After losing in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Knicks find themselves in a different position heading into their second round series against the Indiana Pacers.
DraftKings opens the Knicks as -225 favorites to begin their playoff series at The Garden on Monday.
The Knicks are heavy favorites for Game 1 on Monday, sitting as 6.5-point favorites and -245 on the money line.
Interestingly, the spread for this series is the Knicks at -1.5, and there's some gravity pushing the Pacers to +115 on that line.
The total number of games in the series is 5.5, but oddsmakers are predicting that there will be six games above the -160 line, with the series most likely ending in six games at +220 odds.
The Pacers won the regular season series against the Knicks, 2-1, and Pascal Siakam, acquired at the trade deadline, appeared in two of those games (1-1).
Star forward Julius Randle will be out for the season after playing in just one of three games for the Knicks, while Indiana will be without up-and-coming forward Benedict Mathurin.
Defense will be a key factor for the Knicks in this series, as the Pacers shot 58.5 percent and 61 percent from the field, respectively, in their two regular season wins.
In the loss against MSG, they shot just 45.2 percent from the field.
OG Anunoby, a valuable player acquired by the Knicks in a trade, did not appear in any of the three games and did not put up the same numbers as Siakam.
These two will be playing in a grudge match between two physical defensive stalwarts who can change the complexity of any game with their attitude towards the ball.
This series should be a hotly contested one, but oddsmakers clearly think the Knicks will win based on the 69.23 percent implied probability of victory implied by the odds.
The 76ers were favored going into the series opener against the Knicks, but money poured in from interested bettors to support the top-seeded Knicks.
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said the series was a close one that could have gone either way, but he thought the odds were stacked against him for now.
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“This series could have gone the other way, but it didn't, so we're going to congratulate them,” Nurse told reporters after the game.
The Knicks play close with their physical style and will have a chance to show old friend Obi Toppin how New York plays the ball from the opposing team's perspective in the playoffs.
As the Post's Howie Kussoy pointed out, this series will look much different than the Game 1 victory in Philadelphia.
