NBA Betting Tips: Nuggets and Pacers running out of time

Friday's NBA betting tips will focus on the game three match-ups between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.

The Knicks and Timberwolves are both leading 2-0 in their respective series, meaning that tonight's matches are of the utmost importance for Denver and Indiana.

Indiana Pacers -6.5 vs New York Knicks @ 5/6

The New York Knicks take a 2-0 lead to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for game three against the Pacers, meaning that Indiana will need to protect homecourt this weekend if they want to keep this series alive.

The Knicks held their nerve at Madison Square Garden this week, winning game one on Monday and game two on Wednesday but the Pacers had their chances to grasp control of Wednesday's showdown, taking a 73-63 lead into the half-time break. However, the Knicks had other ideas, flying out of the blocks in the opening exchanges of the second half, stringing together a 27-6 run to seize the lead, and they never looked back.

Heading into Friday's encounter, it's difficult to ignore New York's injury list. Jalen Brunson, who's enjoying an excellent postseason, is listed as questionable for this match, having suffered a right foot injury in the first half on Wednesday.

Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic remain absent, and OG Anunoby will be joining them on the treatment table after sustaining a hamstring injury in the third quarter of game two. The Knicks aren’t unfamiliar to playing without Anunoby, but they were just 13-14 in games he missed over the last few months of the season.

Home advantage looks to be key for game three - Indiana are the only team in the NBA that haven't lost on their own floor in the last 50 days, as the Pacers' last home loss came on March 18. They need to take advantage of an injury-riddled Knicks side, and get back into this series.

Denver Nuggets +3.5 vs Minnesota Timberwolves @ 21/20

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a spotless 6-0 through the play-offs so far, and they'll be smelling blood here against a vulnerable Denver Nuggets outfit.

Nikola Jokic won his third MVP award in four seasons this week, but the Nuggets need more from their star man, as he's been a passenger so far this series in comparison to his first-round display against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The big Serbian averaged 33.3 points against Minnesota in the regular season, and Denver will need him to be more selfish in game three, especially since his sidekick Jamal Murray is struggling to make shots so far in the postseason.

Meanwhile, Anthony Edwards continues to blossom into a superstar right before our eyes. Not only is the Minnesota guard dropping shots and dunking on heads, he's smiling and laughing as he does it.

However, I'm not prepared to write Denver off just yet. They're the defending NBA champions after all, and realistically, this is last chance saloon for them. I'm taking them on the spread, and I think they'll find more joy if they make this contest more physical, given their size inside the paint.

You can read all our latest NBA Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights NBA content hub.