NBA Regular Season 2023/24, Friday, 02.02.2024
On Friday night at the legendary Madison Square Garden, the in-form New York Knicks face off against the ambitious but slightly weakening Indiana Pacers. So excitement is guaranteed in Manhattan!
My Knicks Pacers tip explains why I expect a close game with a maximum of 240 points in the course of the game
The host Knicks currently have a surprisingly strong record of 31:17 and have won nine of their last ten games (including against last year’s finalists from Denver and Miami).
Since acquiring Toronto’s three-and-D star OG Anunoby at the turn of the year, the New Yorkers have won fourteen out of sixteen games!
The two defeats in Dallas and against the Magic were only by a narrow margin of four points each.
While the New York offense is the seventh best in the league with a rating of 118.3, the defense is even elite with a rating of 111.9 (5th place).
The resulting net rating of +6.4 is the fourth best in the league.
Only Minnesota allows fewer opponent points, only six teams allow fewer opponent offensive rebounds and only four teams allow fewer shot attempts than the Knickerbockers led by defensive guru Tom Thibodeau.
With guard Jalen Brunson, who is having a career year with 26.8 points per game at formidable rates (48% from the field and 42.2% from the three-point line), and power forward Julius Randle (24 points at 47.2%/31.1%), the Knicks have one of the best duos in the NBA.
With an offensive rating of 121.3, the visiting Indiana Pacers not only have the best offense in the NBA, but also the best offense in the history of the world’s best basketball league.
Only the lousy defense (26th with 119.6) prevents the team from the Midwest from doing even better.
The team from Indianapolis currently ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 27-21 record, although they have only won four of their last ten games.
However, they have won three of their last four games, beating the ambitious heavyweights from Philadelphia and Phoenix, among others. They only suffered a narrow away defeat (-5) at the home-strong Celtics on Tuesday.
Power forward Pascal Siakam, who was signed from Toronto in mid-January for a moderate fee, has acclimatized well in Indianapolis.
The versatile big man has scored an impressive 21.6 points with a 57.4% field goal percentage and 42.9% three-point percentage for his new employer.
The Cameroonian has also contributed 7.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists
This makes Siakam the perfect co-star for Tyrese Haliburton, who is one of the most versatile offensive players in the Association with 23.3 points and 12.5 assists at a strong rate (49.1% from the field and 39.7% from behind the three-point line).
Siakam and Haliburton can also rely on a strong supporting cast, with a whopping seven other players scoring at least 10 points per night after the stars
The fact that the visitors from Indiana have won the last two duels against the Knicks also speaks in their favor, although they are still five games behind in the overall standings (99 Knicks wins).
It is striking how many points have been scored in the last four head-to-head meetings, in which an average of 260.5 points were scored and never fewer than 232.
However, the Knicks have never scored more than 236 points in their last ten matches.
Therefore, I expect the Knicks around elite defender Anunoby to control the tempo of the game and keep Indiana’s offense in check.
For this reason, Bet365 offers a bet on under 240.5 points over the course of the game, which is trading at highly attractive odds of 1.87.
My Knicks Pacers tip: Under 240.5 points in the game!
