Free NBA Picks & Predictions - Today's Best NBA Bets (2024)

Put simply, this series is sitting there for Pascal Siakam to take over. The New York Knicks are set to be without OG Anunoby again this afternoon after Siakam’s former Toronto Raptors teammate picked up a hamstring injury in Game 2, and that leaves New York short on options for guarding Spicy P. Siakam was an efficient 9-for-14 from the field in Game 3 and, just as important, he didn’t just settle for long jumpers. He got into the paint and ended up with nine free-throw attempts. That’s the version of Siakam the Indiana Pacers need if they’re going to send this series back to Madison Square Garden knotted at 2-2, and I’m picking him to shine against a Knicks defense that’s logged huge minutes in this playoff run.

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Tom Oldfield - Pick Made 1 hrs, 34 min ago.

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Brunson is injured. His foot injury slowed him in the Game 3 loss, keeping him to 26 points and 10-of-26 shooting (38.5%). Brunson’s minutes fell to 38:27, after playing five straight games of at least 43:32 before his initial injury shorted his Game 2 by a quarter. Brunson is not only playing a bit slower, he is playing a bit less. Indiana ranked No. 1 after the All-Star Break in preventing opponents’ 3PAs, only 33.1% of FGAs coming from deep. The Knicks are matching that rate, taking just 32.3% of their shots in this series from long range. That many fewer looks from 3 mean that many fewer chances at potential assists.

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Douglas Farmer - Pick Made 1 hrs, 7 min ago.

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DiVincenzo has gone 18-of-32 from 3 in this series. In Game 3, he scored a game-high 35 points in part thanks to going 7-of-11 from deep. Perhaps more sustainably, DiVincenzo took 26 shots, his workload increasing in each game of this series. With Brunson slowed, DiVincenzo has to do more offensively. There is no one else in the New York rotation that can pick up Brunson’s slack, in part because there is simply no one else in the New York rotation. DiVincenzo has neared 44 minutes in each game of this round for a reason. The only option the Knicks have for added offense is more from DiVincenzo.

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Douglas Farmer - Pick Made 1 hrs, 5 min ago.

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Minnesota’s big men play Jokic physically. Even if he powers through Towns or Reid, Rudy Gobert rotates over to contest Jokic’s shot. He has two options: chuck from beyond the arc — 3-of-13 in this series, with 2-of-9 coming in Game 1 — or focus on moving the ball. On Friday, nine assists led the game and sparked the blowout. In Denver’s best game of this postseason, Jokic still scored only 24 points. He needed 25 shots to get to 32 points in Game 1, which effectively served as a lesson that his shots are just going to be inefficient in this series. Jokic shooting 26-of-56 (46.4%) through three games is not an accident.

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Douglas Farmer - Pick Made 18 hrs, 37 min ago.

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Minnesota wants Gordon to shoot. Gordon shot 29% from 3 this season. He is, by far, the worst shooter in the Nuggets’ starting lineup. For years, Minnesota has left Gordon open along the perimeter, nominally defended by Rudy Gobert, the Defensive Player of the Year actually spending more time worried about everyone else on the court than about Gordon. Gordon will thus continue to get these looks. And for the Nuggets to even up this series, they probably need 3-point variance to tilt their way again. If Gordon takes at least three open 3s, and probably more, then it is only logical to expect him to make one of them.

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Douglas Farmer - Pick Made 1 hrs, 4 min ago.

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