NBA Basketball BETTING PREVIEW - Indiana Pacers @ New York Knicks

NBA Basketball

2025-05-21 - Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Indiana Pacers @ New York Knicks
United States : NBA Basketball Playoff Eastern Conference Finals Game 1
Wednesday 21st May 2025 - Scheduled 8:30pm
1:30am (British Time)

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Preview

Considering the Eastern Conference Finals were set on Friday evening and the Western Conference Finals on Sunday, you think it would have made more sense for the former to get underway first. Instead the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks will meet in the post-season for a second season in a row, but with even more on the line than when they met in 2024.

Last year the teams met in the Second Round and it was for the place in the Eastern Conference Finals with the injury hit New York Knicks having nothing left in Game 7.

This time the Knicks are looking much healthier and they have just beaten the defending Champions Boston Celtics in six games and New York's expectations have been raised significantly. It has been over fifty years since the New York Knicks last won the NBA Championship, and twenty-six years since they last competed in the NBA Finals, but the fans have seen the top two Seeds dumped out and the Knicks will be hosting the Eastern Conference Finals.

There will be a lot of respect for the Indiana Pacers, not only for the Playoff defeat to this team last season, but for the way the Pacers have seen off the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers for the loss of just two games. Over the last four months of the regular season, the Pacers were playing about as well as any team, but they have been satisfied going under the radar.

Depth on the Pacers roster has been key and they have made strong starts to each of the last two Series by winning the first two games to take a serious grip of those Series. In the last Round they upset the Cavaliers, the Number 1 Seed, twice on the road and the Indiana Pacers have a team that will push the tempo and not be afraid to give the ball to the hot hand.

Tyrese Haliburton will be heading to Madison Square Garden expecting to be the focus of the attention for the New York Knicks fans, but that may suit him if it allows his team-mates to flourish. The Pacers have shown that winning on the road is not something they are afraid of doing after beating Cleveland in all three road games in the Second Round and Indiana are a very dangerous opponent.

Confidence should not be an issue for the New York Knicks after crushing the Boston Celtics in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden and the team are so much healthier than when losing to the Pacers last season. They have shown grit to come through tough moments in the Series wins over both the Celtics and Detroit Pistons, while New York did win two of the three regular season games with the Indiana Pacers.

In the Second Round last year, the New York Knicks won the opening two games of the Series before injuries saw them worn down with four losses in the next five games to be downed in seven. There will be an appreciation of the fact that the Pacers have shown a physical style to break down the last two opponents, while an up-tempo Indiana approach has just made it tough to keep up with them on the scoreboard.

Picking a Game 1 winner is not easy on the spread- the Pacers look to be getting enough points to keep this competitive, but the Knicks did win the opening two games of that PlayOff Series last year.

Instead it may be wise to pick Game 1 to go 'over' the total set- this is a number that would have been covered in the last two regular season games between the teams and missed by just a Field Goal in the first. In the Playoff Series played last year, three of the four games played at Madison Square Garden went 'over' the total and the teams have shown enough Offensive power to believe this one will do the same to open the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.

With the pace that Indiana use, there should be plenty of turnovers and transitional baskets, which can move this game into a position to finish with enough points to cover what is a big number on paper.

Prediction

Look for the two teams to combine for enough points to surpass the total line set.

The Pick :

New York Knicks 116-112 Indiana Pacers

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Over 223 Total Points at -107 with Bookmaker.eu