Eastern Conference Finals Preview

The New York Knicks versus the Indiana Pacers in a conference finals? Sounds like something straight out of the late ‘90s/early ’00s. I for one definitely didn’t have this matchup on my playoff bingo card. The Tatum injury aside, I still cannot get over just how bad the Celtics were. Why do you have to keep chucking up three pointers when they’re not going in and you’re up 20? What does Payton Pritchard have to do to get minutes? And seriously what is wrong with Kristaps Porzingis? I know he’s ill, but just how bad is it? He looked exhausted out there. Enough Celtics talk, I cannot wait for this Pacers/Knicks series that starts on Wednesday. So let’s take a dive into how I think this matchup will go and my prediction for who will advance to the NBA Finals.

The New York Knicks:

I expect this to be a competitive and chippy series. Afterall this is a rematch of the conference semifinals last year in which the Pacers won in six games. However, the Knicks were relying heavily on players like Miles McBride in that series as their star players were picking up injuries left, right, and center. The Knicks will feel like that was their series to win if it wasn’t for the injuries, and frankly I agree. As it stands, New York will have home court advantage and they have the better starting five, with Indiana having the deeper bench. However, I have one huge issue with this Knicks team — and that is their offence.

Now they looked great in games 4 and 6 against Boston, but outside of that their offensive playstyle has been pretty grim to say the least. They rely too much on Jalen Brunson. Now why would you trade 5 first-round picks for Mikal Bridges just to shove him in the corner on offence? You don’t. Get him involved, run more plays! As a Nets fan, I watched about 110 games of Mikal Bridges number one option offence and although it can get easily oversaturated after 35 minutes a night, it is more than good enough to be using it every fourth or fifth possession. The guy is an incredible shooter who can create his own shot. An absolute necessity. Use him, Thibbs. My other problem is that if the Pacers get up big like Boston did in games 1 and 2, the Knicks aren’t coming back. This Pacers offence is the opposite of Boston’s. They move the ball well, look for the open man, go early in the shot clock, the best shot is the open shot. Boston was more of a slow paced, matchup hunt, take the clock down, get into the play late, the best shot is a contested stepback three. New York cannot fall behind Indiana, if the Pacers go up 12/15 points, there will be no coming back.

The Indiana Pacers:

Although they may look the same on paper, this Pacers team is much much better in comparison to how they were 12 months ago. Everything seems much more polished, their intensity is a gear higher, and Tyrese Haliburton has taken ‘the leap’ in my opinion. Now ‘the leap’ is when a really good player finally turns it up a notch and becomes one of the best players in the world — usually happening around year 5 for most players. They basically become good enough to be the best player on a finals team and will be a consensus All-NBA player for the next half a decade. Think of Jonah Hill in ‘Superbad’. Hill had starred in some great films before that with some hilarious performances. But upon watching the crude high-school comedy you knew this guy was gonna the guy in comedy films for the foreseeable future. And he was.

Last year it was Ant who took the elusive leap, dethroning the reigning champs in a game 7 comeback on the road. A few years prior it was Tatum going Superman against the Bucks in game 6, eventually leading the Boston Celtics to the Finals. Now with this great leap comes great responsibility. Tyrese Haliburton has to carry the load, he cannot shy away from the moment. Although Brunson may be the best player in the series, Tyrese has the better supporting cast around him and the better of the head coaches. He may not have to be the best player, but he’ll need to be the most consistent. And when clutch time is upon them, Haliburton will be forced to step up in the moment. Something he has been very comfortable with thus far. Last year the Pacers were swept at this stage, and in order to show this team’s growth under Rick Carlisle, they have to get over this hump.