Eastern Conference Semifinals
Game 5 - Indiana leads series 3-1
Tip-off: Thursday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: New York -5, Total: 179

The Knicks look to avoid elimination when the Pacers pay a visit to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Indiana took New York out of Game 4 from the opening tip, leading by 14 points at halftime and winning the game handily, 93-82, to go up 3-1 in this Eastern Conference semifinal series. In the Knicks' two straight losses, they have averaged a horrific 76.5 PPG on 35% FG and 28% threes (11-of-40). J.R. Smith’s poor shooting was the story again in Game 4, as the league's Sixth Man of the Year made just 7-of-22 FG, which actually increased his shooting clip to 28% FG (18-of-64) for the series. If the Pacers can keep forcing the Knicks to take tough shots without having to double team Carmelo Anthony, it is likely a matchup with the Heat awaits them sooner rather than later. The Pacers are now 7-3 (SU and ATS) in the playoffs, but are just 21-24 SU (22-23 ATS) on the road this season. New York is a strong 34-12 SU and 27-19 ATS (59%) at home, and is a solid 20-12 SU and 18-13-1 ATS (58%) following an SU loss this season.

Can the Knicks stave off elimination and beat the Pacers on Thursday night? For the answer, connect to NBA Playoffs Best Bets for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2013 postseason. For NBA Playoff Best Bets, StatFox Brian is 83% ATS (5-1) since May 9 and 57% ATS (17-13) for the entire playoffs, while StatFox Gary is 67% ATS (8-4) for the month of May and 54% ATS (14-12) for the entire playoffs. In terms of overall records for all postseason games, Brian is 55% ATS (11-9) since May 4 and StatFox Dave is 54.2% ATS (13-11) since May 3. For NBA Totals, the experts have a combined 55% NBA Totals success rate (42-35-4) in the playoffs. StatFox Scott is 78% (7-2) in Totals since May 6 to increase his postseason mark to 57.1% (12-9-2). Gary is 64% (16-9-1) on playoff Totals, while Dave is 57.1% (4-3).

The Pacers were not going to allow the Knicks to steal Game 4 from them and got off to a great start that the Knicks could never recover from. SF Paul George played an outstanding game for Indiana, nearly registering a triple-double in 45 minutes of play. He finished the game with 18 points (6-of-19 FG, 1-of-9 threes), 14 rebounds and seven assists. Although George’s jumper wasn’t falling, he was getting to the rim, getting his teammates involved and also bearing down defensively with two steals, two blocks and a game-high +16 rating. PG George Hill was the leading scorer for the Pacers in Game 4 with 26 points, knocking down 9-of-14 FG (64%), which doubled his 32% FG clip in Games 1-3. Roy Hibbert wasn’t scoring the basketball much on Tuesday with six points on 2-of-8 FG, but he did finish the game with 11 rebounds and three blocks. SG Lance Stephenson hit some huge threes for the Pacers at the end of the shot clock, scoring 13 points (5-of-13 FG, 3-of-7 threes) in 35 minutes while also grabbing seven rebounds. The Pacers team defense has been superb in the past two victories, and they out-rebounded the Knicks by 18 (54-36) in Game 4, while outscoring them 36-26 in the paint.

The Knicks ranked second in the East in scoring during the regular season with 100.0 PPG on 45% FG and 38% threes, but they have been ice-cold in this series, scoring just 88.3 PPG on 41% FG and 32% threes. SF Carmelo Anthony started off Game 4 hot with 24 points in the first three quarters, but he didn’t score a single point in the fourth. Anthony, who has 26.0 PPG on 41% FG in the series, was in foul trouble late in the game on Wednesday and couldn’t get it going to bring his team back. However, SG J.R. Smith is the one player who has struggled the most for New York. Smith averaged 18.1 PPG on 36% threes during the regular season, but during the East semifinals, he's averaging just 13.3 PPG on 23% threes (6-for-26). The Knicks rely on Smith to be their second scorer and with him struggling, they haven’t been able to find another reliable source of offense. PG Raymond Felton has averaged just 10.0 PPG on 8-of-24 FG (0-for-2 threes) in the past two losses, but he did shoot well in the two games in this series at Madison Square Garden with 16.0 PPG on 62% FG, including 3-of-3 from long range. He's also done a good job of protecting the basketball with 14 assists and just five turnovers this series. New York will also need SF Iman Shumpert to find his rhythm in Game 5 as well. Partly due to injuring his left knee in Game 3, Shumpert is 3-for-16 FG (0-for-6 threes) in his past two games, including zero points on Tuesday. But like Felton, Shumpert was much more comfortable shooting at home in this series with 13.0 PPG on 50% FG in Games 1 and 2.