NBA Betting Tips: Pacers and Nuggets to seize control

Not our best day yesterday, but we look ahead to more NBA action with two play-off series that are all square heading into tonight's encounters.

Tuesday's NBA betting tips will focus on the Indiana Pacers' trip to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks, as well as the Denver Nuggets' home tie against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Indiana Pacers to win vs New York Knicks @ 23/20

The short-handed Knicks will attempt to gain an advantage in this series at home, but all the momentum is with Indiana heading into game five.

The Pacers' offense has blown hot-and-cold so far this series, but in game four on Sunday, it was back to what we'd seen in the regular season - the best in the league.

The Knicks' first nine play-off games were decided by a total of 53 points, and on Sunday, the 32-point margin of defeat was an indication that New York are finally feeling the effects of the spate of injuries that has decimated their rotation.

Indiana will sense a massive opportunity to steal a game on the road, which is why I'm backing them outright on the money line. The Pacers have already won once on the road so far this postseason, but if they want to advance from this series, they will have to do so again, and this feels like the perfect chance.

As this series progresses, the more it favours the healthier team, which is definitely the Pacers at this moment in time.

Denver Nuggets -4.5 vs Minnesota Timberwolves @ 10/11

The Nuggets' backs were firmly against the wall after the first two games against Minnesota, but this is why you can never write off champions as Denver have won back-to-back matches on the road to even up this series.

The defending champions are now poised to take the lead in the series when the teams meet for game five in Denver on Tuesday night.

The Nuggets looked out of sync while going down 0-2 to Minnesota but they've shown their championship DNA and bounced back. Now, the Timberwolves need to turn things around or risk facing elimination at home in game six.

I think Minnesota have been one of the surprise packages of the season, and I've mentioned before in this column that Anthony Edwards is announcing himself as a superstar right before our very eyes. However, if Denver take control of this game early doors, I fear for the Timberwolves that panic will set in - and quickly.

There's no doubting the quality within their young roster but relatively speaking, they're an inexperienced group when it comes to play-off basketball. Denver have been here, done it before and got the t-shirt, so it's difficult to write them off.

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