The Knicks survived a thriller at Madison Square Garden, and the series shifts to Philadelphia, which should be welcoming to New York and its traveling fans for Game 3.
The Knicks are on an impressive five-game win streak during the NBA playoffs that spans the last three games of the first round against the Hawks and the first two games of this second round series against the 76ers.
The credit deserves to be spread all around.
Jalen Brunson has shown his usual All-NBA ceiling, OG Anunoby looks like he should be an All-Star, Mikal Bridges has found his game at the perfect time, and Josh Hart has done all the little things the Knicks need to win.
But Karl-Anthony Towns has completely changed how the Knicks look on offense over this stretch.
Since head coach Mike Brown decided to run more offense through Towns, it has led to some eye-popping numbers against the Hawks and Sixers. Towns is averaging 7.8 assists during the Knicks’ win streak, dishing out passes all across the court and keeping defenses confused.
Anunoby is questionable for Game 3 with a hamstring injury, and he’s been a huge beneficiary of Towns’ passing. But even if Anunoby sits out, I expect Towns to continue to find other teammates open.
In Game 2, Towns played only 27 minutes because of foul trouble and still dished out seven assists, and four of those went to Bridges. In Game 1, he played 20 minutes, also because of foul trouble, and still had six dimes.
He has fully leaned into this style of play, leveraging his ability to hit 3s or drive to the basket to keep the defense honest and then find cutters when he wants to pass. So far, teams have been unable to stop it.
The Over/Under for Towns’ prop is listed as low as 4.5 and as high as 5.5, depending on the book. I’ll take the high end of that projection at plus money and watch Towns continue his Nikola Jokic impersonation in Game 3.
THE PLAY: Karl-Anthony Towns Over 5.5 assists (+118, FanDuel)
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
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