2024 NBA Cup Odds: New York Knicks at Philadelphia 76ers Picks and Expert Analysis

The 2024 NBA postseason’s Knicks-76ers series has been great theater, and we don’t want it to end. Philadelphia trails 3-2 but is a home favorite on the NBA odds for Game 6 on Thursday night to extend it to a winner-take-all game this weekend back in New York.

In the Eastern Conference only the Celtics are qualified to the next round, and the remaining games are interesting because they are decisive to reach the Semifinals.

New York Knicks Odds +105

The Knicks appeared in total control of Game 5 at home on Tuesday with a six-point lead with under 30 seconds left in regulation but blew it and lost 112-106 in overtime with a chance to advance and rest up/heal before facing East top-seeded Boston in the conference semifinals.

Jalen Brunson was awesome for a third straight game with 40 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals in a whopping 51 minutes. He scored all of New York’s nine points in overtime. While Brunson is putting up numbers, he’s still not shooting great at 41.9 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from beyond the arc in the series.

Fellow guard Donte DiVincenzo was not very good with just nine points on 3-for-10 shooting (1-for7 from deep) along with four rebounds in 26 minutes. DiVincenzo has had a tough series so far on the offensive end, but he’s been solid defensively. He’s averaging 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the series while hitting 33.3 percent from the field.

OG Anunoby had 17 points (7-of-12 FGs), six rebounds and two steals in 50 minutes. Anunoby made some big plays late in the fourth quarter of this game but Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey’s heroics overshadowed that.

Miles McBride provided a boost off the bench with 14 points, four rebounds and four steals. Tom Thibodeau has been running a tight rotation, and McBride has been a huge part of it throughout the series. Only seven Knicks saw the floor on Tuesday, with McBride logging 33 minutes off the bench. He is averaging 13.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game this series, which has been vital to New York’s success. He doesn’t need to play huge minutes when Brunson is healthy.

New York played Game 5 without reserve guard Bojan Bogdanovic, a February trade acquisition, and he will not return in these playoffs due to left foot surgery. Bogdanovic had already been dealing with a wrist issue before he injured his foot almost immediately after checking in to Sunday’s Game 4. Bogdanovic got tied up with 76ers forward Nicolas Batum while both were chasing a loose ball, and Bogdanovic immediately went to the ground in a lot of pain.

Philadelphia 76ers Odds -128

Sixers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey had a performance for the ages in Philly’s stunning comeback in Game 5. With 46 points, a playoff career high, Maxey passed Allen Iverson for the most points to avoid elimination in 76ers history. Maxey’s most impactful contributions came at the end of regulation, when he scored or assisted on the Sixers’ final 11 points, including his two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions (one with an and-1) to send the game to OT. Trailing by six points with 28 seconds remaining in regulation, Philly had a win probability of 4.6%.

Down three after Josh Hart split a pair of free throws, Maxey and Joel Embiid ran a high pick-and-roll. Embiid set the screen near halfcourt, Maxey pulled up from the logo and cashed it with about eight seconds left to tie it.

Reminiscent of the Knicks overcoming a five-point deficit in Game 2 of this first-round series, the 76ers became the first team in the past 25 playoffs to overcome a deficit of at least six points in the final 30 seconds of regulation.

Clearly playing at less than 100 percent, Embiid had a triple-double of 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists along with five blocks but also a whopping nine turnovers. Embiid wasn’t quite himself and was moving around pretty slowly, as he was battling both a migraine and some left knee soreness.

Tobias Harris provided a scoring boost with 19 points to go with eight boards. Harris has struggled during this series, but this was his best performance through the first five games. He hit a pair of clutch free throws to give the 76ers a four-point lead in overtime, which contributed to his highest-scoring night of the series. Kelly Oubre Jr. was in question with an illness earlier Tuesday but notched 14 points and four rebounds.

Rebounding has been perhaps the biggest storyline of this series. The team that’s won the battle of the boards has won the game. New York was the best offensive-rebounding team in the NBA this season. They pulled down 23 in Game 1 and 15 in a pivotal Game 4. On Tuesday, they had just six. Embiid pulled down 16 rebounds on his own. No other player for either team was in double digits.

The Knicks ranked last in pace this season, averaging just 96 possessions per 48 minutes. This series has been much slower than that, with both teams averaging 91.1 per 48 (second slowest of the eight first-round series). Four of the five games have been within three points in the last three minutes. The Knicks are up 3-2, but the Sixers have outscored them 534-532.

The league has play-by-play data going back to the 1996-97 season. Since then, the record for clutch games (those that were within five in the last five) in a playoff series is six.

Knicks at 76ers Info

When: Thursday, 9 PM ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app

Injuries to Consider

New York Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers

There is no sugarcoating that the Philadelphia 76ers completely gave away Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, who now lead it 2-0. The series shifts to Philly for Game 3 on Thursday night with the Sixers as solid favorites on the NBA odds

2024 NBA Playoffs Expert Analysis New York at Philadelphia, Game 3 | MyBookie NBA

How to Bet Knicks at 76ers NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Thursday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Radio: Tunein.com
NBA Odds: Sixers -2.5 (total 52.5)

Why Bet on New York Knicks?

The Knicks looked dead in Game 2 down 101-96 with about 28 seconds left and that’s when all the craziness happened. Donte DiVincenzo bounced back from a quiet showing in the series opener by scoring 19 points and nailing four 3-pointers in 37 minutes — most notably a go-ahead trey with 13.1 seconds left after he’d missed one earlier in the possession — as the Knicks grabbed a 2-0 series lead over the Sixers.

“It was huge. It was loud as hell in there,” DiVincenzo said after the game. “Honestly, after I missed the first one I was really, really, really hoping that Isaiah [Hartenstein] got [the offensive rebound] because I knew the rotation of everything, I was going to get a second look. [Thankfully] he got the offensive rebound.”

Still, the Knicks needed a couple more big plays to ensure a celebration — and Hartenstein obliged with a strong contest on Tyrese Maxey’s missed potential go-ahead layup with 7.6 seconds left. New York’s OG Anunoby iced the win from the foul line.

Jalen Brunson again struggled from the field at 8-for-29 but his only made three-pointer with 27.1 seconds left started the big comeback. Brunson has struggled with the length of Philadelphia’s wings overall but added eight boards and six assists. Brunson could probably be passing more as his shot chart is not an efficient one, with 37 of his 55 shots (67%) having come from between the restricted area and the 3-point line in this series. That rate is up from 51% in the regular season.

Josh Hart provided 21 points and 15 rebounds while playing all 48 minutes. His steal sparked a sequence capped by DiVincenzo’s game-winning three with 13.1 seconds remaining.

“We’re down two, got to be as physical as we can be, try to get the steal,” said Hart, who made four 3-pointers for a second straight game after not doing so all regular season. “And that’s what we did.”

Hartenstein had 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks. After playing 18 minutes in Game 1, Hartenstein was more involved on both ends of the floor in Game 2. Fellow center Mitchell Robinson (four rebounds, one assist in 18 minutes) had the “hot hand” in Game 1, and the minutes reflected that. On Monday, it was Hartenstein’s time to shine.

The Knicks destroyed the Sixers on the glass in Game 1, turning 23 offensive rebounds into 26 second-chance points. The Sixers did a much better job in Game 2, with New York totaling 12 offensive rebounds and just 12 second-chance points. But Philly needed those numbers to be 11 and nine. Even despite the backcourt turnover, they win the game if they get a body on Hartenstein and rebound DiVincenzo’s initial miss. In the end, the Sixers collected 49.1% of the available rebounds on Monday.

“If we win the rebounding battle in that game,” Maxey said, “we win the game.”

Why Bet on Philadelphia 76ers?

The Sixers definitely were on the wrong end of some late calls by the officials in the Game 2 loss, or should we say non-calls. The Knicks got the go-ahead 3-pointer from Donte DiVincenzo with 13 seconds left, a possession that started when they stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey. Maxey was unable to cleanly catch the inbounds pass while swarmed by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart and fell to the ground, with Hart then ripping the ball away from him. Joel Embiid said Maxey was fouled, and also that coach Nick Nurse and some players had attempted to call timeout before the Knicks got the ball.

“I called timeout,” Nurse told reporters. “The referee looked right at me, ignored me. It went into Tyrese. I called timeout again. Then the melee started. I guess I’ve got to run out on the floor or do something to get his attention. I needed a timeout to advance it. Would’ve been good. Couldn’t get it.”

Then again, it never should have gotten to that point. After Sixers guard Kyle Lowry split a pair of free throws with 47.1 seconds left, the Sixers were up 101-96. Jalen Brunson got a shooter’s bounce on a three-point attempt with 27.1 seconds left, and the Sixers turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, setting the stage for a chaotic sequence that culminated in a go-ahead three-pointer from DiVincenzo.

According to the NBA’s Last Two Minute report, that entire sequence shouldn’t have happened. Referees missed a personal foul on Embiid that would have sent DiVincenzo to the free-throw line prior to Brunson’s three-pointer, and they missed a pair of fouls — one each against Brunson and Hart — on the inbounds play that led to the Maxey turnover.

Maxey was questionable for Monday’s game with an illness but shot 12-for-22 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line for 35 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Then on Tuesday, Maxey was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player in the regular season. Maxey became the second 76ers player to win the award, joining Dana Barros (1994-95).

Embiid also was questionable for Game 2 with his troublesome knee but there was never any doubt he would play. The former MVP had 34 points and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes but was clearly laboring at times. On defense, he was terrific. Only 25 percent of all the Knicks’ shots came at the rim, and just 52.6 percent went in. That’s all Embiid, who spent the entire game either lounging in a deep drop or anchoring Philadelphia’s zone. The Sixers outscored the Knicks by +3 overall with him on the court.

Embiid and Maxey got no help from their teammates as the rest of the roster ended with fewer points than Embiid alone. Starting forward Kelly Oubre, for example, had just four points. The three starters other than Embiid and Maxey totaled just 22 points.

Knicks vs 76ers Expert Prediction

76ers 110, Knicks 105