All eyes are on Madison Square Garden tonight as the Knicks host the Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
After a long wait for this series, now is the time to dive into the best Pacers vs. Knicks Game 1 player props.
Tonight, we're admittedly going with a couple obvious ones in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but hear us out.
Jalen Brunson Over 28.5 Points (-102 at FanDuel) -- 1 unit
We came up 1 agonizing point shy of cashing our bet on MVP favorite SGA to clear 31.5 points in Game 1 of Timberwolves vs. Thunder last night.
For better or worse, that won't keep us away from Jalen Brunson vs. the Pacers tonight, though.
While Brunson finished with just 8 points the last time the Knicks and Pacers met back in February, we're not concerned about that outing, as he played less than 23 minutes that night.
Earlier this year, he lit Indiana up for 33 points on November 10 on 11-for-17 FG shooting. Brunson also burned the Pacers for 26 points in just under 30 minutes on 10-for-19 FG shooting in the Knicks' 123-98 win over Indiana on October 25.
Brunson only went over 28.5 points in two of six games vs. the Celtics, but the Pacers are not nearly of the same defensive caliber. Just ask Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell, who scored at least 33 points in all four of the games where he was able to stay on the court vs. Indiana in the conference semifinals.
While Brunson fills up the stat sheet in a different way than Mitchell, he also has better help around him, which should prevent Indiana from loading up on him.
In what should be a high-scoring, close game (NYK is favored by just 4.5 points, and the over/under is set at 222), I trust Brunson to get 20-plus field-goal attempts and clear this line without too much difficulty.
Karl-Anthony Towns Over 22.5 Points (+100 at FanDuel) -- 1 unit
Towns is coming off an excellent regular season as a scorer in his first campaign as a Knick, with an average of 24.4 points per game in 72 starts.
While he was effective against just about everyone on the Knicks' schedule, there was no team Towns dominated quite like the Pacers.
In just his second game as a Knick, Towns finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in his team's October 25 beatdown of the Pacers.
But that was a quiet night in comparison to the other two times he faced the Pacers. He finished with 30 points and 9 rebounds in a 132-121 loss on November 10, and he scored 40 points in the final IND-NYK matchup of the regular season on February 11.
Towns' efficiency vs. Indiana, even more than his eye-popping counting stats, is why we like him tonight. On the season, Towns averaged 9 free-throw attempts vs. Indiana and shot 30-for-53 from the floor (56.6 percent), including 7-for-15 (46.6 percent) from 3. He also threw in 12 rebounds per game for good measure.
It's unclear who Indiana will try to guard him with tonight. The Pacers' options besides Myles Turner are limited, so let's dig into why they should be reluctant to give Turner this assignment.
While Turner did not play in Towns' 40-point outburst on Feb. 11, he did spend most of the game guarding Towns on Nov. 10.
It would be an understatement to say that didn't quite work out for Indiana. There were 56 Towns vs. Turner possessions in that game, according to NBA.com.* Towns shot 10-for-16, including 2-for-5 from 3-point land, on those possessions.
He was also effective against Turner on Oct. 25, with 11 points on 4-for-7 FG shooting.
*Highlights of all 16 of the shots Towns took on Turner on Nov. 10 are available over at NBA.com.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM.