Knicks vs. 76ers Game 3 prediction: NBA Playoffs odds, picks, best bets for Thursday
The New York Knicks staged a thrilling rally after trailing the Philadelphia 76ers by five points with less than one minute to play in Game 2 of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. The Knicks scored eight points in 27 seconds to escape with a 104-101 victory. A day later, the NBA conceded New York was aided by non-calls on multiple fouls and the failure by referees to grant a requested timeout.It’s safe to say the 76ers won’t be in the best of moods as they return home Thursday, down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.The Knicks are up 2-0 in the series despite shooting worse from the floor in both games than the 76ers.Per NBA’s Advanced Stats, the Knicks’ starters rank 14th in field goal percentage (39.3 percent) in the postseason.While the team hasn’t shot the ball particularly well, the bench has performed better than the starters, ranking sixth in field goal percentage (42.6 percent).
The Knicks’ reserves are tied for second with 29 points per game.We’d generally expect bench players to perform better at home with the crowd behind them.However, those performances don’t always transfer over when teams hit the road in a hostile environment.The Knicks will need to get more out of point guard Jalen Brunson, who has almost twice as many shot attempts (27.5) as any other player on the Knicks, but is shooting just 29.1 percent from the floor. Brunson is just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc and hasn’t been quite as effective getting to the basket with Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid patrolling the paint.It’s worth noting that while all three wins against the 76ers during the regular season were by double digits, Embiid was inactive for two of those games. We can’t understate the impact of Embiid on Philadelphia’s overall success.
In Game 1, he wasn’t close to 100 percent and still registered 29 points.When he went to the locker room with 2:37 remaining in the first half after tweaking his knee, the Knicks ended the quarter ...