2025 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #3 New York Knicks vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 2-1)

[ibraheim718]

I’ve never seen the Pacers so scared to shoot before. It’s like they were playing hot potato the entire second half until there was 5 seconds on the shot clock.

They had zero flow down the stretch and seemed shook. Not sure what happened there.

NY started playing real defense. Not sure what caused NY to play so out of sorts on D in game 2.

personnel.. 2 liabilities on d that indy was targeting

[Diop]

Haliburton played very timidly down the stretch.

the worst part for me was occasionally he passed to the wide open man but the pass was off, so they person had to reach for it which made it to slow to get a shot off. passing for an open 3 point shot is fine, but when the guy just has to put the ball on the floor and create themselves it might as well stay with Hali

I mean he had a step and the lane and passed out of it. He had space to take a shot behind the 3 point line and refused to take it. He mostly encouraged the Knicks defenders to stay home instead of forcing rotations.

that felt like a theme for Indiana tonight.

[Capn'O]

At this point, are you guys starting to trust Thibs to make the necessary adjustments when we're forced into them? Or is it still just me

Why must he wait until he's forced

Ib for coach!

Here's all he has to do.. starting line up doesn't matter. As soon as Indy starts getting frisky bring in Wright, Shamet, Mcbride play them with Kat and Bridges. Play Brunson and Mitch together exclusively because Mitch can switch on PnR and rim run. He's got to play two different units. At the end of the game get the ball to Brunson to close it. Instruct Brunson to distribute the ball in the early parts of the game to get OG, Bridges, and KAT going.

I like a lot of that but I also think pairing Brunson with one of Deuce or Wright as much as we can to beat the press is paramount. Those two are also better at feeding the KAT and guarding the Pacers wings.

[Roger Federer]

I’m not sure what Carlisle was doing tonight, but that’s one of the worst coached games I have ever seen from him. We spent the entire second half passing up decent looks from 3 so we can run the clock down and take bad last second shots. We stopped moving the ball and tried to play McConnell iso ball for a long stretch of game that allowed the Knicks to win.

After tonight, I’m convinced the Knicks win this series and it’s because they convinced the Pacers to stop doing what’s working for them and instead try to play the Knicks game.

Absolutely choke job from everyone involved.

Relax nephew, they still only have a 7% chance of winning this series.

[ibraheim718]

Why must he wait until he's forced

Ib for coach!

Here's all he has to do.. starting line up doesn't matter. As soon as Indy starts getting frisky bring in Wright, Shamet, Mcbride play them with Kat and Bridges. Play Brunson and Mitch together exclusively because Mitch can switch on PnR and rim run. He's got to play two different units. At the end of the game get the ball to Brunson to close it. Instruct Brunson to distribute the ball in the early parts of the game to get OG, Bridges, and KAT going.

I like a lot of that but I also think pairing Brunson with one of Deuce or Wright as much as we can to beat the press is paramount. Those two are also better at feeding the KAT and guarding the Pacers wings.

Yeah that too.. the problem in the 1st quarter was that because he benched Hart there was really only 1 guy to handle the ball and he was getting worn out.

[Optimus_Steel]

Kat needs to be as aggressive throughout the game as he was in the 4th.

He doesn't get the ball much early because Brunson is running dribbling drills.

THIS

He literally pounds the ever living crap out of the ball. I still believe they win game 1 if he stays on the bench. They went on a giant run to build that lead and as soon as he came in the offense just stopped.

This may sound crazy because Brunson is a great player but I felt the same. They played better when he was on the bench. This series is not a good matchup for him because he is too undersized in his matchup. It was also incredibly dumb for Thibs to sit Towns most of the 4th quarter of game 2, it made NY too easy to defend with Robinson out there.

[Wingy]

KAT was absolutely sick in the 4th, but if he played better the rest of the game prior they wouldn’t have been in such a big hole in the first place.

4 points in 3 quarters for an offensive player. Frequently discombobulated on defense.

Stupid, boneheaded fouls on both sides of the ball. The one grabbing Hali was absurd…wtf are you doing, man?

Quick 35 foot bricks with no other teammate getting to even touch the ball.

He made up for it late, but sheesh, that’s not something anyone should be relying on to occur consistently.

[Capn'O]

Why must he wait until he's forced

Ib for coach!

Here's all he has to do.. starting line up doesn't matter. As soon as Indy starts getting frisky bring in Wright, Shamet, Mcbride play them with Kat and Bridges. Play Brunson and Mitch together exclusively because Mitch can switch on PnR and rim run. He's got to play two different units. At the end of the game get the ball to Brunson to close it. Instruct Brunson to distribute the ball in the early parts of the game to get OG, Bridges, and KAT going.

I like a lot of that but I also think pairing Brunson with one of Deuce or Wright as much as we can to beat the press is paramount. Those two are also better at feeding the KAT and guarding the Pacers wings.

Sooooo Bridges as a 6th man? I kind of love it. We have enough scoring in the SL and the replacements play D. Let him cook their bench.

[mdonnelly1989]

He doesn't get the ball much early because Brunson is running dribbling drills.

THIS

He literally pounds the ever living crap out of the ball. I still believe they win game 1 if he stays on the bench. They went on a giant run to build that lead and as soon as he came in the offense just stopped.

This may sound crazy because Brunson is a great player but I felt the same. They played better when he was on the bench. This series is not a good matchup for him because he is too undersized in his matchup. It was also incredibly dumb for Thibs to sit Towns most of the 4th quarter of game 2, it made NY too easy to defend with Robinson out there.

And especially when you can hack him and send him to the line. However, as long as Kat is half way decent on defense in the 4th that shouldn't be a problem. He has to step up that defense.

[mdonnelly1989]

Here's all he has to do.. starting line up doesn't matter. As soon as Indy starts getting frisky bring in Wright, Shamet, Mcbride play them with Kat and Bridges. Play Brunson and Mitch together exclusively because Mitch can switch on PnR and rim run. He's got to play two different units. At the end of the game get the ball to Brunson to close it. Instruct Brunson to distribute the ball in the early parts of the game to get OG, Bridges, and KAT going.

I like a lot of that but I also think pairing Brunson with one of Deuce or Wright as much as we can to beat the press is paramount. Those two are also better at feeding the KAT and guarding the Pacers wings.

Sooooo Bridges as a 6th man? I kind of love it. We have enough scoring in the SL and the replacements play D. Let him cook their bench.

I kind of wondered how having a bunch of scorers was going to work in the first place.

Immediately with KAT, OG, and then Bridges it felt like there was too much ball to go around creating a law of diminishing returns.

Bridges should come off the bench as a 6th man.

[___Rand___]

Carlisle was butt this game. He couldn't counter Thibs. He got lucky KAT and Brunson got into foul trouble and didn't advantage of it. Knicks had a lineup they never played because of foul trouble, and Carlisle didn't take them seriously. which is when Knicks went on their run. His "great" offense couldn't manufacture points in the crunch time. He had NOTHING for the slow paced half court that was late 4th. He couldn't figure out how to change the momentum. This was the coaching that saw Pacers choke away 4 leads late 4th in last year's ECF.

[doogie_hauser]

It can only be a good thing for the Knicks that they didn't need Brunson to bail them out again.

[Potential]

Hopefully the Knicks win game 4 so we can see a tied 2-2 series. Game 5 at The Garden would be crazy. We need this to go to a game 7 so we can get our first conference finals game 7 since 2023 and 2022 when we got Miami vs Boston. Last time before that was 2018 when we had 2 conference finals game 7s

[xBulletproof]

It can only be a good thing for the Knicks that they didn't need Brunson to bail them out again.

Here's the question, without foul trouble, does he do it again? Was it only because of foul trouble, or was this the game plan coming in?

Maybe we'll see in game 4.

[Oscirus]

its not a series unless the knicks win game 4, for now, its just an interruption. Ditto for the wolves

[threethehardway]

I'm sorry Haliburton's cousin made your wife squeal like a piggy. Gave her that UTEP 2 Step.

It'll be okay Timmy. Imagine being so emotional you say stupid things like the team that has 3 historic comebacks in one playoff run are "passive front running team" and "as soon as things get tough .... they fold".

Lol at "historic comebacks". Couldn't even convincingly put away a hobbled Cavs nor stop Donovan Mitchell.

I said what I said.

Pacers are a passive front running team. The prime Warriors were front runners too but at least they dominated.

And I find it funny how homoerotic and pornographic sports fans get when their favorite player gets criticized.

Haliburton's cousin and a wife? That's very specific. Tell me more about your fantasies about the Haliburton family.

I bet you have one about his father too.

Weirdo lol.

[The4thHorseman]

its not a series unless the knicks win game 4, for now, its just an interruption. Ditto for the wolves

it's most definitely a series.

[LFGK]

Not the least bit worried for the Pacers. Easy 4th quarter incoming for them.

[LethalRangee]

You play with legos.

[jkvonny]

Bad loss for Indiana.

Great win for NYKs.
What a choke job. Crazy series.

Pacers still have the edge but if NYKs evens it up and head back to NYC for game 5? It gets interesting