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

[___Rand___]

I mean, the Raptors did tank in Pascal's later years and all that losing can definitely feel like dark times to the players.

That's NOT what he meant by dark times. You don't know this because nobody pays attention to Raptors. but after Kawhi left Pascal was our best ISO player. Nurse went to him for late game ISO situations, because he was our best, and also to develop him further.

And admittedly, he was still developing, and was still pretty raw. From that year which ended with playoffs in covid, to 2022-23 season, there was relentless criticism of Pascal as a player, and as a human being by a large number of Raptors fan base. Some of which were quite frankly racist (like send him back to Africa, etc). It was all over social media, and it impacted his game and shooting. Pascal admitted this, and he stopped engaging in social media after that covid season. That criticism was everywhere - twitter, on reddit, and on this VERY board. It was ugly. Even Masai mentioned that in his end of year press conference. It wasn't until his 2nd all-star season Pascal criticism became less intense. I remember that vividly because I spent long hours defending Pascal on boards. Same thing happened with Ibaka too. Not all Canadians are nice.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the context. That does indeed sound like dark times.

Let me give you more color. As the criticism mounted, his 3 point shooting nose-dived. He couldn't make 3s like he did. He was just tight, self-conscious every single game. In the covid playoffs after we lost to Celtics to 7 games in the 2nd round the negative fan reaction was disgusting, and barbaric. I need to call out those MFers because it was extremely uncanadian.

[Slim Tubby]

Is it still Knicks in 5, LFGK?

"Montana??? I said Joe Montegna."

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[___Rand___]

Could be or he just decided he liked the situation after playing with Haliburton and Turner.

The story in Toronto was before the trade Pascal was looking for a certain number for his extension, and his agent had discussions with a number of teams. Pacers were willing to give that to him, and Pacers' management made his team feel welcome over there. So that's when Pacers got engaged in serious discussions with Raps for the trade.

Same thing happened with OG. He wanted a number, and more touches on offense. Knicks gave that to him.

If Knicks traded for Pascal and Pacers for OG I’m afraid this series would’ve look little different right now

Pascal clearly made OG his son this series

Yes. Knicks weren't going to after Pascal as they already had Randle at 4. OG's a more versatile 3. Each team made the right fit for their team.

[NotAKnicksFan]

Knicks won their championship in round 2, they beat up a battered celtics team in game 6 , a team that had to start kornet at center because porzingus has covid lingering and tatum torn acl , the players and fand certainly acted like they won the championship, i was there i know. Loudest the garden has ever been. They literally were outplayed by boston 90% of the series besides game 6 but again that was knicks championship, congratulations knickerbockers, you actually gotta win 16 games in playoffs to win a chip, knicks not even close

Now they reap what they sow.

[Capn'O]

Apparently Siakam made it known he wanted to go to Indiana.

The Haliburton effect.

You can check the acquisition threads. I thought you guys robbed Toronto.

I can’t remember my exact thoughts, I think for me it was “it’s a good deal if we sign him” type thing. I didn’t feel like we gave up much as two late picks in a horrible draft didn’t mean much, so we’ll see about the 2026 pick.

I will say, Siakam is significantly better than I realized.

I've always liked him. He's just shifty, can hit an outside shot, can bang a bit on defense and in the post. He's actually a bit like Bosh, though for some reason that feels weird.

Those Toronto teams were just very badly built but had good players. Similarly, OG has been a wonderful fit for us.

[Capn'O]

No, **** seriously. Could one of you Pacer fans be one of the obnoxious Knick haters in here. Like, if you were talking **** it would make sense. It'd be like "oh, man, you won and we though we were gonna win. That's why you're talking ****. Damn, bro." Like, make it make sense.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

You can check the acquisition threads. I thought you guys robbed Toronto.

I can’t remember my exact thoughts, I think for me it was “it’s a good deal if we sign him” type thing. I didn’t feel like we gave up much as two late picks in a horrible draft didn’t mean much, so we’ll see about the 2026 pick.

I will say, Siakam is significantly better than I realized.

I've always liked him. He's just shifty, can hit an outside shot, can bang a bit on defense and in the post. He's actually a bit like Bosh, though for some reason that feels weird.

Those Toronto teams were just very badly built but had good players. Similarly, OG has been a wonderful fit for us.

Yea I’m a big OG fan. I still can’t believe the Pacers drafted TJ Leaf over him.

Yea, I’m struggling to think of a Siakam comp. Almost like Luis Scola on steroids? But like you said, that feels weird. I don’t know. He’s unique and shifty.

[Raps in 4]

They asked him about his experience on the Pacers and he was like (paraphrasing) "I had some dark times, but I'm blessed to be in this organization now".

I mean, the Raptors did tank in Pascal's later years and all that losing can definitely feel like dark times to the players.

That's NOT what he meant by dark times. You don't know this because nobody pays attention to Raptors. but after Kawhi left Pascal was our best ISO player. Nurse went to him for late game ISO situations, because he was our best, and also to develop him further.

And admittedly, he was still developing, and was still pretty raw. From that year which ended with playoffs in covid, to 2022-23 season, there was relentless criticism of Pascal as a player, and as a human being by a large number of Raptors fan base. Some of which were quite frankly racist (like send him back to Africa, etc). It was all over social media, and it impacted his game and shooting. Pascal admitted this, and he stopped engaging in social media after that covid season. That criticism was everywhere - twitter, on reddit, and on this VERY board. It was ugly. Even Masai mentioned that in his end of year press conference. It wasn't until his 2nd all-star season Pascal criticism became less intense. I remember that vividly because I spent long hours defending Pascal on boards. Same thing happened with Ibaka too. Not all Canadians are nice.

This is nonsense. The city was very high on Pascal's potential after Kawhi left. Criticism of his game peaked in his last two years here when it was clear the team was going nowhere with him and Fred as options 1A and 1B. That criticism was unwarranted because Pascal and Fred didn't ask for their roles on the team. Masai failed to acquire a franchise player after Kawhi left/Lowry aged out.

Yeah, he faced a lot of racism online, but so does every Black athlete. That's not a problem unique to Toronto or Canada. It's a global problem. I'm positive that the "dark times" he was referring two were the last two years when the team was directionless and uncompetitive, and he was taking the fall for it (instead of management).

[Capn'O]

I can’t remember my exact thoughts, I think for me it was “it’s a good deal if we sign him” type thing. I didn’t feel like we gave up much as two late picks in a horrible draft didn’t mean much, so we’ll see about the 2026 pick.

I will say, Siakam is significantly better than I realized.

I've always liked him. He's just shifty, can hit an outside shot, can bang a bit on defense and in the post. He's actually a bit like Bosh, though for some reason that feels weird.

Those Toronto teams were just very badly built but had good players. Similarly, OG has been a wonderful fit for us.

Yea I’m a big OG fan. I still can’t believe the Pacers drafted TJ Leaf over him.

Yea, I’m struggling to think of a Siakam comp. Almost like Luis Scola on steroids? But like you said, that feels weird. I don’t know. He’s unique and shifty.

God, I see that too but then there's this Luis Scola -> Chris Bosh continuum that really doesn't make sense.

I remember TJ Leaf and really not wanting to draft him Like, he didn't have a single quality that was like "yup, he'll do that at an average level in the NBA." How far we've come.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

No, **** seriously. Could like one of you Pacer fans be one of the obnoxious Knick haters in here. Like, if you were talking **** it would make sense. It'd be like "oh, man, you won and we though we were gonna win. That's why you're talking ****. Damn, bro." Like, make it make sense.

Nunt will tell you, I’ve had my moments.

I don’t know, guess I’ve grown out of it. It suckssss when you’re super passionate about your team and they lose. Last thing I want to do is twist the knife and make someone’s day worse. No need to kick someone when they are down. I’ve always kinda felt that way, but in the past if someone started **** I’d go in on them haha, but just not worth it. I’m certainly not gaining anything from it.

I work with a Knicks fan. We’ve worked together at two different spots and I got him the job where we are at now. All season he’s been going on about how Haliburton is overrated and such. He’s been on vacation so tonight was first time I’ve seen him since the series started, we talked casually about the series and left it at that haha. Prior to the Knicks series he did come around a bit on Haliburton though after some of his playoff performances in the previous series.

[Raps in 4]

Yeah he was on his contract year Pacers gave 3 #1's and Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwara. I was against it at the time because of the the 2026 #1 pick. But the trade worked out fine as Pascal Signed a long term deal. I didn't think he'd sign.

Apparently Siakam made it known he wanted to go to Indiana.

The Haliburton effect.

Could be or he just decided he liked the situation after playing with Haliburton and Turner.

He explicitly said he wanted to play with those two. Indy was one of the teams on his list. International players don't mind playing for small market teams. It's only American players that have the "LA or bust" mentality.

[knicksfan974]

I like this Knicks team but they're missing a big piece, like a KD.

They’re missing 5 First Round Picks to make solid moves this offseason

Thx for Mikal Knicks

Future late first rounders, don't see much worth on those. Mikal still a piece for the championship team, if not this year then who knows, maybe next season.

[Capn'O]

No, **** seriously. Could like one of you Pacer fans be one of the obnoxious Knick haters in here. Like, if you were talking **** it would make sense. It'd be like "oh, man, you won and we though we were gonna win. That's why you're talking ****. Damn, bro." Like, make it make sense.

Nunt will tell you, I’ve had my moments.

I don’t know, guess I’ve grown out of it. It suckssss when you’re super passionate about your team and they lose. Last thing I want to do is twist the knife and make someone’s day worse. No need to kick someone when they are down. I’ve always kinda felt that way, but in the past if someone started **** I’d go in on them haha, but just not worth it. I’m certainly not gaining anything from it.

I work with a Knicks fan. We’ve worked together at two different spots and I got him the job where we are at now. All season he’s been going on about how Haliburton is overrated and such. He’s been on vacation so tonight was first time I’ve seen him since the series started, we talked casually about the series and left it at that haha. Prior to the Knicks series he did come around a bit on Haliburton though after some of his playoff performances in the previous series.

Haliburton has played a masterful series. Like I said earlier, I am pretty comfortable saying that Brunson outplayed him last season and that's not happening here. Part of that might be personnel regarding Brunson but Haliburton has taken a step up on his own.

But regarding my statement above... without delving into the specific social aspects that the research came from, it's actually a compliment disguised as an insult disguised as a compliment. Something that's come out in recent research is that successful people are rarely punch down trolls. And your franchise has been successful both in the long and short term and the members of your fanbase here seem like a well adjusted representation... so there's no need to crow.

And it's unnerving because while all these other fanbases are gathering to watch our demise... you're not. It's like are y'all just that confident you're gonna kick our ass that you're not even gonna do anything Cmon. Fight But kudos. You've got a really fun team that in all likelihood is about to get to the highest level of the sport. If it falls that way, from a pure basketball perspective the finals should be a joy to watch.

[cpower]

Knicks are in trouble....especially when they find themselves to have a better chance not to play Brunson. Tough decision has to be made by Thibodeau

[basketballwacko2]

Is it still Knicks in 5, LFGK?

"Montana??? I said Joe Montegna."

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

Best tackler I've ever seen!

[basketballwacko2]

I like this Knicks team but they're missing a big piece, like a KD.

They’re missing 5 First Round Picks to make solid moves this offseason

Thx for Mikal Knicks

Future late first rounders, don't see much worth on those. Mikal still a piece for the championship team, if not this year then who knows, maybe next season.

Those #1's are unprotected and you never know where you're gonna be 6-7 years from now.

[ArksNetsSince99]

I like this Knicks team but they're missing a big piece, like a KD.

They’re missing 5 First Round Picks to make solid moves this offseason

Thx for Mikal Knicks

Future late first rounders, don't see much worth on those. Mikal still a piece for the championship team, if not this year then who knows, maybe next season.

Pacers takes your entire window of opportunity

They did it last year

They’ll do it this year

They’ll do it again next year

Then is 25 years of purgatory again

[knicksfan974]

Dissappointing loss, yes, but for me the Pacers played a great game and deserved this win, there's no way around it. But let's not forget you need 4 wins to advance, so it's not over yet. Just have to regroup and take it one game at a time. The Knicks have good enough team to make a comeback, but everything has to click from now on.

[ArksNetsSince99]

Dissappointing loss, yes, but for me the Pacers played a great game and deserved this win, there's no way around it. But let's not forget you need 4 wins to advance, so it's not over yet. Just have to regroup and take it one game at a time. The Knicks have good enough team to make a comeback, but everything has to click from now on.

Pacers have good enough team to lift the Trophy on Thursday in MSG !!!

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

No, **** seriously. Could like one of you Pacer fans be one of the obnoxious Knick haters in here. Like, if you were talking **** it would make sense. It'd be like "oh, man, you won and we though we were gonna win. That's why you're talking ****. Damn, bro." Like, make it make sense.

Nunt will tell you, I’ve had my moments.

I don’t know, guess I’ve grown out of it. It suckssss when you’re super passionate about your team and they lose. Last thing I want to do is twist the knife and make someone’s day worse. No need to kick someone when they are down. I’ve always kinda felt that way, but in the past if someone started **** I’d go in on them haha, but just not worth it. I’m certainly not gaining anything from it.

I work with a Knicks fan. We’ve worked together at two different spots and I got him the job where we are at now. All season he’s been going on about how Haliburton is overrated and such. He’s been on vacation so tonight was first time I’ve seen him since the series started, we talked casually about the series and left it at that haha. Prior to the Knicks series he did come around a bit on Haliburton though after some of his playoff performances in the previous series.

Haliburton has played a masterful series. Like I said earlier, I am pretty comfortable saying that Brunson outplayed him last season and that's not happening here. Part of that might be personnel regarding Brunson but Haliburton has taken a step up on his own.

But regarding my statement above... without delving into the specific social aspects that the research came from, it's actually a compliment disguised as an insult disguised as a compliment. Something that's come out in recent research is that successful people are rarely punch down trolls. And your franchise has been successful both in the long and short term and the members of your fanbase here seem like a well adjusted representation... so there's no need to crow.

And it's unnerving because while all these other fanbases are gathering to watch our demise... you're not. It's like are y'all just that confident you're gonna kick our ass that you're not even gonna do anything Cmon. Fight But kudos. You've got a really fun team that in all likelihood is about to get to the highest level of the sport. If it falls that way, from a pure basketball perspective the finals should be a joy to watch.

Thanks man, I appreciate you…as I said earlier in the series, you and cgf(can never remember what letters they are) represent yalls fan base with the utmost class.

I fully expected the Knicks threads to be some of the worst, but ignoring some people, y’all are a breath of fresh air compared to those Cavs threads.

Still got a game to go and I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. But IF the Pacers manage to make the Finals, Imma try my best to go see a game there. I’ve never seen a game In Indiana and I’m not confident they’ll ever make another Finals in my lifetime again, so imma see what I can do.