Both teams will be playing their fifth game within ten days. The high altitude of the venue will likely benefit the defending champions, especially since they will only have one day of rest. The Nuggets have improved their efficiency, shooting over 50% from the field in their last two victories. Mike Malone and his team have made the necessary offensive adjustments. Denver should be highly focused, given the outcome of the first two games in their home arena.

Denver has FINALLY woke up following a 2-0 deficit to the series. Look for the Nuggets to build on their momentum and take control of the series. I'm backing the ML as opposed to laying points.

Given how the series has shifted the past two games, do we expect Denver to drop a third straight game at home? This is a dominant home team - especially when something is truly at stake - with the heart of a champ, as demonstrated in Minnesota. Denver hasn't lost 3 in a row at home since the end of the 21-22 season. They were on a 15-1 run in the playoffs at home before being stunned by the Wolves in the opening games of this series. Wolves best game came w/o Gobert, which is problematic. KAT looks shook and passive and too much is on ANT's shoulders. DEN 1-4 ATS at home in playoffs, but they steal games late. As champs tend to do.

Was planning on taking today off picks-wise after every bad break possible mushroomed on me last night in a disaster. Of six picks I made, at one point thought I was gonna win five and in the span of about 45 minutes it all went bad. Who gets suspended a few hours before a freaking NHL playoff game (Avalanche) when at the morning skate? Ah well. But then I saw the DraftKings props trends for tonight -- which you can find in the daily premium newsletter I write if you have signed up -- and this popped out so will throw something down as Gordon shoots 3s much better at home as it is and has made multiple 3s in three straight games.

While pondering if any home edge (0-4!) is really meaningless in this series, we also must wonder about the momentum shift of the past two games that took place at Target Center. Aside from kicking away the home-court edge that they earned by winning the first pair in Denver, the T-wolves have some other concerns, as no one seemed willing or able to help out Anthony Edwards in either of the last two games, with disastrous consequences when Edwards scored only 19 in Game 3's 27-point loss. Even with Ant scoring 40 on Sunday, the supporting cast didn't help enough, either, in the 115-107 loss. The Nuggets switched gears in Minneapolis and this is a fair price tonight. Play Nuggets

New York has been riddled with injuries thus far. Alec Burks has seen an increase in minutes over the last two games. Burks has averaged 22 minutes and has scored 14 and 20 points in the last two contests. He’s a veteran and shown that he can gave the team some production off the bench.

New York just lost by 32 points. The Pacers are 2-8 SU off a home win of 20 points, or more. Yes, New York has been riddled with injuries, but they still opened as a two-and-a-half-point favorite despite the line moving down. The Knicks are a very resilient, grind-it-out team. Many may believe they’re gassed, which could be, but Brunson, Hart, and DiVincenzo all played less 33 minutes in that blowout. New York is 4-1 SU at home in the playoffs and 9-1 SU off a road loss of 10 points, or more.

Looking to fade TJ McConnell after the Point Guard posted his second double double of the series, which is all the more impressive considering hes only playing 21 MPG. Despite some big performances from McConnell it is very unlikely he has earned additional playing time keeping in mind that both he and Tyrese Haliburton are not nearly as effective without the ball. In addition to McConnell lacking the ability to stretch the court which makes him one dimensional and hard to play at crunch time. I look for the Knicks to slow things down as limit possessions as the series shifts back to New York.

If the New York Knicks are going to get by in game five, I believe it’s going to be based on a top tier performance from guard Donte DiVencenzo. Donte has been a bright spot all season long against the Indiana Pacers, where he averaged 24 points in the regular season and is near those numbers in the postseason. Expect twenty plus shots from DiVencenzo and for him to bounce back from a poor game four performance.

The story throughout the postseason have been injuries. We have seen it effect nearly every team in the Eastern Conference, except the Indiana Pacers. The youth of the Pacers now have supreme confidence and have figured out how to wear this Knicks team down for four quarters. One could argue they should be up 3-1 in this series. Look for the Pacers to use the same attack mode in game five to get their first win at MSG in the series, and put big doubts on the Knicks postseason. Take the Pacers.

The Knicks are better at full strength, but now they are injury-depleted and in some trouble Coach Thibs already doesn’t like to sub and now he has nobody to turn to. Pacers roll in MSG.

The only think keeping this series from being nothing but overs is the Knicks running out of offensive steam and rebounding prowess in two quarters - the 4th quarter of Game 3 and the 1st quarter of Game 4. The Pacers have produced a least 111 in all 4 games and they are 111+ in 10 of 13 games in playoffs and vs Knicks in regular season. The games in NY were total shootouts and Knicks will fight for their lives in Game 5, getting a little breather in between. But with no Robinson and Anunoby, and with so many starters playing huge minutes, I worry about their ability to slow down IND. NYK struggled to stop Pacers outside shooting in regular season, too.