Germantas Kneita
We are now 3 games into the Eastern Conference Finals and we are yet to see the home team come away with a win. The Indiana Pacers will be looking to change that tonight. They held a comfortable 2-game advantage over the New York Knicks after 2 victories in MSG, but now face the prospect of handing back home-court advantage if they fail to win tonight. There’s tons at stake in this Game 4 matchup, which gets started at 8:00 pm ET on TNT. You can find out our NBA picks for tonight’s game and EVERY Conference Finals matchup, but for now, let’s dive into my Knicks vs Pacers first basket best bet, as we look to make it 2 in a row after a Game 3 winner on Brunson at +500 odds!
Knicks vs Pacers first basket best bet: Pascal Siakam (+850)
Odds available at bet365 at time of publishing
The New York Knicks opened the scoring in Game 3 but do not be surprised to see the Indiana Pacers strike first tonight. The Knicks have moved Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup, and he stepped up to win the opening tip in the last game. He is similarly matched in terms of height to Myles Turner, which should give the Pacers man a decent chance to level the score between them. The Pacers were able to hold the Knicks to just over 43% from the field in the last outing and have been outperforming them in effective field-goal percentage during the series. These are all factors that should help Indiana open the scoring.
In Game 3, Pascal Siakam scored first for the Pacers and should be well-positioned to do so once again. With Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns sharing the floor, it will be up to the latter to pick up the Pacers’ power forward. With the Knicks man being one of the weaker defenders in their starting 5, Siakam should look to target him early. He is more than capable of creating his own looks off the dribble and can attack Towns in the open court. Siakam opened the scoring with a floating jump shot in the last game and I’m backing him to get something going at the rim here too.
Find out our expert Knicks vs Pacers Same Game Parlay picks for tonight’s crunch ECF Game 4 at +313 odds
