NBA Player Props and Best Bets: Towns, Haliburton Over and a Playoff Parlay

I nailed four of five player props and cashed a same-game parlay I shared right here, and I’ve got a new batch of picks for the Pacers vs. Knicks Game 2 showdown on Friday.

The Oklahoma City Thunder once again won the second half of Game 2, outscoring the Minnesota Timberwolves by eight points to earn a 118-103 victory and take a 2-0 series lead.

The Knicks will return to their home floor off the back of a devastatingly improbable loss to the Pacers, who were buoyed by eight made threes from Aaron Nesmith and an overtime-forcing buzzer-beater by Tyrese Haliburton.

Here are my best NBA player prop bets for Pacers vs. Knicks Game 2 on Friday.

Best NBA Prop Bets for Friday, May 23

Karl-Anthony Towns Over 23.5 Points

Towns dazzled in Game 1 of the series, going for 35 points on 64.7 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent (4-8) from three…But anyone who read my Game 1 props knew to bet his over, since he averaged 30.3 points per game on elite efficiency against Indy during three regular-season matchups.

Nothing about Game 1 suggested that Towns is going to struggle in this series. He continually won his matchup with Myles Turner, and the Pacers didn’t try anything exotic like making Aaron Nesmith his primary defender or fronting the post. I like Towns to deliver again, and I can see him leading the entire series in points scored.

Tyrese Haliburton Over 9.5 Assists

Haliburton made the biggest shot of the night in Game 1, but he also went over this line with 11 assists. Granted, two of them were in overtime, but an underappreciated statistic from Game 1 is that the Pacers, despite their historic shooting down the stretch, had a worse true shooting percentage for the game than they averaged during the playoffs.

With Indy somehow poised to be better from the floor and the Knicks’ defense offering little resistance, I like Hali to pull the strings and get to the over. The Knicks were willing to play the Pacers’ game of running in transition, and that should give him plenty of chances to get to the over.

Myles Turner Over 1.5 Threes

Turner only went 1-4 from downtown in Game 1, which was a bit of a shock seeing as Karl-Anthony Towns gave him space to shoot, and he hit 43.2 percent of his long-range attempts during the playoffs.

Towns really struggled to guard the pick-and-pop action that Turner has mastered, and he got plenty of clean looks at the cup. 25 percent is a long way from 43.2, and with enough volume, I believe that he’ll be able to clear this line with relative ease.

Josh Hart Over 10.5 Rebounds

Hart did not collect a rebound in the first quarter of Game 1 and still finished with 13 rebounds in what was a true testament to him as a player. He has now gone over in back-to-back games after he grabbed exactly 10 boards in all three regular-season matchups with Indy.

Although the line was bumped from 9.5 in Game 1, for which I recommended the over, the Knicks’ willingness to play the Pacers’ breakneck tempo style makes me believe there will be tons of rebounds available in Game 2. That can only mean that Hart, who has a nose for the ball, would go over again.

Aaron Nesmith Over 12.5 Points

This is not reactionary to Game 1, where again, we called the over for Nesmith. He’s now averaging 16 points per game on 53.9 percent shooting from the field, 53.8 percent from three, and 89.5 percent at the free-throw line. This is the standard, not an aberration.

Nesmith has been a valuable release point for the Pacers’ offense whenever defenses key in on Haliburton, Turner, or Pascal Siakam. He’s as confident as he’ll ever be coming off of Game 1, and the Knicks’ lazy switching and defense of the pick-and-roll means he should get open looks at the cup.

NBA Same-Game Parlay (+254) at FanDuel

-Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks (-6) 

• Jalen Brunson 25+ points: Scored 41 points on 60 percent shooting in Game 1 and has gone over this line in five of his last eight outings.

• Karl-Anthony Towns 2+ threes: Shot 4-8 from three in Game and is now 11/23 (47.8 percent) from three in four regular- and postseason matchups with the Pacers.

• Aaron Nesmith over 4.5 rebounds: Only had two rebounds in Game 1 but had 13 the game before and went over in seven of 11 playoff games overall.

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