The Knicks and Warriors need road wins to force Game 7s.
new york and Golden State both entered their playoff series on Friday night down 3-2. The Knicks need to win against the Heat (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), while the Warriors need to get their first road win of the series over the Lakers to force a Game 7 at home on Sunday.
as you can imagine, Both teams are road underdogs to extend the series after each game 5 win. The Heat are favored by 5.5 points, while the Lakers are favored by 2.5 points.
The Knicks beat the Heat 112–103 on Wednesday night to force a Game 6 and head back to Miami after losing the previous two games of the series in South Florida. The Heat won Game 3 by 19 and Game 4 by eight.
The recipe for a Game 5 win was familiar for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson had 38, RJ Barrett had 26 and Julius Randle had 24. No other player on the Knicks had more than eight. If a fourth option can emerge on Friday night, we like the Knicks' chances pretty high. Otherwise, it is difficult to move away from Jimmy Butler in domestic culture.
The NBA will swoon over Game 7 between the Lakers and Warriors on Sunday to follow Game 7 between the Sixers and Celtics. After losing Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, the Warriors easily won Game 5 in San Francisco as Anthony Davis was ruled out with a head injury.
Davis looks ready to go on Friday night. The situation for Warriors' Andrew Wiggins is less certain. He is currently listed as questionable due to a rib cartilage fracture. Wiggins is crucial to the Warriors' chances and there's a reason we'll either back him to the Lakers or stay away from this line entirely until it's known whether he's playing. While we're not in the business of saying Golden State is toast until it is truly over, their chances of advancing to the playoffs are much better with Wiggins on the floor.
The over/under in this is at 221.5 and whichever side you lean towards can be attributed to the team which you think is going to win. The Warriors have scored at least 121 points in each of their two wins in the series and have failed to break 101 points in each of their three losses. The low-scoring game favors the Lakers.
a full baseball slate
It's a full evening of Major League Baseball and all 30 teams are in action on Friday night. The first game begins at 6:40 p.m. ET with Miami taking on Cincinnati and Detroit at seattle and the action ends with a big series between the Padres and Dodgers in Los Angeles.
The biggest American League matchup in New York is Tampa Bay. Gerrit Cole is on the mound for the Yankees while Trevor Kelly starts for the Rays. Means they are in favor of that one.
The Dodgers are favored by the Padres as well as Dustin May starts for Los Angeles against Blake Snell. Los Angeles is -145 to win outright while the Padres are +120. San Diego is four games behind the Dodgers in the NL West as Los Angeles has the second best record in the league behind Atlanta.
who redeemed the ticket on Thursday?
The Nuggets easily covered it on the road against Phoenix in a big Game 6 win. Denver won 25 and knocked the Suns out of the playoffs and into the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers or Warriors. The Celtics pulled out a Game 7 win against the Sixers and covered in the fourth quarter. That game went smoothly as Boston won 95–86.