When it comes to closing out a series the Indiana Pacers need Andrew Nembhard playing his best basketball. He did so in the last round against Cleveland where he scored 18 points in game five. He also scored fifteen in game five in the first round to close out the Milwaukee Bucks. Look for Nembhard to end his three game mini slump where he has shot just 6 for 27 from the floor. Play his points over.

OG Anunoby continues to frustrate in the points prop market as he has went under in four out of the five matchups. Yet, there’s an aggressiveness to his offense over the last two games, where he has taken fourteen and sixteen shots. Look for Anunoby to finally get some consistency from beyond the three point line where he has went just two of fourteen for the past two games. Grab Anunoby to clear his points prop.

Rest assured the combative Knicks, with Jalen Brunson and KAT, are going to die hard, but if playoff trendlines continue, the good version of Indy shows up and closes out this series, as it also did last May vs. New York. Totals-wise, the “good Pacers” play fast (which they didn’t on Thursday and should also make it tougher for Tom Thibodeau to slow the pace and keep this scoreline under as in three of the last four games. Note the last time a total was posted beneath 220 in this series, Game 4 exploded, and most of the recent history between these sides has featured scorelines into the 220s. No surprise if this game more resembles that Game 4 from Tuesday night. Play Knicks-Pacers Over

It's back! We're talking about the old “NBA Playoff Zig-Zag” which has resurfaced in a meaningful way this postseason; teams that have lost outright the previous game are +19 against the spread in the subsequent outing. In Games 3, 4, and 5 in this series, it’s worked, and most insiders seem willing to give Indiana at least a semi-mulligan for its poor showing on Thursday night. Game 5 looks to have been a substantial outlier for the Pacers, as Tyrese Haliburton (only 7 points on 2-for-7 FG shooting), Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, and Myles Turner could only combine for 14 points, with eight turnovers...it’s a surprise Indy only lost by 17! The real Pacers should show up tonight and close out this series. Play Pacers

Again, I have no personal dog in this fight. But I am the biggest-ever Pacers fan in Game 6 simply to stop hearing about the Chalamets, the Jenners, the Stillers (do like Ben and not just because of Severance -- that certainly doesn't hurt, though), the Hargitays and, I mean, Spike Lee is the cherry atop the hate sundae, and such at Knicks home games. WHO. CARES. Guess I could stop watching. Indiana won't want to go back to that nonsense again in Game 7, so I expect basically an elimination game effort from Indy on Saturday, where the most well-known fan's last name probably rhymes with Gellencamp.

We get the best of the Pacers here, who got a good look at the Knicks cross switching and defensive adjustments and will get back to running at Jalen Brunson and KAT and we will get a far more aggressive version of the IND backcourt. Pacers are 5-2 a home in playoffs and one of those losses came when they stopped pushing pace vs NYK with a big lead. I don't see that happening again.

Karl-Anthony Towns has battled with foul trouble for much of the Eastern Conference Finals. Still, he has scored at least 24 points in four of the five games. The one game that he didn’t, he scored 20 points despite playing only 28 minutes. The Pacers don’t have anyone who can slow down Towns, so while there is always the risk of foul trouble with him, I still like this over.

Oddsmakers have set his PTS line higher at 20.5 in most spots because of his up and down offense this series and he's coming off a down. But we still wanted to ride the 'Siakam Wave' and the value is now on REB+AST with over 11 projected. We are getting buy low because the Pacers front court is getting outrebounded consistently by the Knicks and Siakam had 3 straight unders before game 5 where he had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. This season he is 54-39, 58.1% over this line on a 10.1 average so all we are banking on is a normal output in a game where he should be on the floor as much as possible.

We have a full game line of Indiana -4 and just a 55% lean on them to cover the full game -3.5 spread. Rather than pay -132 on their first quarter money line we'll take the 'risk' of it not being tied after one. The MSG crowd clearly came out and inspired the Knicks in Game 5. Indiana is just as crazy for basketball as anyone in the world and I'm thinking the Pacers will come out inspired. While getting easily beaten in Game 5 doesn't feel good, it is encouraging that the Pacers have revived Ben Mathurin, who has put up back to back 20+ games and gives them a second version of Aaron Nesmith, just as Nesmith has gone cold.

Jalen Brunson and KAT have been good all series long and I certainly expect a major bounceback from the Pacers starters after a Game 5 letdown. IND has forgot to run and push the tempo twice in this series and it bit them both times. I expect a far greater intention to get to the rim here. This is the lowest total of the series thus far. The Pacers are averaging 117/G in playoffs and Knicks 110. Pacers rarely have two poor shooting outings in a row. Expect a faster start here as well with the crowd behind them in a possible knockout game.