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Following the T-Wolves’ surprising demolition of the Nuggets on Thursday, the NBA playoffs are back in action with Game 6 of the Knicks-Pacers series on Friday night. The Knicks hold a 3-2 series lead as the scene shifts back to Indianapolis for tonight’s do-or-die battle for the Pacers. The Pacers are listed as a 6-point home favorite after winning both of their home games earlier in the series. In fact, the next win for a road team in this series will be the first.
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Now, let’s go through our NBA predictions to help make a PrizePicks entry for today.
The Knicks were crushed by injuries during the regular season, and they’ve faced similar woes in the playoffs. Mitchell Robinson was lost for the season earlier in this series after having previously suffered what many thought was a separate season-ending injury months ago. The Knicks are also down OG Anunoby again tonight after he went down with a hamstring strain earlier in the series.
Hartenstein has dealt with his fair share of bumps and bruises, but he’s been one of the team’s most reliable producers all season long. Through the first 5 games of this series, the Knicks’ starting center is averaging 8.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and a shade under a blocked shot per game. He’s not a major source of usage for an offense that flows almost exclusively through Jalen Brunson, but Hartenstein is more than happy to help out with the little things.
After topping 13 points in each of the first 2 games, Hartenstein has been limited to 7 or fewer points in each of the last 3. Indiana has been one of the most porous paint defenses in the league all season, however, and Hartenstein is incredibly efficient with the few shot attempts he does get on a nightly basis. He’ll also likely push for 40 minutes if this game is close.
Haliburton was one of the league’s breakout stars earlier this season, but he’s taken his fair share of criticism in the playoffs. Despite being an efficient scorer from anywhere on the floor, Haliburton has been weirdly passive as a scorer at times in this series. While he is averaging 21.6 points through the first 5 games, he’s scored 13 or fewer in 2 of those.
Haliburton registered just 6 points on 6 shot attempts in Indiana’s Game 1 loss. In their blowout defeat in Game 5, he supplied only 13 points on just 9 shots. He took at least 15 field goal attempts in each of Games 2, 3, and 4, and the Pacers were predictably much more successful in those contests. They won Games 3 and 4 and had a chance to steal Game 2 on the road.
Will Haliburton take a more aggressive approach with the Pacers’ season on the line? There’s reason to believe he should, but let’s not forget he averaged 20.1 points per game during the regular season. He’s out there to serve as Indiana’s primary offensive initiator, and whatever scoring punch he provides is more of a bonus than anything else.
The Pacers have run a deep rotation under Rick Carlisle all season long. They’re almost the antithesis of Thibs’ Knicks in that regard. One player who has played his way into a solid reserve role is ex-Knick, Obi Toppin, who’s averaging 11 points in just over 19 minutes per game against his former team in this series. He’s actually scoring more than he did during the regular season (10.3 points per game) despite averaging north of 21 minutes across those 82 games.
Toppin has topped 10 points in 3 of the 5 games, while he’s been held to 7 or fewer in the other 2. He’s another guy that doesn’t typically generate much usage while he’s out there, and he actually averaged more points on the road (11) than he did at home (9.6) during the regular season.
It’s close, but I’ll side with Toppin to have a quieter outing in Game 6.
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