple spread, player prop, and over/under value opportunities for tonight's doubleheader.
The Knicks forged an early series lead over Indiana on Monday thanks to late heroics from Villanova WildKnicks Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart — not to mention a controversial moving screen call on Myles Turner. New York now sits at -5.5 tonight, with Indy likely bringing the heat.
Did you see Game 1 of this series!? Did oddsmakers!? The Knicks barely escaped with a four-point win, and our best bets column for Monday covered New York's alternate -2.5 spread by the hairs on our chin. Five-and-a-hook seems like far too many points to give an Indiana squad that's confident, up-tempo and more than likely pissed off.
The Pacers, appropriately, pushed the pace in Game 1 and forced New York into mistakes while taking care of the basketball. Indy capitalized on the Knicks' miscues with fast-break points and kept the pressure on Brunson throughout the entire game. If not for the crucial moving screen call on Myles Turner, Rick Carlisle's squad might have stolen home-court in this series.
The Pacers got next-to-nothing from Tyrese Haliburton, while New York got a fourth-straight 40-burger from Jalen Brunson. It stands to reason that Hali is a prime candidate for positive regression, while Brunson has to cool off from this heater at some point.
Carlisle's no slouch — he's the man who helped Haliburton and Brunson elevate from good to great — and he should scheme a game plan that at the very least keeps Indiana closer than down five points at the final whistle.
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: Knicks 112 , Pacers 108 — New York wins ( -210 ) but Indiana covers the +5.5 spread ( -115 ) and the final score goes just UNDER the projected total (220.5).
Best NBA playoff odds and picks: Top over/under bet
Pacers OVER 52.5 first-half points at Knicks ( -105 )
The Pacers have averaged 61.3 first-half points per game since the start of the 2023-24 season, second to only the No. 1-seeded Celtics. With Indiana reeling from a Game 1 loss after coming so close to the upset, expect Tyrese Haliburton and company to push the pace early and often and get right back into the swing of things.
Indiana scored 55 first-half points against the Knicks in Game 1 and 59 first-half points in the opening-round clincher over the Bucks last week. They scored 60 in the first half of Game 2 in that Bucks series, and 67 in the first halves of both Game 3 and 4. This feels like a modest first-half projection that's just begging for action.
HALFTIME PREDICTION: Pacers 55 , Knicks 52 — Indiana wins the first half ( +140 ) and covers the +2.5 first-half spread ( -110 ), while going OVER its first-half team total of 52.5 ( -105 ).
Best NBA playoff odds and picks: Top player prop bet
One of the main ingredients to New York cooking up Monday's Game 1 win was Josh Hart pushing the ball up the floor in transition. He also rarely shoots the ball from deep, so you can typically bank on him trying to create for others rather than take scoring matters into his own hands.
Hart has 15 assists over the Knicks' past two games, both victories. In fact, New York has won five consecutive games in which Hart logs seven or more dimes. He cashed on the rebounding OVER we recommended for Game 1 — here's betting he will once again cash by recording seven or more assists in Game 2.
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