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

[Capn'O]

Ben Sheppard has been such a sneaky good player in this series.

Dude pretty much fell out of the lineup, has his number called, and not only shows up, but has made some massive plays with defensive stops or a three while the Knicks are building momentum.

Even last year as a rookie, he looked like a 10 year veteran with how he played in the playoffs.

He was solid last year too.

Believe it or not, we also have some promising rookies though you'd never **** see them. Huge difference between Thibs and Carlisle and part of why Carlisle is a major advantage in this series.

[cgf]

I'm actually more demoralized about this one then G1. We played our style, didn't let up, and still lost. Getting dark for my Knicks.

Of course, losing G1 is a bigger issue with this one lost too.

Yeah. This one hurts. If this team can rally after that, they deserve to beat OKC.

[Hoop Hunter]

It ain't over till it's over, but I don't really see a viable path for NY to win the series. I think NY really has to be struggling mentally by this point, and I don't think they can win 4/5 against this Indiana team regardless. Game three is still important I think; the quicker this series ends the better.

Tyrese needs to be better. I think this was an uncharacteristically bad game from him, but these down games are just a part of him at this point in his career. I think we can weather his bad games this series. Hopefully, he'll be good enough for the finals, assuming we get there.

Hats off to Siakam having an absolute monster of a game; he 100% saved this game. You could argue he's the best second option in the league. We'll need this version of him if we get to the finals

Gotta win two more against NY, and stay healthy. I believe in this team

What’s crazy Siakam was a first option player tonight , great game from him but besides him no one really stood up on the Pacers tonight, it was overall a mid game by the Pacers and they were still able to win on the road in Conference Finals

Excellent job by Rick Carlisle, he got this under control the whole time

I don’t get it why most Pacers fans still not feeling confident

Can't speak for all Pacer fans, but I think the majority of us are so use to disappointment, we expect it. We'll be pessimistic till we're ahead by 20 with 2 minutes left to win the 4th game of the finals.

I am feeling a little more confident.

We're on a Mission from God.

[Dainis]

It ain't over till it's over, but I don't really see a viable path for NY to win the series. I think NY really has to be struggling mentally by this point, and I don't think they can win 4/5 against this Indiana team regardless. Game three is still important I think; the quicker this series ends the better.

Tyrese needs to be better. I think this was an uncharacteristically bad game from him, but these down games are just a part of him at this point in his career. I think we can weather his bad games this series. Hopefully, he'll be good enough for the finals, assuming we get there.

Hats off to Siakam having an absolute monster of a game; he 100% saved this game. You could argue he's the best second option in the league. We'll need this version of him if we get to the finals

Gotta win two more against NY, and stay healthy. I believe in this team

What’s crazy Siakam was a first option player tonight , great game from him but besides him no one really stood up on the Pacers tonight, it was overall a mid game by the Pacers and they were still able to win on the road in Conference Finals

Excellent job by Rick Carlisle, he got this under control the whole time

I don’t get it why most Pacers fans still not feeling confident

Can't speak for all Pacer fans, but I think the majority of us are so use to disappointment, we expect it. We'll be pessimistic till we're ahead by 20 with 2 minutes left to win the 4th game of the finals.

I am feeling a little more confident.

We're on a Mission from God.

The ****? God gives a rat's behind about basketball.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Ben Sheppard has been such a sneaky good player in this series.

Dude pretty much fell out of the lineup, has his number called, and not only shows up, but has made some massive plays with defensive stops or a three while the Knicks are building momentum.

Even last year as a rookie, he looked like a 10 year veteran with how he played in the playoffs.

He was solid last year too.

Believe it or not, we also have some promising rookies though you'd never **** see them. Huge difference between Thibs and Carlisle and part of why Carlisle is a major advantage in this series.

It’s weird how the rotation changes with each series, but we haven’t seen Jarace Walker at all in this series and he had some nice moments in the previous two series as well(more so vs Bucks.)

[ArksNetsSince99]

Thibs is a floor raiser. But his limited offense and is semi-arc archaic defense that focused on defending the paint over giving up wide open 3s definitely isn't helping the Knicks right now. He looked good last series and sometimes his defensive schemes can still look good but you can't in a modern NBA run a defense that gives up so many open 3s, this ain't the 90s or 2000s or even the earl 2010s anymore.. almost every NBA team has 4 guys if not 5 who can hit open 3s.

Weird thing is he made an adjustment against the Celtics against this but now has reverted to drop coverage again against the Pacers

Weird thing is that you failed to realize Pacers didn’t shoot that many threes this game , not even attempted

Not talking about this game specifically. Just talking about Thibs core defensive philosophy.

Let’s assume you didn’t watched this game so the final score is unknown to you

Now go to NBA stats sheet , study them throughly and tell me which team won the game

I’ll tell you, I did and from the stat sheet looks like Knicks did , only category where pacers have clear advantage is assists ( team basketball)

All others is either even or heavily in Knicks favor , ALL OF THEM !!!

Conclusion- Indiana played very mid game , it was visible live ,it’s visible on stat sheet too , Yet they were able to win rather comfortably in the last 6 minutes of the game

Final conclusion - saying Knicks is so superior on paper could be put in Mazulla back pocket ( you know the one that always sticks out from his back pocket )

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Bruhhhhh

Read on Twitter

I take back everything I’ve said…Knicks are cooked.

[Hoop Hunter]

What’s crazy Siakam was a first option player tonight , great game from him but besides him no one really stood up on the Pacers tonight, it was overall a mid game by the Pacers and they were still able to win on the road in Conference Finals

Excellent job by Rick Carlisle, he got this under control the whole time

I don’t get it why most Pacers fans still not feeling confident

Can't speak for all Pacer fans, but I think the majority of us are so use to disappointment, we expect it. We'll be pessimistic till we're ahead by 20 with 2 minutes left to win the 4th game of the finals.

I am feeling a little more confident.

We're on a Mission from God.

The ****? God gives a rat's behind about basketball.

It's a joke from another thread. We've had some crazy wins. and it's a quote from the Blues Brothers.

[Marrs-Law]

I understand you. This occurred to me in regard to Pascal actually. He went off much more than he usually does, but part of that is just simply out of necessity due to the Pacers' offense functioning extremely terrible. It's really good Siakam did that, but it would have been better if he didn't need to, because we aren't Pascal or Hali iso, and our team would not function that way.

Back to Hali. My issue is not that he didn't score 25; like you said that's not how our offense works. But he really struggled taking people off the dribble this game. For the turnover, he got locked up by Josh Hart and was obviously taken out of rhythm by that. He struggled taking Mitchell Robinson off the dribble.

Now the Pacers' run a ton of pick-in-roll, screens etc. and so maybe (probably actually) HALI ISO doesn't matter. I've only followed this game for a couple of years; you probably understand the offense better than I do. I just had the feeling watching the game that the offense struggled at specific times where the struggles could have been alleviated if Hali were a better self-creator.

I mean, people have been saying that he isn’t a self-creator, yet in the postseason, he continues to make plays to win games. Took Giannis off the dribble to get to the basket before hitting a step back 3. Had over 30 points last game. Routinely got to the basket against the Cavs too. He can take Robinson off the dribble, thing is, Robinson is a very good defender with a tonnnnn of length. Even if you beat him, he can still block you, because that’s just who he is. Same thing we see with Turner a lot. Turner watches little guys go around him, then blocks them from behind.

Point is, when push comes to shove, Haliburton has consistently delivered when needed. I mean, the dude is what, 12-14 this season on shots to tie or take the lead with less than two minutes left? You don’t do that if you can’t create offense for yourself.

He does it at times, but that's the problem, he's inconsistent. This has been a common theme for the entire time he's been here. He disappears, and the offense suffers. We would have lost the game today if Pascal didn't act like a number one option.

I don't know, maybe it won't matter because nobody's really successfully slowed us down, but the Thunder are supposed to be a good defense, and I worry that, without consistent elite self-creation ability, we are going to suffer from it. I am not super familiar with the Thunder, but, after Hartenstien, I don't think there's really anyone for our guards to have a mismatch on? If pick n roll doesn't work, what's the play? That's what I'm concerned about. Sometimes you just need to get to the hoop period, and I don't know if Ty can do that consistently against OKC's (presumably, haven't watched them much) elite defense.

I am sounding a lot like a Pacers' hater today (very bad, we get enough hate); I just try to stay realistic win or lose.

Figured I should add, I look at it more from a worst-case scenario than anything else. It would be fair to say that I take less stock in our clutchness than I should for example. There's a lot to hope for in the series, whatever the case. To my understanding, the Thunder defense sags a bit off on shooters, which seems like a recipe for disaster against this team, so that's encouraging. So I am hopeful regardless of my concerns that the Indy offense will do well. Also not trying to hate on Haliburton..he's an all-nba guy who I like to think could be an MVP-level player at some point. He's done everything we need done so far, but it won't stop me worrying for the Indy-OKC matchup!

[NotAKnicksFan]

Knicks comeuppance

[mademan]

Spend all these assets and money on defense (Bridges and OG) but bring in Towns and it's meaningless. Can you build a respectable defense with Brunson/Towns getting 40 min a night in the playoffs?

[ArksNetsSince99]

Ben Sheppard has been such a sneaky good player in this series.

Dude pretty much fell out of the lineup, has his number called, and not only shows up, but has made some massive plays with defensive stops or a three while the Knicks are building momentum.

Even last year as a rookie, he looked like a 10 year veteran with how he played in the playoffs.

He was solid last year too.

Believe it or not, we also have some promising rookies though you'd never **** see them. Huge difference between Thibs and Carlisle and part of why Carlisle is a major advantage in this series.

Mate I could swear you said before the series started it was slight advantage

Not trying to be a D…

[Chuck Everett]

Bruhhhhh

Read on Twitter

I take back everything I’ve said…Knicks are cooked.

Pretty good mashup. We used to call CJ McCollum, Urkel because of his appearance and handles.

[Hoop Hunter]

I understand you. This occurred to me in regard to Pascal actually. He went off much more than he usually does, but part of that is just simply out of necessity due to the Pacers' offense functioning extremely terrible. It's really good Siakam did that, but it would have been better if he didn't need to, because we aren't Pascal or Hali iso, and our team would not function that way.

Back to Hali. My issue is not that he didn't score 25; like you said that's not how our offense works. But he really struggled taking people off the dribble this game. For the turnover, he got locked up by Josh Hart and was obviously taken out of rhythm by that. He struggled taking Mitchell Robinson off the dribble.

Now the Pacers' run a ton of pick-in-roll, screens etc. and so maybe (probably actually) HALI ISO doesn't matter. I've only followed this game for a couple of years; you probably understand the offense better than I do. I just had the feeling watching the game that the offense struggled at specific times where the struggles could have been alleviated if Hali were a better self-creator.

I mean, people have been saying that he isn’t a self-creator, yet in the postseason, he continues to make plays to win games. Took Giannis off the dribble to get to the basket before hitting a step back 3. Had over 30 points last game. Routinely got to the basket against the Cavs too. He can take Robinson off the dribble, thing is, Robinson is a very good defender with a tonnnnn of length. Even if you beat him, he can still block you, because that’s just who he is. Same thing we see with Turner a lot. Turner watches little guys go around him, then blocks them from behind.

Point is, when push comes to shove, Haliburton has consistently delivered when needed. I mean, the dude is what, 12-14 this season on shots to tie or take the lead with less than two minutes left? You don’t do that if you can’t create offense for yourself.

He does it at times, but that's the problem, he's inconsistent. This has been a common theme for the entire time he's been here. He disappears, and the offense suffers. We would have lost the game today if Pascal didn't act like a number one option.

I don't know, maybe it won't matter because nobody's really successfully slowed us down, but the Thunder are supposed to be a good defense, and I worry that, without consistent elite self-creation ability, we are going to suffer from it. I am not super familiar with the Thunder, but, after Hartenstien, I don't think there's really anyone for our guards to have a mismatch on? If pick n roll doesn't work, what's the play? That's what I'm concerned about. Sometimes you just need to get to the hoop period, and I don't know if Ty can do that consistently against OKC's (presumably, haven't watched them much) elite defense.

I am sounding a lot like a Pacers' hater today (very bad, we get enough hate); I just try to stay realistic win or lose.

Hali's only 25, this is only his 2nd playoffs. He's nowhere near his ceiling. He's gotten better at creating for himself every season.

His biggest problem far whatever reason he just doesn't look to score at times. It can last a quarter, a half or rarely a whole game. Even in a few bad low scoring games he has hit big shots at the end though.

[LordCovington33]

Weird thing is that you failed to realize Pacers didn’t shoot that many threes this game , not even attempted

Not talking about this game specifically. Just talking about Thibs core defensive philosophy.

Let’s assume you didn’t watched this game so the final score is unknown to you

Now go to NBA stats sheet , study them throughly and tell me which team won the game

I’ll tell you, I did and from the stat sheet looks like Knicks did , only category where pacers have clear advantage is assists ( team basketball)

All others is either even or heavily in Knicks favor , ALL OF THEM !!!

Conclusion- Indiana played very mid game , it was visible live ,it’s visible on stat sheet too , Yet they were able to win rather comfortably in the last 6 minutes of the game

Final conclusion - saying Knicks is so superior on paper could be put in Mazulla back pocket ( you know the one that always sticks out from his back pocket )

Which ones (plural) are heavily in favor of the Knicks? (except for rebounds)

The pacers were also far more efficient from 3 and had a much better assist/TO ratio.

[Im Coming Home]

Spend all these assets and money on defense (Bridges and OG) but bring in Towns and it's meaningless. Can you build a respectable defense with Brunson/Towns getting 40 min a night in the playoffs?

I think so. Or at least a more dynamic offense that can help make up for it. I don't think KAT is a horrible defender he's just not being used correctly. He did alright in the Celtics series because we stopped doing stupid drop coverage. But now Thibs has reverted and KAT struggles in drop coverage plus drop coverage in modern NBA is stupid AF.

[ArksNetsSince99]

Not talking about this game specifically. Just talking about Thibs core defensive philosophy.

Let’s assume you didn’t watched this game so the final score is unknown to you

Now go to NBA stats sheet , study them throughly and tell me which team won the game

I’ll tell you, I did and from the stat sheet looks like Knicks did , only category where pacers have clear advantage is assists ( team basketball)

All others is either even or heavily in Knicks favor , ALL OF THEM !!!

Conclusion- Indiana played very mid game , it was visible live ,it’s visible on stat sheet too , Yet they were able to win rather comfortably in the last 6 minutes of the game

Final conclusion - saying Knicks is so superior on paper could be put in Mazulla back pocket ( you know the one that always sticks out from his back pocket )

Which ones (plural) are heavily in favor of the Knicks? (except for rebounds)

The pacers were also far more efficient from 3 and had a much better assist/TO ratio.

Assists yes like I said , TO 10-12 not a huge discrepancy if you ask me

Rebounding heavily in Knicks favor

Free throws percentage 71-85! In Knicks favor

Are you kidding me ?

[Raps in 4]

Haliburton gives such great interviews. He's going to be a great commentator/analyst one day if he wants to do that.

[Raps in 4]

I mean, people have been saying that he isn’t a self-creator, yet in the postseason, he continues to make plays to win games. Took Giannis off the dribble to get to the basket before hitting a step back 3. Had over 30 points last game. Routinely got to the basket against the Cavs too. He can take Robinson off the dribble, thing is, Robinson is a very good defender with a tonnnnn of length. Even if you beat him, he can still block you, because that’s just who he is. Same thing we see with Turner a lot. Turner watches little guys go around him, then blocks them from behind.

Point is, when push comes to shove, Haliburton has consistently delivered when needed. I mean, the dude is what, 12-14 this season on shots to tie or take the lead with less than two minutes left? You don’t do that if you can’t create offense for yourself.

He does it at times, but that's the problem, he's inconsistent. This has been a common theme for the entire time he's been here. He disappears, and the offense suffers. We would have lost the game today if Pascal didn't act like a number one option.

I don't know, maybe it won't matter because nobody's really successfully slowed us down, but the Thunder are supposed to be a good defense, and I worry that, without consistent elite self-creation ability, we are going to suffer from it. I am not super familiar with the Thunder, but, after Hartenstien, I don't think there's really anyone for our guards to have a mismatch on? If pick n roll doesn't work, what's the play? That's what I'm concerned about. Sometimes you just need to get to the hoop period, and I don't know if Ty can do that consistently against OKC's (presumably, haven't watched them much) elite defense.

I am sounding a lot like a Pacers' hater today (very bad, we get enough hate); I just try to stay realistic win or lose.

Hali's only 25, this is only his 2nd playoffs. He's nowhere near his ceiling. He's gotten better at creating for himself every season.

His biggest problem far whatever reason he just doesn't look to score at times. It can last a quarter, a half or rarely a whole game. Even in a few bad low scoring games he has hit big shots at the end though.

Scottie Barnes has the same issue in Toronto. Obviously Hali is a much better player, but Barnes also has stretches where he gets like reverse tunnel vision and tries too hard to set up teammates/defers to others rather than looking for his own shot.

[California Gold]

Good win by the Pacers, got contributions from diff places but Siakam really killed it.

I have the Knicks winning game 3 with their season on the line. Game 4 will likely determine this series.