NBA playoffs: What you can expect in Knicks-Pacers series

When the smoke cleared this week in the eastern brackets of the NBA playoffs, the two seasonal Juggernaut teams of the conference were nowhere to be found. Cleveland (64) and Boston (61) won more than 60 times this year, but four times in a period of 10 days, it was enough to send both in the early summers.

Still stand: the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. The former eliminated the Celtics in a blowout on 6th game 6 on Friday evening in Madison Square Garden after the latter had amazed the Cavaliers and their fans in the Rocket Arena on Tuesday and they pushed them into five.

The seed No. 3 against No. 4 is not what Las Vegas saw for the championship round of the East in October. But what people who appear or appear will be two of the most working teams in the league. Both are justified in the defense, whereby they have a significant contrast in their goals.

This will be the fourth time that New York and Indiana have hit four wins from the NBA final. But it has been the first since 2000 when the Pacers enforced and progress. In 1994 and 1999 the Knicks Nemesis Reggie Miller and his crew removed.

Newer history is difficult to read. New York took the season series 2-1, but Indiana won her showdown with 4: 3 last spring in the eastern semi-final. Each of their last seven sessions was decided with more than 10 points – actually by an average of 20.7 points.

Expect a lot more closer to you in the coming days.

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Series plan

Here you can find out how to see the Knicks vs. Pacers series:

Eastern standard time every time

• Game 1: Pacers against Knicks; Wednesday, May 21 (8 p.m., TNT)
• Game 2: Pacers against Knicks; Friday, May 23rd (8pm, TNT)
• Game 3: Knicks against Pacers; Sunday, May 25th (8pm, TNT)
• Game 4: Knicks against Pacers; Tuesday, May 27th (8pm, TNT)
• Game 5: Pacers against Knicks; Thursday, May 29 (8 p.m., TNT)*
• Game 6: Knicks against Pacers; Saturday, May 31 (8 p.m., TNT)*
• Game 7: Pacers against Knicks; Monday, June 2 (8 p.m., TNT)*

* = If necessary

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Top storyline

Tempo. The Knicks and the Pacers landed in their statistics and their efficiency, measured in the 2024-25 season. They limited the opponents to 113.3 points per 100 possessions and were only separated by 1.9 points per 100.

However, the eye test provides the context required here. New York prefers to be on the Halfcourt and lets Lead Guard Jalen Brunson find open openings for himself or his teammates. He and Big Man Karl-Anthony Towns combined for more than 50 points in the regular season, and the other three Starter-Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges enriched their two-digit average values ​​because the Knicks bank chips in a league were played at the same time in the few minutes.

Indiana was the rare team, which both exert 94 foot pressure and then immediately turned into a transitional criminal offense. You will even get the other boys' make behind. Seven Pacers scored at least 10 points or more on average; The striker Pascal Siakam (20.2) was her only representative in the top 50 of the NBA in the rating and in Tyres-Haliburton-Hautrend He still grows a big reputation-the most inclined to look for others with his passports.

At the actual pace of how the NBA defines it, the Pacers took seventh place. The kinks, only 26TH.

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Keep your eyes on

Cities from the city center. Kat has guided in acts and words for himself so that he could be the best 7-foot in NBA history. A few years ago he won the 3-point competition on the All-Star weekend, and his career accompanying from the bow is a strong 40%. Its ability to spread the soil for Brunson and New York's wings is invaluable, as is the demoralizing effect on competing bigs that do not get out far enough to contest it.

But Towns has released a Bostoner series in which he shot 3-in-19 to 3S (15.8%). No matter, the remaining advantages of his abilities from the depth; The Knicks rely on the big guy to score points with these hoists. The Indiana Center Myles Turner (who can also beat 3-pointers) is not the most mobile defender, but other Bigers such as Siakam and Obi Toppin can hang with cities.

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1 more thing that can be seen for each team

For Pacers: These boys can go 11 if they need it. Ten Pacers achieved an average of at least 19 minutes, and the versatility in the list enables coach Rick Carisle to mix the game as every situation requires. New York's Tom Thibodeau has become somewhat addicted to silly scale because he drove his starter hard and held the most nights on only seven, sometimes eight. The minutes were not collapsed for the kinks and loan of their training staff. In addition, there are longer time overruns in the post-season and no back-to-backs for navigating.

However, Indiana still has more tools, more looks and more adaptability in his toolbox.

For Knicks: Anunoby is one of these barometer players who rise or fall with many of his individual performances. The nice thing about it is in his case that he can set it at both ends. The stable 6-foot 7 end of London, which comes via Missouri and Indiana, has taken on New York as an offensive since his arrival and has helped New York since its arrival. The Knicks 28-10 went this year when he scored 20 points or more. Anunoby also takes the defense period on his old Raptors teammate Siakam, including

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1 key number to know

58.3% – In the first two rounds, the Pacers had an effective field target percentage of 58.3%, which would be the highest playoff brand in NBA history.

The regular seasonal offensive of the Pacers (115.4 points per 100 possession) was not almost as good as last season, but they achieved 117.4 per 100 in the playoffs, which is the best brand among the remaining teams.

Among the 38 players with at least 100 playoff field attempts until Friday, Aaron Nesmith (65.2%), Andrew Nembhard (60.6%) and Pascal Siakam (60.1%) take first, second and third place in an effective field. Nembhard has recorded the biggest leap from the regular season (50.6%) for these 38 players. Five of the other seven pacers who made at least 50 shots (except for Tyrese -Haliburton and Obi Toppin) were also recorded.

According to the Second Spectrum, the Pacers in the playoffs (the Knicks rank last) only prove the seventh place in the quality of the shooting, but have exceeded the quality of their shots by more than twice as much as the amount of another team. So you could be a regression of the average in the conference final in stock.

The Knicks had their worst defensive season in the games 3: 5 of the conference semi, but possibly played their best defensive game when they completed the Celtics in game 6. About the complete series, they kept Boston to 8.9 points per 100 possessions than in the regular season to 8.9 fewer than in the first round.

– John Schuhmann

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The choice

Pacers in six. The Knicks have not been in the final since 1999 and have not won anyone for 52 years. Indiana only went once and lost to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers in 2000. One of these teams will meet the Refresh button on the Championship opportunity. The deep squad of the Pacers and their taste of this round last spring (they were swept by the Celtics) could be enough to swing this. Remember to play more people also means more places to spread the fouls when the action becomes physical.

One thing that doesn't matter: Home Court advantage. The Knicks keep the additional game to win a game during the season more than Indiana. But both teams are excellent on the street. New York was 24-17, including 17-9 against East enemies and so far 5-1 in two rounds. Indiana went from December 6, 19-9 and ended the game 4-1 in Milwaukee and Cleveland during these playoffs.

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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can send it by email Herefind His archive here And Follow him on X.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or its Warner Bros. Discovery.