Knicks-Pacers: 5 dishes to remember while Indiana eliminates New York, advances in the 2025 finals

Indianapolis – Indiana coach Rick Carlisle had started from his team Eastern Conference Championship Series From the start, not by victories, but by duration.

“It’s only day 1 of the 13 days,” said Carlisle after the Pacers won an unlikely and excited and excited victory in the Knicks in the opening of New York. When the Pacers won 48 hours later, of course, it was simply “Day 3” in the world of Carlisle.

It seemed to be trying to provide a framework for his players, perhaps even for the media and the Indiana fans, so as not to take front. Beware of irrational exuberance that can bite hard when things go wrong, in other words, in a difficult series of the NBA qualifiers.

And he seemed to put a soothing coverage on the Pacers when they were amazed even in match 1, abandoned the match 3 at home, then escaped a shot closely in match 5 Thursday in their worst performance in the series.

In the end, however, Carlisle was wrong.

The thing did not last 13 days.

The Pacers only needed 11 of the opening tee -to -firing to the celebration on Saturday evening on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse field. They sealed the title of the Eastern Conference and the second trip of the franchise to the NBA final – the first was in 2000 – with an impressive 125-108 Elimination of knicks.

The series lasted long enough for Indiana to be entirely in match 6, but not so long that it had to face the stress of returning to the Madison Square Garden for a winning end.

There should be a lot while waiting for the Pacers, anyway, at the Oklahoma City Paycc Center when the 2025 finals start on Thursday (8:30 p.m. he, ABC). First of all, here are five points to remember from the victory that earned them the journey:

1. Each ingredient of exposed pacers

It would be difficult to evoke a result of Indiana more “on the brand” than what it was used on Saturday. Seven guys set up a double figure. The same seven each struck at least one pair of 3 points. Pacers’ shooting, despite the defensive pressure from New York and Robust, was exemplary: 54.1% global (46 for 85), 51.5% out of three (17 for 33) and 84.2% (16 for 19) of the line. They played quickly, running to an advantage of 23-6 in rapidly break points to three quarters, when they led 92-77.

And this pace, as well as their fairly annoying defense, diverted 18 turnover from Knicks, good for 34 of the home team points.

The center of Myles Turner had a line of modest statistics, a problem to limit it to 21 minutes and 11 points. But he has a perspective on this team that no one else corresponds, his seniority which dates back to his arrival in 2015 at 19, the choice n ° 11 of Texas.

Turner went on the elevator of the pacers of a competitor in the playoffs with three consecutive lottery finishes and now covered. It was the subject of endless commercial rumors for its first six or seven seasons, until the Indiana is the subject of Tyrese Haliburton in exchange for the former companion of the before Turner, Domantas Sabonis.

“When the buzzer sounded, it was nothing more than joy,” said Turner on Saturday. “Every year, all hatred, all love, all the pair made sense at that time.”

Turner and his teammates are proud of the equal list of Indiana, praise, credit and blame propagate as responsibility. He described the Foundation of Pacers “the power of friendship” in his post-match remarks.

“It’s not the most flashy and sexiest team,” he said, “but it gets results.”

2. Siakam hangs the bird trophy

The vote was close, 5-4 of the media committee which determined the most useful player in the series of championships of the Eastern Conference. The pacers striker Pascal Siakam has ahead of his teammate Haliburton to win the Larry Bird trophy after scoring 31 points with five rebounds, three assists, one flight and three shots blocked in the final.

Haliburton finished with 21 points, six rebounds, 13 assists, three interceptions and a block. The Tree and frantic playmaker remains at the head of the Indiana Proverbial Serpent and a reliable victory loss barometer for the way their team is, after their advance.

But it was a case of Siakam offering an offense when the Pacers needed it most. In a slow start of the Pacers, it was the 3-point pointer from Siakam that slowed down New York’s early role and an escape pose that set them up 12-11. He struck 3 others to start the second quarter, and at halftime, Siakam collected a summit of 16 points which was essential in the advance of 58-54 of his team.

When the Indiana outclassed the Knicks 34-23 in the third quarter of the game game, Siakam had 10 more points. Haliburton was only 1 for 3 during this period, although it was not as if the pair was in competition with each other.

Siakam led the Pacers in the series with 24.8 ppg and its shooting – 52.4% in total, 50% of the arc – was a reflection of their offensive force. He was able to harass the great man of the Karl-Anthony Towns Karl-Anthony Turner with better mobility and a powerful scale.

“Versatility,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, about Siakam. “His ability to run the ground, his ability to play in painting, his ability to go to the basket … makes him difficult cover.”

Siakam, 31, was the most improved player in the NBA in 2018-2019 when his team at the time, the Toronto Raptors, won the NBA championship in his third season. It took him six years to return to the final, a trip he said he was holding for granted.

Everything the Pacers know that, as they acquired 16 months ago for three players and three draft choices in the first round, they went to the final of the conference twice and are now four victories to win the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Haliburton said: “When we brought him here, we considered something like that.”

3. This “sucks” end, but the Knicks race has not

New York’s game leader Jalen Brunson has been in this city for a long time to know how tabloid newspapers work. He therefore gave them easy rear fodder with his first post-match comments on Saturday.

“It sucks,” said Brunson, providing large, coarse titles. “Aus of that. It sucks.”

Of course, this is the case. New York finished 18 drama games in the playoff series to spit the song in the second half on Saturday, when they were preceded 67-54. The Knicks never led after half-time, never really approached after the Indiana disturbed the first nine points in the third quarter.

Frankly, it was a quasi-miracle that they got up more than the Pacers, given their 18 reversals. If you are going to be ahead of 24 points on 3 points, you would better not abandon 34 easy points by throwing the ball or in slinging possessions with offensive faults.

“Part of our own fact, part was their ball pressure,” said Thibodeau.

Said Brunson, who had five reversals to go with seven assists: “I try to control the things I can control, and this is one of them. It’s terrible on my part.”

The zoom was a few thousand feet, however, the Knicks season was better than their last 24 minutes. They went through a season garnished with injuries to win 51 games, their most in a dozen years. They dropped a major room in their towers, cities, on the eve of the training camp and spread around the departures of Isaiah Hartenstein, Julius Randle and Donte Divincenzo.

New York managed a disjointed team from Detroit in the first round, then rid the champions in the title of Boston in six games with a pair of 20 points returns. They obtained a later turn than when they lost in the semi-finals against Indiana a year ago.

“There were a lot of people who said we couldn’t do a lot,” said Brunson. “A lot of negativity around what we try to do just somehongs and went to work.”

Any speculation on Thibodeau’s work status, an inevitability for a New York fans base, will be at best premature. People were worried about heavy minutes that he loaded on the starters of Knicks, then never explored why they were as healthy as any team eight months. Thibodeau directed the Knicks to the playoffs four times in five seasons, against three times in 16 seasons by the nine guys who preceded him in the work.

4. The golden touch of Carlisle once again

The Thomas Bryant backup center had played in just three of the first five games in the series for a total of 22 minutes. He therefore released in match 6 and gives the Pacers 11 points in 13 minutes, hitting three of his four points at 3 points, grabbing three rebounds and blocking a shot.

It also went with Bryant during the previous round. In the first four games against Cleveland, he totaled nine points in 42 minutes. In the decisive match 5, Bryant responded to Carlisle’s tap on the shoulder with nine points in 11 minutes to help defeat the riders on their floor.

These are chicken or egg stuff at this stage: Does Bryant play well in clinchiers or games become clinics because Bryant plays well? Let us not forget, the 27 -year -old very traveled (five teams) was part of the 2023 Nuggets Championship team.

According to Siakam: “I told him that the basketball gods reward you.”

5. Low power finals? More like a high concept

Siakam and Turner got on the groin by attacking Knicks players in match 6 – and the two were called for the faults on the two games. But in the large scheme, this could serve as a solid preparation work for the force that the Pacers can expect when they face the Thunder during the NBA 2025 finals.

Oklahoma City plays the most physical and sweltering defense in the league, the kind of administration of refm-ne-nest that can thwart opponents in a competitive and mental way. Indiana has just shown how powerful it can be when it plays quickly, attacks inside and outside, and pushes its total point north of 110 points (11-0 in the playoffs so far by doing this, 52-23 in the regular season).

It is therefore the offense compared to the defense in a final that will lack a major television market for people focused on ratings. But that should not miss much for basketball fans who can look without worrying if people on the other side of the corridor or the street do the same. If the neighbors are missing, they are missing.

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Steve Aschburner wrote on the NBA since 1980. You can send it by e-mail here, find His archives here And Follow him on x.

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