The New York Knicks defended home court in Game 6 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden and easily defeated the Boston Celtics 119-81 to advance to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2000.
The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers and be in an unfamiliar position when the series begins Wednesday: favorite to win the series.
New York opened as a -140 favorite at BetMGM on Friday night to advance to the NBA Finals, with the Pacers a +115 underdog. By Saturday morning, the Knicks were up to -150 and the Pacers out to +125.
It is only the second time the Knicks have been East finals series favorites since 1975, according to Sports Odds History. The other time New York was favored was in 1994, when the Knicks were -200 favorites against the Pacers and won in seven games. New York went on to lose the NBA Finals that year to the Houston Rockets in seven games.
The Knicks have made the conference finals five times in the past 50 years, and four of those matchups are against Indiana. New York has won two of the previous three series.
This will be the first time the Knicks have had home-court advantage in a conference finals series since 1994.
New York opened as a 4.5-point home favorite in Game 1, with a total of 222.5.
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