The Indiana Pacers will be out for the clincher when they take the court in Game 5 of their best of seven NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks in pro basketball action on Thursday night. The Pacers and Knicks will begin game five from Madison Square Garden in New York at 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by TNT TV.
The NBA playoff odds for game five has the home team New York Knicks favored by -4 ½ points with an over under line of 179 points. There has been no line movement in this game since the odds were released a few hours ago.
The Pacers take the 3-1 series lead in this best of seven Eastern conference series off their 93-82 home victory against the New York Knicks in game four on Tuesday as a -5 point betting favorite. The total landed under 179 ½ points.
Indiana has now won two straight in this series and has held the Knicks to an average of 76 ½ points in those contests. The Pacers go up 48-34 at the half in victory. They shot just 40.8% from the floor and made 8 of 25 three pointers. The Pacers annihilated the Knicks on the glass by a 54-36 margin. The team made it to the free throw line 30 times and made 23 shots. George Hill led the Pacers with 26 points and four assists as he made 9 of his 14 shots. Paul George chipped in with 18 points and 14 boards on 6 of 19 makes from the field. Indiana is a very good defensive team as witnessed in this series. They are the best team in the NBA in defensive field goal and three point shooting percentage as teams make just 42% from the floor and 32.7% from three against the Pacers.
The Knicks had another bad shooting game as they make just 35.6% from the field and 8 of 28 came from three point distance. They made it to the free throw line just 14 times and made 12 shots. New York failed to take advantage of six less turnovers than Indiana. Carmelo Anthony scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds on 9 of 23 shooting. J.R. Smith had a tough shooting game with just 7 of 22 makes from the floor for 19 points and blamed himself for the Knicks deficit in this series during the postgame interviews. When you look at J.R. Smith’s shooting percentage during the playoffs it is a bit baffling. In his past four years Smith has shot 36.8% or worse in each year during the postseason. Last year he shot 31.6% in five playoffs games and in the 2013 playoffs J.R. is making just 33.6% from the field in nine playoff games. New York is heavily dependent on the three point shot as the team ranks fourth in the league by making 37.6% from beyond the arc. As we talked about all year it is very difficult to make threes in the post season and New York is facing the best team in the league in defending three point shots.
