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

[Hoop Hunter]

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...

Not many people know anything about Walker, but he's really got some talent, you know that, you actually watch us.

I'm kinda thinking we might have to get rid of Toppin also. Love him too, but Turner is more important position and player for us. That makes Walker the next man up. Better defender than Toppin, very good 3pt shooter and a very underrated passer. He has a higher ceiling than Toppin, not at dunking though.

I'd love to keep the core intact, but current NBA salary restrictions can cause a lot of problems for most teams.

[Raps in 4]

Pacers are a team of destiny.

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

Honestly, I thought if anyone was going to choke down the stretch, it'd be Siakam. He often struggled under pressure with us (although he was put into a first option role then). I thought OG was cooler under pressure but he froze up yesterday. That one buzzer beater he had against the Celtics in the playoffs a few years ago is probably sugarcoaing my memory of him lol.

Siakam went hard after OG all game. He really put in the effort whenever he was guarding him.

[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!

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.

I mean, Hali had what looked like a fairly easy basket to tie, with a pretty good chance of an and-1. But it all worked out in the end. Man has cojones.

[mademan]

You watch those other series with OG guarding Tatum and Cade and you come away thinking "ya, he's overpaid, but damn if he isnt impactful". But then youll go up against a team like Indiana (or OKC) where theyre more guard oriented and dont iso big wings nearly as much and its hard not to look at what OG is providing vs what he's getting paid.

5 1st round picks (Bridges) and a near max contract and the Pacers best player isnt feeling that defense. If the Pacers win against the Knicks, it will be reminiscent of the Wolves last year...build a team to beat the current best in your conference (Nuggets) but then lose in the next round to the completely opposite squad. Cant say im not rooting for that.

[HMFFL]

The Knicks need to focus more on fast breaks. The T-Wolves had the same issue in their Game One but they had ZERO Fast break points. That's not acceptable. Knicks had 5pts from fast breaks.

Game One

Fast Break Points:
Pacers 13
Knicks 5

Points in Paint
Pacers 50
Knicks 62

Biggest Lead:
Pacers 7
Knicks 17

[Phish Tank]

Knicks better not tip their caps to Indy

[yoadknux]

Pacers are a team of destiny.

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

Honestly, I thought if anyone was going to choke down the stretch, it'd be Siakam. He often struggled under pressure with us (although he was put into a first option role then). I thought OG was cooler under pressure but he froze up yesterday. That one buzzer beater he had against the Celtics in the playoffs a few years ago is probably sugarcoaing my memory of him lol.

Siakam went hard after OG all game. He really put in the effort whenever he was guarding him.

He blocked OG's alley oop or whatever the hell that was down the stretch

[Upperclass]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

[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.

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

Thibs has already shown that he knows we need to expand the rotation for this series and isn’t as inflexible as many coaches…and thibs has gotten decent minutes out of precious before.

Plus that post was half joking.

[Chuck Everett]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

He already signed an extension after last year's playoff run. Pacers didn't even let him get to RFA status.

[cgf]

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...

Not many people know anything about Walker, but he's really got some talent, you know that, you actually watch us.

I'm kinda thinking we might have to get rid of Toppin also. Love him too, but Turner is more important position and player for us. That makes Walker the next man up. Better defender than Toppin, very good 3pt shooter and a very underrated passer. He has a higher ceiling than Toppin, not at dunking though.

I'd love to keep the core intact, but current NBA salary restrictions can cause a lot of problems for most teams.

Yeah I like Walker a lot & would love to see what Thibs could do with him in a big minute bench role for us. Moving Obi and promoting Jarace is probably the play, but obi is such a great fit for your style that I don’t think it would be crazy to keep Obi and use Jarace or Ben to consolidate some talent while you shed some salary.

[xBulletproof]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

Why would the Pacers trade him?

[Upperclass]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

Why would the Pacers trade him?

He's a VERY good 10ppg, 4ast, below avg shooting, player at SG, on a team with numerous guard options.. but yes he is perfect for them. I was just curious if he had the skill to run his own team as well as play offball.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

He already signed an extension after last year's playoff run. Pacers didn't even let him get to RFA status.

I was 100% convinced we were losing him in RFA.

I thought Pacer fans who thought he’d stay were being homers haha. I’m so glad I was wrong, but man, he left a lot of money on the table.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

Why would the Pacers trade him?

He's a VERY good 10ppg, 4ast, below avg shooting, player at SG, on a team with numerous guard options.. but yes he is perfect for them. I was just curious if he had the skill to run his own team as well as play offball.

Yea, I believe so. He’s had some absurd games playing PG in the past.

[jkvonny]

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!

Yup! That was wild and cold lol

[phanman]

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...

Not many people know anything about Walker, but he's really got some talent, you know that, you actually watch us.

I'm kinda thinking we might have to get rid of Toppin also. Love him too, but Turner is more important position and player for us. That makes Walker the next man up. Better defender than Toppin, very good 3pt shooter and a very underrated passer. He has a higher ceiling than Toppin, not at dunking though.

I'd love to keep the core intact, but current NBA salary restrictions can cause a lot of problems for most teams.

I think it's going to be tough to trade away Obi since he is such a great fit to your overall team's identity. He is definitely overpaid given his role on the team and Pascal logging heavy minutes at his natural position but I think his versatility is a bit underrated. Especially defensively when Rick opted to close OT with him instead of Turner. He was able to hold his own against KAT that OREB tip in dunk and that monster jam over Bridges that should have been an and-1 when the Knicks failed to foul.

[Chuck Everett]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

He already signed an extension after last year's playoff run. Pacers didn't even let him get to RFA status.

I was 100% convinced we were losing him in RFA.

I thought Pacer fans who thought he’d stay were being homers haha. I’m so glad I was wrong, but man, he left a lot of money on the table.

I mean he basically took his countryman's (Mathurin) spot in the rotation. He starts on a contender and reached his 2nd contract two years sooner than his draft peers. In summer 2028, he's poised to be an UFA and 28 years old. Pacers got a steal in him and Nesmith.

[Marrs-Law]

It's a very good sign for the Pacers that Brunson & Kat, even though they played less than Tyrese/Siakem, and Brunson had what felt like an abnormally long time on the bench, seemed to be too tired to match the Pacers in the last 3 minutes + overtime. The Knicks won't be able to get this done in four or five anymore, and game 1 really seemed to suggest to me that they won't be able to keep up with the Pacers over 6 or 7 games. For getting out-played overall (sans the end), I am feeling really confident about the rest of the series.

Turner is 29, Siakam is 31, I suspect TJ only has one more year in him as a decently solid role player, Obi probably doesn't get paid, I suspect they'll try to trade Mathurin. I think the Pacers have a good system and should hopefully have a championship-caliber backcourt for the next 5-10 years, so I think they can remain competitive fringe contenders for a while. What with the potential of teams like OKC, the idea of a healthy Cleveland, the top-end potentials of teams like San Antonio, and a likely better 5-8 in the East next year, I don't think things get any easier next year, even if we get any significant player development jumps.

Point is, to me, if this core wants to win a championship, this moment, right now, up 1-0 in the ECF with NYK and what will probably be an elite but inconsistent OKC team standing in the way, may be the best opportunity that this core may ever get.

[xBulletproof]

Can Nembhard not run point? Its odd some team hasnt thrown an asset or pick to try and get him from the Pacers

Why would the Pacers trade him?

He's a VERY good 10ppg, 4ast, below avg shooting, player at SG, on a team with numerous guard options.. but yes he is perfect for them. I was just curious if he had the skill to run his own team as well as play offball.

I would say maybe. I have no clue why he shot badly this year, but he did. He can pass some, in the Olympics SGA said he was the best passer he'd ever seen. That caught me off guard, but he's turnover prone as well. So I don't know how good of an idea it is for him to be a full time PG