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

[Beethoven]

Do the Pacers even remember they are in the playoffs?

Who knows, it feels like it’s been a month. There is no way they aren’t rusty at this point. We saw teams who rested their starters for less time enter the playoffs rusty in game 1.

Right . I never agreed with the notion that a lengthy time off benefited any team in terms of "health" and "rest". I see more evidence (in game 1s being lost) that it is detrimental.

[Nuntius]

Yeah, Boston didn't really get Karl in PnRs and force him to make reads on the move. They tried to isolate him and attack him that way, which Karl isn't nearly as bad at. Jalen worries me less since he's very smart & strong, and surprisingly quick. But the pacers' ball movement could get Towns turned around when he's out there without Mitch.

Fortunately we do have that double big counter, as Robinson is one of the best PNR defenders in the game and as long as they are controlling the glass enough to control the pace, we can roll that lineup quite a bit. Plus your ball movement based offense could play right into our disruptiveness in passing lanes with our wings, Robinson, and Brunson...as long as you don't wear us out.

What I think I'm most curious about is how you'll defend us. In the regular season we were able to burn you because you played us very traditionally with Turner on Towns and Siakam on OG. While what teams were having more success doing was putting their center on Hart and defending Karl with a big wing like Siakam. Which is the adjustment I'm expecting from Carlisle...but Karl has gotten a lot better at punishing teams for defending him with guys he can cook in the post, so I'm not sure how much that will help.

This could be a huge series for Bridges & Anunoby as well; assuming that sooner or later you end up with Nesmith on Brunson, Siakam on Towns, and Turner on Hart, that would mean Hali & Nembhard had to check our wings defensively and they're just too small to keep OG from the rim, or Mikal from getting to his midrange bag.

Chances are that we'll start off with a traditional outlook. Myles on KAT, Siakam on OG, Hali on Hart, Nesmith on Bridges, Nembhard on Brunson. Carlisle will definitely adjust and try different coverages but he'll start off traditionally.

The important thing is that we don't have to defend you traditionally. We can put Myles on Hart and let him roam and protect the rim more.

Here's what I would personally try:

Myles on Hart, Siakam on OG, Nesmith on KAT, Hali on Bridges, Nembhard on Brunson.

That could also morph to the following:

Myles on Hart, Siakam on KAT, Hali on OG, Nembhard on Bridges, Nesmith on Brunson.

It all depends on how you choose to attack us as well. If we have Hali on Bridges and you choose to involve Bridges as a screener for Brunson then we'll probably move away from it. We prefer Hali playing the passing lanes, using his game processing skills to get deflections and his length to close out on shooters. We don't want him involved in screening actions all that much and, afaik, Bridges is a really good screener.

OG, on the other hand, isn't a very intuitive screener (much like Nesmith) so he's less likely to be involved in these actions. Of course, OG is significantly stronger and much more physical than Hali so if we put Hali on OG, you may choose to go to OG more often and try to punish us inside.

Things definitely become a lot more interesting when you replace Hart with Mitch since Myles won't really have to worry about Hart's 3-point shooting any more and can focus on rim protection even more. Of course, Mitch brings a ton of offensive rebounding so it's really a pick your poison type of thing.

The matchups are going to be very interesting but we have a number of looks that we could throw your way.

It’ll be interesting see what changes each coach is forced into making cause I do feel pretty good about most iterations of your starting five against ours…don’t think there’s a matchup for Brunson or Towns that particularly worries me if our guys bring their A-game; and I think Bridges or OG will get a good matchup too attack. And with Deuce / Mitch Thibs has alternatives to Hart that could be strong answers to your counters.

Yeah, it will be a very interesting and entertaining series. Both teams (and their fans) have every right to feel good about themselves and their team's chances.

[Nuntius]

Eh, the Dutch can't spell. Their language is just german with a bunch of J's shoved in drunkenly.

Ironically, a regional language spoken in the Netherlands, named Frisian, is the language that is closest to English linguistically.

Which is definitive proof that they screwed up our wonderful language

Oh, please. Don't get me started on the Great Vowel Shift

[Nuntius]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

[cgf]

Ironically, a regional language spoken in the Netherlands, named Frisian, is the language that is closest to English linguistically.

Which is definitive proof that they screwed up our wonderful language

Oh, please. Don't get me started on the Great Vowel Shift

The English may have **** their german up even worse than the Dutch, but that doesn’t make Dutch any less of a mess

[cgf]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

It’s generally been bigger wings like Tatum & Harris. Nesmith is much smaller…though tougher than tobi. That said, Towns has been having a lot more success at dealing with those kind of coverages the past 2-3 months. And part of that has been him just killing guys in the post…where nesmith’s size will be even more of an issue.

Siakam with Turner roaming feels like your best bet to slow down Towns. That’s why I assume that eventually Carlisle will get forced into matching up Turner - Hart, Siakam - Towns, Nesmith/Nembhard - Brunson.

Edit:
One thing that podcast didn’t cover is that this season has been very much one of Thibs asking the team to do just enough, so as not to burn out our limited depth. Like using OG on centers; Thibs avoided it like the plague to keep Anunoby from getting too banged up before the playoffs…but when we needed it too secure a win we needed, Thibs threw OG on Wemby to shut the young Frenchman down for the final 5 minutes.

So it’s hard to assume too much about Thibs will do based on what we showed in the regular season…especially now that Mitch is back to 100%.

[Capn'O]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

It’s generally been bigger wings like Tatum & Harris. Nesmith is much smaller…though tougher than tobi. That said, Towns has been having a lot more success at dealing with those kind of coverages the past 2-3 months. And part of that has been him just killing guys in the post…where nesmith’s size will be even more of an issue.

Siakam with Turner roaming feels like your best bet to slow down Towns. That’s why I assume that eventually Carlisle will get forced into matching up Turner - Hart, Siakam - Towns, Nesmith/Nembhard - Brunson.

In conclusion, we need Bridges and OG to step up to win. Particularly Bridges. If he's doing that MJ in the midrange stuff he did in G6 we roll.

[cgf]

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

It’s generally been bigger wings like Tatum & Harris. Nesmith is much smaller…though tougher than tobi. That said, Towns has been having a lot more success at dealing with those kind of coverages the past 2-3 months. And part of that has been him just killing guys in the post…where nesmith’s size will be even more of an issue.

Siakam with Turner roaming feels like your best bet to slow down Towns. That’s why I assume that eventually Carlisle will get forced into matching up Turner - Hart, Siakam - Towns, Nesmith/Nembhard - Brunson.

In conclusion, we need Bridges and OG to step up to win. Particularly Bridges. If he's doing that MJ in the midrange stuff he did in G6 we roll.

Well I’d settle for dominating the glass and protecting the ball, but if we did that AND were able to make Haliburton sweat on D with OG bullying him to the rim or Mikal swishing middies over him, that would be awesome.

[Nuntius]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

It’s generally been bigger wings like Tatum & Harris. Nesmith is much smaller…though tougher than tobi. That said, Towns has been having a lot more success at dealing with those kind of coverages the past 2-3 months. And part of that has been him just killing guys in the post…where nesmith’s size will be even more of an issue.

Siakam with Turner roaming feels like your best bet to slow down Towns. That’s why I assume that eventually Carlisle will get forced into matching up Turner - Hart, Siakam - Towns, Nesmith/Nembhard - Brunson.

Siakam is definitely a possibility but Nesmith does have the strength and length to give KAT a different look. I don't propose this as a main alternative, of course, I'd much rather have Nesmith on Brunson but, you know, in a long series you have to be able to throw a number of different looks at your opponent.

Edit:
One thing that podcast didn’t cover is that this season has been very much one of Thibs asking the team to do just enough, so as not to burn out our limited depth. Like using OG on centers; Thibs avoided it like the plague to keep Anunoby from getting too banged up before the playoffs…but when we needed it too secure a win we needed, Thibs threw OG on Wemby to shut the young Frenchman down for the final 5 minutes.

So it’s hard to assume too much about Thibs will do based on what we showed in the regular season…especially now that Mitch is back to 100%.

Generally-speaking, I don't put too much stock into what happened in the RS. It hasn't been proved representative so far in this post-season.

[LFGK]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

generally the wings are much bigger then Nesmith, I mean they can def try it but a quarter or 2 in you will understand why its funny lol

[NiceLikeChrist]

You kinda forgot to adjust for pace here.

Here are the team Defensive Ratings for this year's playoffs -> https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced?dir=A&sort=DEF_RATING

Knicks are 5th with a 110.6 Defensive Rating while the Pacers are 8th with a 111.9 Defensive Rating. That's not a huge difference, is it?

not really seeing what pace has to do with a 3 ppg difference when one team shot like garbage and the other shot very well. it's pretty clear that if the cavs could hit the shots they hit all year long it would've been 4 W's in their favor. they got the looks they wanted, that wasn't the issue.

so like I said maybe pacers are just hoping knicks will miss everything the same way.

If that's the argument you're going with:

You only outscored the Celtics by 3 points in this series. 634 to 631. They averaged 105.1 PPG, you averaged 105.6 PPG.

Are you sure that this is the argument you wanna go with?

and knicks and celtics shot identical shooting splits. what does that mean? games came down to late game execution, timely buckets, and defense. the issue with the pacers is they can shoot very well and still lose the game because their defense is so bad. cavs got any look they wanted but just missed.

so once again, maybe pacers are just hoping the knicks will miss all the looks they like to get. if so, they might win. if we are hitting shots, there's no hope.

[Nuntius]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

generally the wings are much bigger then Nesmith, I mean they can def try it but a quarter or 2 in you will understand why its funny lol

Again, all I was doing in that post was mentioning all the different looks that we could give you. That was my main intention there. And, once more, we're a-ok with KAT and Brunson scoring as long as they don't get others involved.

As for things that sound funny, Diaw guarding LeBron sounded hilarious once upon a time. But it worked, didn't it?

[Nuntius]

not really seeing what pace has to do with a 3 ppg difference when one team shot like garbage and the other shot very well. it's pretty clear that if the cavs could hit the shots they hit all year long it would've been 4 W's in their favor. they got the looks they wanted, that wasn't the issue.

so like I said maybe pacers are just hoping knicks will miss everything the same way.

If that's the argument you're going with:

You only outscored the Celtics by 3 points in this series. 634 to 631. They averaged 105.1 PPG, you averaged 105.6 PPG.

Are you sure that this is the argument you wanna go with?

and knicks and celtics shot identical shooting splits. what does that mean? games came down to late game execution, timely buckets, and defense. the issue with the pacers is they can shoot very well and still lose the game because their defense is so bad. cavs got any look they wanted but just missed.

so once again, maybe pacers are just hoping the knicks will miss all the looks they like to get. if so, they might win. if we are hitting shots, there's no hope.

Then why aren't we losing more of these games, my friend? We've only lost 2 games in this post-season. An 8-2 record is pretty good, no?

[LFGK]

If that's the argument you're going with:

You only outscored the Celtics by 3 points in this series. 634 to 631. They averaged 105.1 PPG, you averaged 105.6 PPG.

Are you sure that this is the argument you wanna go with?

and knicks and celtics shot identical shooting splits. what does that mean? games came down to late game execution, timely buckets, and defense. the issue with the pacers is they can shoot very well and still lose the game because their defense is so bad. cavs got any look they wanted but just missed.

so once again, maybe pacers are just hoping the knicks will miss all the looks they like to get. if so, they might win. if we are hitting shots, there's no hope.

Then why aren't we losing more of these games, my friend? We've only lost 2 games in this post-season. An 8-2 record is pretty good, no?

well because the bucks stink and cavs were hobbled. That second round series was a 7 game series with full health but that a story for another day. All these looks and everything being talked about, at days end is not going to make a difference my friend. Wed night you will see why

[Nuntius]

and knicks and celtics shot identical shooting splits. what does that mean? games came down to late game execution, timely buckets, and defense. the issue with the pacers is they can shoot very well and still lose the game because their defense is so bad. cavs got any look they wanted but just missed.

so once again, maybe pacers are just hoping the knicks will miss all the looks they like to get. if so, they might win. if we are hitting shots, there's no hope.

Then why aren't we losing more of these games, my friend? We've only lost 2 games in this post-season. An 8-2 record is pretty good, no?

well because the bucks stink and cavs were hobbled. That second round series was a 7 game series with full health but that a story for another day. All these looks and everything being talked about, at days end is not going to make a difference my friend. Wed night you will see why

Be careful about underestimating us and chalking everything up to injuries. The Cavs made the same mistake

[NiceLikeChrist]

If that's the argument you're going with:

You only outscored the Celtics by 3 points in this series. 634 to 631. They averaged 105.1 PPG, you averaged 105.6 PPG.

Are you sure that this is the argument you wanna go with?

and knicks and celtics shot identical shooting splits. what does that mean? games came down to late game execution, timely buckets, and defense. the issue with the pacers is they can shoot very well and still lose the game because their defense is so bad. cavs got any look they wanted but just missed.

so once again, maybe pacers are just hoping the knicks will miss all the looks they like to get. if so, they might win. if we are hitting shots, there's no hope.

Then why aren't we losing more of these games, my friend? We've only lost 2 games in this post-season. An 8-2 record is pretty good, no?

the first team you played was awful. who thought bucks were getting out of the first round? that should've been a sweep

and like I said all regular season, the cavs are mentally weak and not a true playoff team. their ceiling was a poor showing in the ECF. put the injuries on top of that and you have a 5 game series for the pacers. if they were healthy it probably goes 7 in a dog fight with a pacers L

[LFGK]

Then why aren't we losing more of these games, my friend? We've only lost 2 games in this post-season. An 8-2 record is pretty good, no?

well because the bucks stink and cavs were hobbled. That second round series was a 7 game series with full health but that a story for another day. All these looks and everything being talked about, at days end is not going to make a difference my friend. Wed night you will see why

Be careful about underestimating us and chalking everything up to injuries. The Cavs made the same mistake

me and you are not on the court man, I will say it, I think the Pacers stink

[NoDopeOnSundays]

nesmith on KAT lol, Nembhard on Brunson, this series is going to be a lot of fun

Why is Nesmith on KAT, funny? Your own podcast guys are saying that the best way to defend KAT is with a wing. A lot of you have said it yourselves when you said that guarding KAT with a big isn't going to work (and I agree that it won't work).

As for Nembhard on Brunson, Brunson getting his is part of the plan. If we manage to bait Brunson into a primarily scoring role then that works in our favour. The less involved New York's 3-point shooters are, the better it is for us.

We can win games when the opposing team's star goes for 40+. In fact, we do tend to win most of those games. I'd much rather see Brunson with 40+, KAT with 30+ and everyone else in the single digits than see Brunson with 30 and every other Knick starter (plus McBride) with 15+.

Nesmith on KAT means Haliburton is on Mikal, and we will bring Hart out to set screens for Jalen, so that Turner has to come out higher to defend them. Also, if you want to put your best rebounder on KAT and risk him getting in foul trouble, Nesmith is your most foul prone player as it is.

Putting a wing on KAT works when you don't have any other holes in your perimeter defense, you have Haliburton though, and while I know you're a believer in stocks, I'm just a believer in checking what other players have done when actually defended by him. His primary matchups were Gary Trent who averaged 19ppg against you, and Max Strus, who pulled down almost 3 offensive rebounds per game. So, if you want to put him on Mikal, I'd be happy with that, he's going from a series where he was defended by White, Brown, Holiday and Tatum to Haliburton? When the Celtics and Pistons did it, the primary defender on Jalen was Ausar Thompson or White, do you think Nembhard is a comparable defender to those guys?

We have dealt with this kind of defense, against better defensive teams.

[Nuntius]

well because the bucks stink and cavs were hobbled. That second round series was a 7 game series with full health but that a story for another day. All these looks and everything being talked about, at days end is not going to make a difference my friend. Wed night you will see why

Be careful about underestimating us and chalking everything up to injuries. The Cavs made the same mistake

me and you are not on the court man,

I know. This whole "us", "you" is just a manner of speaking.

I will say it, I think the Pacers stink

That's alright. You're entitled to your opinion. You'll be proven wrong soon

[LFGK]

Be careful about underestimating us and chalking everything up to injuries. The Cavs made the same mistake

me and you are not on the court man,

I know. This whole "us", "you" is just a manner of speaking.

I will say it, I think the Pacers stink

That's alright. You're entitled to your opinion. You'll be proven wrong soon

I meant as in you or me under or overestimating will make no difference, we aren't on the court lol