The second round of the NBA Playoffs begins Monday with two games. The New York Knicks open their series against the Indiana Pacers while the Denver Nuggets look to come back against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of this series.
After beating the Philadelphia 76ers and seeing the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks fall in the first round, the Knicks are strong favorites against the Pacers in this series. The Knicks haven’t reached a conference final since 2000.
Meanwhile, the defending champions are a bit on the ropes after losing the first match at home. Denver has plenty of time and talent to turn things around, but it would be difficult to come back from an 0-2 hole.
Here’s a look at Monday’s NBA playoff games with staff picks, odds and previews.
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No. 6 Indiana Pacers vs. No. 2 New York Knicks
How to watch: 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT
Series odds: Knicks -250, Pacers +200
It’s a classic ’90s playoff rivalry reborn in a new era. Although these teams last met in the playoffs in 2013 (also in the second round), Pacers-Knicks became a thing when these two teams met in the playoffs six times between 1993 and 2000 . Each team has won three series, including three conference finals series.
Patrick Ewing and Reggie Miller won’t be around for this one, but there’s an interesting matchup on paper. Jalen Brunson has to be the first player mentioned after how he played against the 76ers last round. Brunson averaged 35.5 points per game over the six games in this series. Indiana needs to keep him out of games, but Brunson has looked unstoppable at times.
The Pacers are a more balanced team than the Knicks and had a bit more up and down against the Bucks in the first round, although they also won in six games. Six players averaged double figures in the first round, led by Pascal Siakam with 22 points per game.
Indiana has won two of the three regular-season meetings between these teams, including a victory at Madison Square Garden in February.
The Knicks are strong favorites going into Game 1 and even bigger favorites to advance to the conference finals. Knicks fans have legitimate confidence for the first time in years, if not decades.
Expert Picks for Pacers at Knicks
No. 3 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. No. 2 Denver Nuggets
How to watch: 10 p.m. ET on TNT
Timberwolves lead series 1-0
Series odds: Timberwolves -120, Nuggets +100
Factoring in injuries, there was no real upset in the first round of the playoffs. The top seed won six series and the other two (Indiana vs. Milwaukee and Dallas vs. the LA Clippers) involved the losing team not having their best player due to injury. Minnesota is working on the first real upset of the playoffs after winning Game 1 in Denver in impressive fashion.
The Timberwolves won 106-99 and absorbed a lot of Denver’s big shots in the fourth quarter. Minnesota kept the defending champions at bay in front of a hostile crowd.
Sure, it took Anthony Edwards scoring 43 points on 17-of-29 shooting and Jamal Murray not scoring until the third quarter, but that was the formula Minnesota envisioned when it traded for Rudy Gobert . Edwards is developing into one of the best players in the league and Gobert remains one of the best interior defenders in the league. Minnesota has one of the best scorers and one of the best defenders in the league. That’s enough to keep Minnesota in any game. Now the Timberwolves must do it in a seven-game series against the defending champions.
The pressure is on Denver for Game 2. The Nuggets cannot afford to lose 0-2 to Minnesota. Nikola Jokić still had plenty of stats to show he had a good game (32 points, nine assists, eight rebounds), but he had seven turnovers. Add in Murray only scoring 17 points after a scoreless first half and you have the formula for a bad game for Denver.
It doesn’t seem likely that these two will play like this again, but the Timberwolves already have a home-court advantage in the series. A loose Minnesota team could be very dangerous in Game 2, even though the Nuggets are solid favorites for Monday.
Expert Picks for Timberwolves at Nuggets
Ranking of choices
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(Jalen Brunson Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)