NBA Playoffs picks, odds, how to watch info for Saturday: Game 3s in The Garden and Golden State

New York. Minnesota. Partying like it’s 1999. Handshake meme! Saturday’s set of second-round Game 3s looks like a certified good time.

First up: The New York Knicks are emitting faint traces of “team of destiny” vibes, coming in off consecutive 20-point road comebacks against their archrivals (and the league’s defending champions, of course). With both losses coming by a combined 4 points, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics are still very much in this series despite the 2-0 hole and the home-court squandering. Saturday’s Manhattan matinee is appointment viewing.

In the late broadcast, a desperate and Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors squad hosts the ascending, terrifically confident Minnesota Timberwolves for a pendulum-swing game in a 1-1 series. The Wolves are trying to reach back-to-back conference finals for the first time in franchise history, with Playoff Jimmy Butler lurking along the path. The hosts will need everything they can summon from their Bay Area crowd.

Viewing guide for Saturday

Games on ABC can also be streamed via ESPN+.

Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.

Boston Celtics at New York Knicks Game 3

Knicks lead series 2-0

Series odds: Celtics -120, Knicks +100

How do we, as a basketball-watching public, explain the past two parquet collapses? New York became the first team in NBA history to complete two straight 20-point playoff comebacks, and it did so against a team it went 0-4 against during the regular season.

The title-tested core of Tatum, Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday have to be better than this down the stretch. Reductive, perhaps, but also really that simple. Boston’s late-game offense looks tense, uninspired and eminently out of sorts. They lost Wednesday with an attempted game-winner stuffed on the floor, and a final timeout unused in the holster. Tatum went 5-for-19, while Brown was 8-of-23 with six turnovers.

To flip momentum and steal one in The Garden, the Celtics may have to stop spamming 3s early in the shot clock. The reigning champs are shooting a paltry 25 percent behind the arc in this series, and they are doing so on super-high volume (an absurd 100 treys in two games!). They’re actually winning three of the “Four Factors” so far, and have a particularly strong edge on the glass, so they’ll likely go to the rim more on Saturday. Boston found success early in Game 1 by attacking Karl-Anthony Towns, and they pulled down 16 offensive rebounds in Game 2.

As for the Knicks, it’s been a Mikal Bridges on-ball masterclass, while Josh Hart (58.3 percent from the field) and OG Anunoby (46.7 percent on 3s) are pacing the offense. Fans of the clover green will remind us that the Celtics are a few chaotic, improbable blunders away from a 2-0 lead of their own. But New York’s rowdiest can take solace in the fact that they are the ones with the commanding lead despite Jalen Brunson being below 36 percent shooting and Towns without a made 3.

Celebrity fan most likely to escalate the rivalry: Who else could it be? Spike Lee is still sitting courtside, as “famously unquiet” (nice one, Harvey Araton) as he was in 1995. Honorable mention to panic-button-pusher Bill Simmons.

Expert picks

Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden State Warriors Game 3

Series tied 1-1

Series odds: Timberwolves -325, Warriors +260

There’s no way around it: Steph Curry’s hamstring injury puts a discernible damper on this fun playoff stretch for the league. He’s out at least two more games.

“It’s clear Curry is still wrestling with the depressing nature of his latest injury, jeopardizing one of his final, and maybe best, chances at a fifth NBA title. Two months after his 37th birthday, he is dealing with a hamstring issue for the first time in his life,” Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes from Minneapolis.

Golden State looks to be in trouble without its era-defining supernova. Minnesota comfortably won Game 2, 117-93, and held green-light, full-vengeance Jimmy Butler to a modest 17 points. The Wolves didn’t even need much from Anthony Edwards. They cruised behind supporting options Julius Randle (24 points, 11 dimes), Jaden McDaniels (7-of-10 shooting, three steals, three blocks) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (a 20-piece off the bench).

With pressure mounting and control of the series dwindling, Golden State will have to cut down its turnovers and seek out easier offense. Entering Game 3, the team’s three top shot-takers (Butler, Buddy Hield and Draymond Green) are all below 40 percent from the field. Maybe that means more minutes for Jonathan Kuminga, who dropped 18 points in 26 minutes Thursday. Trayce Jackson-Davis also emerged as a break-glass option in that Game 2 L, going a perfect 6-for-6 and cleaning the glass (but drawing four fouls) in 19 bench minutes.

Minnesota’s getting the most out of its non-Edwards looks, and Randle finally looks comfortable in postseason play. It finds itself in an unfamiliar but very earned spot: road favorites against the decorated standard-bearers for a full decade of pro hoops.

Celebrity fan most likely to escalate the rivalry: E-40, sitting front row on Saturday night. The depleted Warriors may need a sprinkle of Forty Water to turn this thing around.

Expert picks

On this day (May 10) in NBA Playoffs history

1987 — Sleepy Floyd dropped 29 fourth-quarter points, a postseason record then and a postseason record now. His Warriors upset the Showtime Lakers, though LA went on to win the series and the title.

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(Photo of Jalen Brunson: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

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