2025 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #3 New York Knicks vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 2-0)

[Chuck Everett]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

I don’t understand that rule. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a two-way player contributing in the playoffs?

Quenton Jackson would likely be getting some minutes with the Pacers. He was great at the end of the year and arguably outplaying McConnell.

[cgf]

I'm pretty sure their destiny is to be bludgeoned by the Thunder though.

Nah. Their destiny is to lose to the Knicks in an all-time great ECF before the inevitable Towns & Bridges vs Randle & DiVincenzo revenge match.

I think OKC will be pushed by the Wolves as that series wears on and either eastern conference team could beat either western conference team. The Pacers are too fast for OKC's pressure to speed them up, they're just as deep, they're better coached, they have the better closer, and they're better in the clutch. The Knicks could dominate the glass against the Thunder, frustrate SGA, and beat them down the stretch with the better closer & coach.

I can see why you'd be rooting for that. I think the Knicks definitely have a real shot at being in the finals, despite yesterday. I'd call it pretty much 50/50 right now. But I don't think Minnesota's chances are nearly that good.

I missed the 2nd half of game 1, but I thought Minny had a real shot before that series and the first half of game 1 reinforced that. The Thunder will force turnovers, but the wolves can clean things up defensively to force turnovers of their own, shoot better, and I still don't see how the Thunder slow down 1st quarter/half Randle; especially once Ant gets going...as he tends to be a slow starter in series, performing much better in game 3-5 than 1 & 2.

I won't be surprised at all if the Wolves have that thing tied at 2-2 or are even up 3-1 when they head back to OKC for game 5.

[cgf]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

BOOOOO! Boooooo this new CBA!

That kid was born for playoff basketball. Can we just sneak him out there in a PJ Tucker jersey? Nobody's seen him in so long that we can just say he got plastic surgery to look younger & started taking the fat shot.

[Chuck Everett]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

I don’t understand that rule. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a two-way player contributing in the playoffs?

Quenton Jackson would likely be getting some minutes with the Pacers. He was great at the end of the year and arguably outplaying McConnell.

It may change eventually, but it may have had something to do with not every team having a G-League affiliate at the time. That may have to be something that is negotiated in the next CBA.

...
As of the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA added a third two-way roster spot. The goal is to give teams the means to develop players with fewer than four years of experience—part-time in the G League and NBA.

[Backcountry]

Was anyone else thinking "wtf is he doing???" when Hali was driving to the basket, then stopped and dribbled back out to the 3-point line, before his final shot in RT? I saw shades of JR Smith for a second!

[Hoop Hunter]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

I don’t understand that rule. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a two-way player contributing in the playoffs?

Quenton Jackson would likely be getting some minutes with the Pacers. He was great at the end of the year and arguably outplaying McConnell.

I love TJ, but he's not exactly played great in the playoffs, a few good moments. We may need to clear some money to re-sign Turner.

I could see us getting rid of TJ, relaying more on Nembhard as back PG and using Q a lot more. Q is very fast and athletic, would be a different look, but could work.

[Wolfgang630]

Was anyone else thinking "wtf is he doing???" when Hali was driving to the basket, then stopped and dribbled back out to the 3-point line, before his final shot in RT? I saw shades of JR Smith for a second!

Yep I thought it was bad and still think so.

[ArksNetsSince99]

To put lipstick on a pig from the Knicks perspective, it was a 1 point game early in the 4th. Then the Knicks went on a run and were up big with a few minutes left. Then the Pacers went on a run to send it to OT.

So was it really a Knicks "collapse" or just a game/quarter of runs? It was probably a collapse haha, but you could look at it the other way too.

Exactly this game wasn’t one sided like Knicks fans trying to portrait , it was mostly games of little runs both ways

Then , that’s probably one little stretch of the game when Rick Carlisle went a little awry, Naismith was doing bad decisions and fouled 3 point shooters twice plus one or two dumb fouls and in Brunson less few minutes lead ballooned to 15 points

That’s one stretch of the game (5 minutes ) that Carlisle really have to watch the tape and be better next time , he did nothing on this stretch , no subs no timeouts, and almost cost him the game

He was Thibs for 5 minutes

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

I don’t understand that rule. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a two-way player contributing in the playoffs?

Quenton Jackson would likely be getting some minutes with the Pacers. He was great at the end of the year and arguably outplaying McConnell.

I love TJ, but he's not exactly played great in the playoffs, a few good moments. We may need to clear some money to re-sign Turner.

I could see us getting rid of TJ, relaying more on Nembhard as back PG and using Q a lot more. Q is very fast and athletic, would be a different look, but could work.

While he still does some great things for us, he’s had a really down year compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to from him. Age catching up to him I guess.

[benhillboy]

It’s hard for me to watch the Knicks. I can only stomach it now because they’re facing a wildly entertaining team with high stakes. They’re as vanilla as their regular season team stats say they are.

You gotta have a lot of holes as a team to lose at home on 40 FT attempts. And people actually pay good money to have to endure watching Cam Payne. Beyond the pale.

[jkvonny]

Lol poor Knicks fans.
Pacers been torturing them since the '90s.

Wow, what a great game last night, rivalry.
Pacers came back down big and stole game 1 at the Garden.
Knicks fans were stunned.

[xBulletproof]

Was anyone else thinking "wtf is he doing???" when Hali was driving to the basket, then stopped and dribbled back out to the 3-point line, before his final shot in RT? I saw shades of JR Smith for a second!

Yep I thought it was bad and still think so.

Thinking "wtf is he doing" in terms of what? Backing up to take the 3?

I think that is the logical decision. On the road you go for the W at the end more than for the tie. I was always taught that.

[cgf]

Was anyone else thinking "wtf is he doing???" when Hali was driving to the basket, then stopped and dribbled back out to the 3-point line, before his final shot in RT? I saw shades of JR Smith for a second!

Nah, he did the same thing to the Cavs to win game 2.

[ArksNetsSince99]

PACERS IN THREE

That's right the Knicks will simply forfeit game 4 - calling it now

And , You being generous Sir

[cgf]

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

I don’t understand that rule. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a two-way player contributing in the playoffs?

Quenton Jackson would likely be getting some minutes with the Pacers. He was great at the end of the year and arguably outplaying McConnell.

I love TJ, but he's not exactly played great in the playoffs, a few good moments. We may need to clear some money to re-sign Turner.

I could see us getting rid of TJ, relaying more on Nembhard as back PG and using Q a lot more. Q is very fast and athletic, would be a different look, but could work.

That makes sense, Nemb does run a lot of actions for you already even when Hali is next to him. Plus you could send us Jarace Walker if you needed to clear some more money to make room for Turner...

[sp6r=underrated]

I really wish the Pacers would go back to their 90's jerseys. The early 90's. Those were way better than these current ones.

The fatal sin of NBA uniforms is that teams change uniforms and colors too much to cater too deranged jersey collectors. Catering to jersey collectors by constantly altering colors and uniforms boosts short-term profits but destroys long-term branding, which has value.

The middle ground is yearly slight jersey alterations with static colors. The NBA will be able to bleed the jersey addicts but also maintain the branding that normal fans care about.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Was anyone else thinking "wtf is he doing???" when Hali was driving to the basket, then stopped and dribbled back out to the 3-point line, before his final shot in RT? I saw shades of JR Smith for a second!

Yep I thought it was bad and still think so.

Thinking "wtf is he doing" in terms of what? Backing up to take the 3?

I think that is the logical decision. On the road you go for the W at the end more than for the tie. I was always taught that.

This.

Not to mention, that’s a fairly routine shot for Haliburton. He takes similar shots frequently. Not like he was forcing anything out of his normal routine.

[yoadknux]

Pacers are a team of destiny.

Can we get an analysis of OG vs Siakam in game 1?

[Jadoogar]

Part of me wants to see Thibs say "f*** it, we can win at this pace, we just need to be able to maintain it"; giving some burn to Wright, and Achiuwa...or maybe even McCullar; this feels like the kind of series that kid could give us good minutes in, feeding off the frenetic energy. Before switching it up in game 3 and really slowing things down with the double bigs.

Kevin McCullar is on a two-way and thus ineligible for the playoffs.

i'm always surprised when people offer these types of suggestions. Very rarely do you see coaches changing the rotation by bringing in fringe players in the conference finals. NBA coaches are fairly stubborn, they will trust the guys that got them there unless absolutely forced by injuries.

Precious achiuwa isn't a good player, i would not trust him in a high leverage playoff situation