2025 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #3 New York Knicks vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 1-0)

[RB34]

Lotta talk about injuries in this thread. I recall the Pistons dealing with a couple of injuries. Also the Sixers last season.

[bronxknicksfan1]

It's hard to really judge this Knicks team. Detroit almost took them to seven games, and they very easily could have lost that series as every game was decided by a couple of points. After blowing multiple 20+ point leads I think it's basically a borderline miracle that Boston did not eliminate them. You have to give them credit for storming back, but nine times out of ten that's not happening, especially on the road. Also the Knicks getting blown out by a Boston team that not only did not have Tatum but also with Porzingis basically not being able play is very troubling. I think Porz played 12 minutes and had like 1 point. How do they get blown out by that Boston team in a close-out game? Knicks were a .500 team after the all-star game. Their overall record is not that great when you realize they got swept against nearly ever good team they played in the regular season. They were 0-4 against Boston, 0-4 against Cleveland, 0-2 against OKC, 0-2 vs Clippers, 0-2 vs Warriors, 0-2 vs Lakers, etc. They had so few quality wins in the RS. They padded their record through by beating up on the worst teams in the league in the East like the Wizards, Toronto, 76ers, Charlotte, Miami, etc. They basically had to sweep all of those teams otherwise they are a sub forty-five win squad.

On paper this Knicks teams is ever so slightly above average. Definitely not an elite team. Maybe they are just getting hot at the right moment or maybe they matchup well with the Pacers and this carries them to the Finals. But, generally, teams are what their regular season record reflects, especially when you starting talking about tier one matchups in the playoffs. Pacers closed the season on fire and were 20-9 after the all-star break. Pacers lost three of four against the Bucks in the RS and in the playoffs almost swept them. Cleveland actually did not play bad at all n their series against Indiana, the Pacers just displayed a flawless brand of unbeatable basketball. They were just utterly dominant. The series against Cleveland was an insane display of just masterful coaching and execution at all levels.

In summary, a lot red flags in my book for the Knicks. I'll take the Pacers to win in six or seven games.

To start…when did the Pistons almost take out the Knicks? Almost took them out in 7? They were down 3-1 and lost in 6. That isn’t exactly almost taking out anyone.

Knicks coming back against Boston down +20 twice…yeah, they did the improbable against the defending champs. That doesn’t happen. Kinda says a lot about this team that did it not once, but twice on the road. As for getting blown out by Boston in a game without Tatum…they still had another All Star forward with 2 All Defensive team guards out there playing for their pride being down 3-1 when they were fully healthy. Knicks played like ****…then promptly disposed of them in a 38 point blowout the next game.

Bringing up the team’s regular season record against top teams…what’s the point of this? Let’s point out that they were 2-1 against the Pacers this season if that matters so much. Or 2-0 against the Nuggets. or 2-0 against Memphis. Or 3-0 against the Bucks. It’s easy to cherry pick certain matchups and try to create an agenda against a team. But guess what? As you said, the Celtics were 4-0 against them…got taken out in 6 games.

And please, the Cavs had Garland out there playing on a sprained toe. Mobley was on a sprained ankle. Hunter had a dislocated thumb. That team wasn’t close to looking like they were in the regular season since Donovan was out there playing hero ball to make up for those injuries. This isn’t to say that the Pacers wouldn’t have won that series regardless, but making it seem like those injuries didn’t have an impact is laughable.

If the Knicks haven’t proven anything in these playoffs, the Pacers have done much less.

Detroit was ahead in game 6 with 30 second left. Should I remind that Detroit also nearly swept the Knicks in the RS taking 3 out of 4. A game 7 is not a gimme for the Knicks.

Bottom line is the Knicks got swept 0-16 against teams that had dominant runs during the RS. By "dominant" I mean teams that had sustained peaks in which they were clearly in the top 10 in winning percentage for long runs throughout the season -- mostly the back half. I don't consider Memphis and the Bucks in that group because they were not. Of the teams in that group the Knicks had five wins against Houston, Denver, Pacers, and Twolves combined -- all teams Teams that finished in top 10 in winning percentage after January 1. That's still give them a 5-19 record over all. The reason I didn't mention those wins because even if you take them into account their overall record was still terrible. Okay, I'll give you those five wins. There. For the most part, the Knicks got beat down by teams in the top 10. But this is a secondary point really. it's not even that they had a lopsided losing record against what I consider to be elite teams, it's the fact that they got swept in so many season series and many of their losses those games were by double digits. I find this fact to be very unusual for a team that supposedly is a threat.

Look... they were down by 20 on the road twice against Boston. That's who the Knicks have been for almost 99 percent of the season when they have faced elite teams. They were going to get blown out again in both games. Sandwiched in there are those two wild come backs in the second half which essentially saved their season. That's it. We are supposed to believe that's who the Knicks are now. I don't buy it.

And again, does the regular season record even matter when 2 teams that won the season series against the Knicks lost to them in the playoffs? Bringing that up in the playoffs means absolutely nothing. Neither of those teams were able to bring it to 7 games. Both were down 3-1 in the series. Almost doesn’t cut it.

And that’s cherry picking right there. Telling me the Knicks had a losing record against 6 teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs, including one that they eliminated themselves says what exactly? Not to mention, that team had a better net rating in both the regular season and the playoffs than the Pacers. The Pistons were actually on par with the Pacers since January 1st in net rating too. These stats didn’t matter when they were 1st round out.

If we want to throw regular season series in this, the Knicks are 2-1 against the Pacers this season. And one of those wins came during the cherry picked portion of the season where the Pacers were looking like a 60 win team. That was before Mitch came back, in which the Knicks have looked like a completely different team.

Lastly, they were losing 20 in those 2 games and won. They were down 14 at the half in another and won. They went on a 21-0 in the 4th against the Pistons in G1 when they were down. At some point, it stops being a fluke and that’s just what this team does. You don’t have to buy it. They’ve proven already what kind of team they are.

[bronxknicksfan1]

Lotta talk about injuries in this thread. I recall the Pistons dealing with a couple of injuries. Also the Sixers last season.

Fair on the Pistons missing Ivey and Stewart.

But the Sixers? They had Embiid that whole series. Not to mention he took out Mitch and we lost Bojan that series too.

[Pacernation]

Lotta talk about injuries in this thread. I recall the Pistons dealing with a couple of injuries. Also the Sixers last season.

And now reports coming out that Jaylen Brown played with a partially torn meniscus but those things only count when Pacers opponents were banged up.

[yoadknux]

tbh. I think the Knicks are favorites to win the series.
Yes, the Pacers dispatched both the Bucks and the Cavs surprisingly well, but the Knicks are a lot more loaded talent wise. Brunson and KAT will be the top 2 players in the series. Bridges, Hart, Anunoby are behind Haliburton and Siakam but not by much, and they're probably better than Turner, Nembhard, Nesmith.
I also think the Pacers will 100% have one or even two games where they can't miss a shot resulting in a guarenteed win.
Mitchell got to the line 14.2 times throughout the series against the Pacers. Brunson will get to the line even more, maybe 18-20 times. It will be frustrating for the Pacers when half their defense attempts end up in FTs or offensive rebounds.
That said, I didn't think the Pacers would beat the Cavs nor Knicks the Celtics, so you never know.

[Childs]

Let’s go!

[LFGK]

It's hard to really judge this Knicks team. Detroit almost took them to seven games, and they very easily could have lost that series as every game was decided by a couple of points. After blowing multiple 20+ point leads I think it's basically a borderline miracle that Boston did not eliminate them. You have to give them credit for storming back, but nine times out of ten that's not happening, especially on the road. Also the Knicks getting blown out by a Boston team that not only did not have Tatum but also with Porzingis basically not being able play is very troubling. I think Porz played 12 minutes and had like 1 point. How do they get blown out by that Boston team in a close-out game? Knicks were a .500 team after the all-star game. Their overall record is not that great when you realize they got swept against nearly ever good team they played in the regular season. They were 0-4 against Boston, 0-4 against Cleveland, 0-2 against OKC, 0-2 vs Clippers, 0-2 vs Warriors, 0-2 vs Lakers, etc. They had so few quality wins in the RS. They padded their record through by beating up on the worst teams in the league in the East like the Wizards, Toronto, 76ers, Charlotte, Miami, etc. They basically had to sweep all of those teams otherwise they are a sub forty-five win squad.

On paper this Knicks teams is ever so slightly above average. Definitely not an elite team. Maybe they are just getting hot at the right moment or maybe they matchup well with the Pacers and this carries them to the Finals. But, generally, teams are what their regular season record reflects, especially when you starting talking about tier one matchups in the playoffs. Pacers closed the season on fire and were 20-9 after the all-star break. Pacers lost three of four against the Bucks in the RS and in the playoffs almost swept them. Cleveland actually did not play bad at all n their series against Indiana, the Pacers just displayed a flawless brand of unbeatable basketball. They were just utterly dominant. The series against Cleveland was an insane display of just masterful coaching and execution at all levels.

In summary, a lot red flags in my book for the Knicks. I'll take the Pacers to win in six or seven games.

To start…when did the Pistons almost take out the Knicks? Almost took them out in 7? They were down 3-1 and lost in 6. That isn’t exactly almost taking out anyone.

Knicks coming back against Boston down +20 twice…yeah, they did the improbable against the defending champs. That doesn’t happen. Kinda says a lot about this team that did it not once, but twice on the road. As for getting blown out by Boston in a game without Tatum…they still had another All Star forward with 2 All Defensive team guards out there playing for their pride being down 3-1 when they were fully healthy. Knicks played like ****…then promptly disposed of them in a 38 point blowout the next game.

Bringing up the team’s regular season record against top teams…what’s the point of this? Let’s point out that they were 2-1 against the Pacers this season if that matters so much. Or 2-0 against the Nuggets. or 2-0 against Memphis. Or 3-0 against the Bucks. It’s easy to cherry pick certain matchups and try to create an agenda against a team. But guess what? As you said, the Celtics were 4-0 against them…got taken out in 6 games.

And please, the Cavs had Garland out there playing on a sprained toe. Mobley was on a sprained ankle. Hunter had a dislocated thumb. That team wasn’t close to looking like they were in the regular season since Donovan was out there playing hero ball to make up for those injuries. This isn’t to say that the Pacers wouldn’t have won that series regardless, but making it seem like those injuries didn’t have an impact is laughable.

If the Knicks haven’t proven anything in these playoffs, the Pacers have done much less.

Detroit was ahead in game 6 with 30 second left. Should I remind that Detroit also nearly swept the Knicks in the RS taking 3 out of 4. A game 7 is not a gimme for the Knicks.

Bottom line is the Knicks got swept 0-16 against teams that had dominant runs during the RS. By "dominant" I mean teams that had sustained peaks in which they were clearly in the top 10 in winning percentage for long runs throughout the season -- mostly the back half. I don't consider Memphis and the Bucks in that group because they were not. Of the teams in that group the Knicks had five wins against Houston, Denver, Pacers, and Twolves combined -- all teams Teams that finished in top 10 in winning percentage after January 1. That's still give them a 5-19 record over all. The reason I didn't mention those wins because even if you take them into account their overall record was still terrible. Okay, I'll give you those five wins. There. For the most part, the Knicks got beat down by teams in the top 10. But this is a secondary point really. it's not even that they had a lopsided losing record against what I consider to be elite teams, it's the fact that they got swept in so many season series and many of their losses those games were by double digits. I find this fact to be very unusual for a team that supposedly is a threat.

Look... they were down by 20 on the road twice against Boston. That's who the Knicks have been for almost 99 percent of the season when they have faced elite teams. They were going to get blown out again in both games. Sandwiched in there are those two wild come backs in the second half which essentially saved their season. That's it. We are supposed to believe that's who the Knicks are now. I don't buy it.

Another guys talking about the regular season lol, good luck brother, when Indiana goes home in 5 you can talk about the regular season records all summer with Detroit and Boston fans, I will definitely tell you I told you so

[LFGK]

Pacers still on cloud 9 from taking out the hospital Knicks in 7. This is going to be deja vu with the pacers having an easy route to the eastern conference finals and folding against a fully healthy team

You're assuming the Knicks stay healthy.....a single OG injury would change the series

Haliburton goes down and it's a joke of a series, see how easy that is?

[cgf]

You're 9th defensively since January, which is worse than the Celtics who were 3rd over that stretch and the Pistons who were 5th.

The Celtics were also better on offense and had a higher net rating.

Difference is the Celtics never played like those stats in the semifinals. Pacers are honestly player better offensively than they did in the regular season when you factor in how much half court ball is forced in the playoffs with the pace slowing down.

The Celtics defense didn't really slip until game 6, and they had been better on offense & defense through the time period that Pacer fans keep bringing up, which centers around Neismith coming back. They play at the 2nd fastest pace among teams still left in the playoffs, they have one good shot creator in the halfcourt in Siakam, I feel like if they're not pushing tempo or forcing turnovers they're going to have a harder time scoring than people think.


Seriously speaking, just look at who they've played in terms of defenders, not one single perimeter defender on either the Cavs or Bucks is even remotely decent, not a one. It's easy to look good against teams that are hobbled, playing Kevin Porter jr and Gary Trent 30+mpg, isolating on an island with Ty Jerome isn't the same as Bridges or OG.

Yeah Boston’s defense is why more of these games didn’t look like game 6…well that and Karl’s early foul trouble, without which they wouldn’t have opened some of those leads that we erased.

Boston’s offense was dumb and played right into the trap Thibs had set, but anyone who watched the series saw that their defense was legit. They just didn’t have an answer for Brunson in crunchtime.

[LFGK]

Lotta talk about injuries in this thread. I recall the Pistons dealing with a couple of injuries. Also the Sixers last season.

What injuries? Ivey was out for QUITE some time, not like it happened during the series and they had to adjust, who was injured on Philly? These 2 teams healthy, the pacers do not stand a chance

[Nuntius]

It took the pacers 7 games to beat an injured Knicks squad last year. Now the Knicks are healthy while the pacers are the same team. Knicks in 6

The Pacers aren't the same team, though. Here are the three key differences:

1) The Pacers are a much better defensive team this year. Last year, we were a bad defensive team. Our DRTG ranked 24th, making us almost a bottom 5 defensive team. This year, we have been above average throughout the season and for the largest portion of the season, we have been outright top 10.

2) We have our full team this series. A point that often gets overlooked due to how injured the Knicks and the Bucks were last year (and it makes sense that this was overlooked, I'm not trying to say that our injury issues were as important as their injury issues) is that we weren't fully healthy either. Bennedict Mathurin didn't play a single minute in last year's playoffs and he's a pretty important player for us (started 49 games this year, played 29.8 MPG and averaged 16.1 PPG).

3) Pascal Siakam has much better chemistry with the team this year than last year. Siakam came over in a mid-season trade last year and didn't have a full training camp with the team prior to last year's playoffs. But this year, the team knows each other much better and, as a result, our chemistry is much better. Siakam looked like an awkward fit with the team at times last year. This is no longer the case.

The Knicks are definitely a much improved and healthier team this year so there's no issue with picking them. I do expect most people to pick the Knicks after all. But the Pacers are also a much improved and healthier team this year.

I mean your first point fine, regular season they were better but they are bottom 4 in points given up per game, I don't think the team is great defensively, may be the worst team D left and Denver is still in it.


Second point is centered around injury to Mathurin? Cmon man lol Knicks didn't have their starting 3/4/5 and hart was injured. I'm not entertaining Mathurin with all those injuries along with Giannis and Dame, Garland, Mobley and Hunter.

Third point, fine but at the same token Mitch and KAT are just playing gsme25-30 together and what they do out there together these playoffs is pretty absurd.


Again no disrespect to the pacers at all(screw haliburton thiugh) I don't see this being a long series at all. Bad matchup with both teams at 100%

Read the parenthesis right at the start of my second point. What does the parenthesis say? Here, I'll quote it:

I'm not trying to say that our injury issues were as important as their injury issues

The whole point I was making was this year's team is not the same as last year's team. That was the entire point of my post. And Mathurin playing this year is one of the reasons why this isn't the same team. And, obviously, the Knicks are a much different and better team as well. I'm not contesting that point whatsoever.

[SerialChiller]

I'm going to say Pacers in 6. This is hard to call though, I just don't think the Knicks will keep up with their scoring over the course of the series.

[xBulletproof]

So I was working out today, hit the court for some drills and shooting. Had my music on random, just pulling from what it knows I listen to usually ....

Jay Z - Empire State of Mind came on .... skip. Nas - NY State of Mind .... skip. Naughty By Nature - Yoke The Joker .... it's NJ, close enough, sorry Treach, skip. DMX .... skip. Finally I just gave up and put on Babyface. Not exactly great workout music, but from Indianapolis. I made it work.

The next 2 weeks I can't **** w/ anything New York. I'm not even getting New York style pizza. I'm not talking to my niece who went to the New York Film Academy

[yoadknux]

So I was working out today, hit the court for some drills and shooting. Had my music on random, just pulling from what it knows I listen to usually ....

Jay Z - Empire State of Mind came on .... skip. Nas - NY State of Mind .... skip. Naughty By Nature - Yoke The Joker .... it's NJ, close enough, sorry Treach, skip. DMX .... skip. Finally I just gave up and put on Babyface. Not exactly great workout music, but from Indianapolis. I made it work.

The next 2 weeks I can't **** w/ anything New York. I'm not even getting New York style pizza. I'm not talking to my niece who went to the New York Film Academy

lol I totally get that, I abstained from NY state of mind last year when the Pacers played the Knicks, and thankfully it worked

[druggas]

I'll bet on the team with the best coach. Figure out who that is!

[cgf]

So I was working out today, hit the court for some drills and shooting. Had my music on random, just pulling from what it knows I listen to usually ....

Jay Z - Empire State of Mind came on .... skip. Nas - NY State of Mind .... skip. Naughty By Nature - Yoke The Joker .... it's NJ, close enough, sorry Treach, skip. DMX .... skip. Finally I just gave up and put on Babyface. Not exactly great workout music, but from Indianapolis. I made it work.

The next 2 weeks I can't **** w/ anything New York. I'm not even getting New York style pizza. I'm not talking to my niece who went to the New York Film Academy

Can’t say I feel the same way about Indy but I love the fire lol

Should be a really fun series that could swing back n forth given what road warriors both teams have been, how neither ever stops fighting for the win, and the quality of our respective closers + coaches.

Just hope both teams stay healthy.

[cgf]

I'll bet on the team with the best coach. Figure out who that is!

Carlisle’s great, but Thibs just keeps getting better & learning from his mistakes, every year.

[ArksNetsSince99]

So I was working out today, hit the court for some drills and shooting. Had my music on random, just pulling from what it knows I listen to usually ....

Jay Z - Empire State of Mind came on .... skip. Nas - NY State of Mind .... skip. Naughty By Nature - Yoke The Joker .... it's NJ, close enough, sorry Treach, skip. DMX .... skip. Finally I just gave up and put on Babyface. Not exactly great workout music, but from Indianapolis. I made it work.

The next 2 weeks I can't **** w/ anything New York. I'm not even getting New York style pizza. I'm not talking to my niece who went to the New York Film Academy

I’m from NY and I’m going on Tuesday to AC New Jersey for two weeks

F… New York

[LFGK]

The Pacers aren't the same team, though. Here are the three key differences:

1) The Pacers are a much better defensive team this year. Last year, we were a bad defensive team. Our DRTG ranked 24th, making us almost a bottom 5 defensive team. This year, we have been above average throughout the season and for the largest portion of the season, we have been outright top 10.

2) We have our full team this series. A point that often gets overlooked due to how injured the Knicks and the Bucks were last year (and it makes sense that this was overlooked, I'm not trying to say that our injury issues were as important as their injury issues) is that we weren't fully healthy either. Bennedict Mathurin didn't play a single minute in last year's playoffs and he's a pretty important player for us (started 49 games this year, played 29.8 MPG and averaged 16.1 PPG).

3) Pascal Siakam has much better chemistry with the team this year than last year. Siakam came over in a mid-season trade last year and didn't have a full training camp with the team prior to last year's playoffs. But this year, the team knows each other much better and, as a result, our chemistry is much better. Siakam looked like an awkward fit with the team at times last year. This is no longer the case.

The Knicks are definitely a much improved and healthier team this year so there's no issue with picking them. I do expect most people to pick the Knicks after all. But the Pacers are also a much improved and healthier team this year.

I mean your first point fine, regular season they were better but they are bottom 4 in points given up per game, I don't think the team is great defensively, may be the worst team D left and Denver is still in it.


Second point is centered around injury to Mathurin? Cmon man lol Knicks didn't have their starting 3/4/5 and hart was injured. I'm not entertaining Mathurin with all those injuries along with Giannis and Dame, Garland, Mobley and Hunter.

Third point, fine but at the same token Mitch and KAT are just playing gsme25-30 together and what they do out there together these playoffs is pretty absurd.


Again no disrespect to the pacers at all(screw haliburton thiugh) I don't see this being a long series at all. Bad matchup with both teams at 100%

Read the parenthesis right at the start of my second point. What does the parenthesis say? Here, I'll quote it:

I'm not trying to say that our injury issues were as important as their injury issues

The whole point I was making was this year's team is not the same as last year's team. That was the entire point of my post. And Mathurin playing this year is one of the reasons why this isn't the same team. And, obviously, the Knicks are a much different and better team as well. I'm not contesting that point whatsoever.

What will this series be, talk to me, how many games and for who?

[EricAnderson]

It's hard to really judge this Knicks team. Detroit almost took them to seven games, and they very easily could have lost that series as every game was decided by a couple of points. After blowing multiple 20+ point leads I think it's basically a borderline miracle that Boston did not eliminate them. You have to give them credit for storming back, but nine times out of ten that's not happening, especially on the road. Also the Knicks getting blown out by a Boston team that not only did not have Tatum but also with Porzingis basically not being able play is very troubling. I think Porz played 12 minutes and had like 1 point. How do they get blown out by that Boston team in a close-out game? Knicks were a .500 team after the all-star game. Their overall record is not that great when you realize they got swept against nearly ever good team they played in the regular season. They were 0-4 against Boston, 0-4 against Cleveland, 0-2 against OKC, 0-2 vs Clippers, 0-2 vs Warriors, 0-2 vs Lakers, etc. They had so few quality wins in the RS. They padded their record through by beating up on the worst teams in the league in the East like the Wizards, Toronto, 76ers, Charlotte, Miami, etc. They basically had to sweep all of those teams otherwise they are a sub forty-five win squad.

On paper this Knicks teams is ever so slightly above average. Definitely not an elite team. Maybe they are just getting hot at the right moment or maybe they matchup well with the Pacers and this carries them to the Finals. But, generally, teams are what their regular season record reflects, especially when you starting talking about tier one matchups in the playoffs. Pacers closed the season on fire and were 20-9 after the all-star break. Pacers lost three of four against the Bucks in the RS and in the playoffs almost swept them. Cleveland actually did not play bad at all n their series against Indiana, the Pacers just displayed a flawless brand of unbeatable basketball. They were just utterly dominant. The series against Cleveland was an insane display of masterful coaching and execution at all levels.

In summary, a lot red flags in my book for the Knicks. I'll take the Pacers to win in six or seven games.

What it's looking to me like is that the Knicks paced themselves during the regular season for a deep playoff run. We didn't really see this level of defensive intensity all year and Thibs didn't really run diverse gameplans the way he has in the playoffs. We didn't have Mitchell Robinson until March and he took awhile to ramp up. While technically a role player, he's been really critical to what we've done defensively this playoffs and when he's in we're back to being the elite offensive rebounding team we were last season. When he did come back, we didn't have Brunson so still not a full arsenal. Then, Detroit was a great tuneup. Not star studded but a very tough team that can stay in any game with their defense, and with an up and coming star player who I think is going to plant himself firmly in the Top 10 next season.

So this isn't really the same team you saw and the regular season data is not really looking at the team we see before us now. They're finally fully healthy and Brunson is performing at a level that he previously held back from so we didn't burnout early like last season.

I guess that I could be accused of "cherry picking," but I have never heard team going 0-16 against tier 1 competition in order to pace themselves. I get what you are saying. If I am Knick's fan I am not hanging my hat over sweeping Memphs and the Bucks, lol. Taking the Nuggets series in a sweep was impressive, and like I said they did take season series against Pacers. Even if you take those positive series into account, the Knicks still had very lopsided losing record against teams that had dominant arcs throughout the season. They also got blown out a lot. Many of their losses were by double digits.

On the other hand, Memphis and the Bucks were very up and down and dysfunctional. Denver too in my opinion, but they have the best player in the league. I guess the question is whether or not their level is closer to that 0-16 record during the RS against those dominant teams or if their true level right now is somehow reflected in their improbable and fluke win over Boston in which they had to come from behind twice on the road when they were down by 20. Throw in Tatum blowing his Achilles in the back end of the series with Boston having two home games left, it all gets murkier. And by "fluke" I don't mean it in a pejorative way, but in the sense I honestly don't know if those circumstances have ever before happened to a 60-win team. I am pretty sure they have not. I have to believe that we re-simulated the exact same scenario 100 times, the Knicks lose 90 percent of the time. First of all, Boston's best player doesn't blow out his Achilles and second of all when a team goes down by 20 on the road in playoff game most of the time the win probability drops to single digits. To win to both of those games so that Boston can't force a game 7 at home is a fluke.

When will people finally realize the regular season means close to nothing.

Teams/players have shown a lot of them don’t really value the regular season

The Thunder by regular season standards are arguably the greatest or one of the greatest teams of all time

Not just going by their up and down performance in the playoffs but looking at their talent level and that Jalen Williams is their 2nd best player nobody who’s been following ball along time thinks talent wise they are one of the greatest teams ever