Knicks vs. Pacers: Eastern Finals Game 1 Tonight at MSG

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00:00the world's most famous arena madison square garden game number one eastern conference finals

00:05tonight the new york knicks the indiana pacers a minus 144 outright price in favor of new york to

00:13win this series in the familiarity drs between these two franchises and this kind of significant

00:20playoff stage cannot be overlooked of course in the late 90s culminating in that 2000 playoff run

00:27the last time the new york knicks reached the eastern conference finals six of eight years

00:33indiana and new york facing off in the postseason the last time the knicks were in the eastern

00:38conference finals they played these pacers they lost in six games the last time the new york knicks

00:44reached the nba finals the season prior in 1999 who do they beat in the eastern conference finals to

00:51get there these indiana pacers but maybe you're a newer nba fan and you're saying who cares about

00:57the late 90s and 2000 well these two teams met last year in the second round of the nba postseason

01:04it was a sensational series that went to a seventh game inside msg and it was indiana as a road

01:12underdog winning outright in that seventh game to get to the eastern conference finals a place they

01:19have now been two straight seasons so drs you see that series outright number it's pretty tight how

01:26tightly contested is this rendition of the knicks pacers in an eastern conference finals yeah it

01:33looks like again same thing i talk about the western conference here we're like oh blown game number one

01:37they probably going to be a short series still think it's going six or seven games out west and have the

01:41same optics here on the east coast but now having said that for the knicks like you line up tonight you

01:46see that minus 144 price in the series knicks better win this game tonight because number one means like

01:51you have the 10 series lead okay we're in command of the series home court advantage is still ours

01:55you don't show up and play very well in this game and i'm not talking about the pacers coming in here

01:59with a 115 88 win similar to what you saw per se for the oklahoma city yesterday but if the knicks

02:04don't win that pressure is going to mount so big inside that building and on this basketball team like

02:09the pressure is off tonight for the pacers like this is almost feels like a must win game number seven

02:15for the knicks in game number one of their series they can't afford to lose this game because then

02:19the pacers start going like oh yeah we are the better team now we're going to beat you game two

02:24in your building which the pacers have done in the past year and now we just have to split back in

02:28indiana and the series will be ours at this point so i really like the new york knicks tonight because

02:33i think their motivation a little bit differently than the pacers and nobody's saying the pacers don't

02:38want to play well or win game number one because it doesn't matter yes they do but the importance for

02:42game number one for me on the knicks is immensely higher than what it is on the pacers because of how

02:47closely priced this series is you can't lose tonight if you're the knicks you have to win

02:53this game and by the way i think they do win this game it is interesting drs right because through the

02:58entirety basically of that second round set against the celtics after stealing both games in beantown

03:04game three on that saturday felt like the biggest game inside msg for the knicks in two decades game

03:11four's result biggest win for the new york knicks inside the mecca in two and a half decades and then of

03:17course all culminating in game number six to earn that berth to the eastern conference finals quite

03:23literally the largest win for the knicks in 25 years to get to the conference finals once again for

03:30the first time since 2000 that mantra kind of carries over each and every time the new york knicks are

03:36going to be at msg the remainder of this postseason run however long it lasts the biggest game for the

03:43knicks in two and a half decades in a place they have not been since 2000 against that familiar foe

03:50in indiana four and a half points spread by the way in favor of new york for game number one tonight

03:56a total on the rise ever so slightly the over under now stands at 224 to donnie's point the knicks a

04:04favorite at home just the second time new york has been a favorite in their last seven games including

04:11game number six against the boston celtics in that second round series indiana has been a great

04:18underdog this year we'll highlight those stats in just a matter of moments but drs when you compare

04:25these two teams there is so much to be said again they know each other from last year the pacers deserve

04:31a ton of credit having pulled off gentleman sweeps in each of their first two series taking advantage of

04:37some good injury luck sure but doing so rather quickly in five games against milwaukee in five

04:44games against the east number one overall seed in cleveland with the addition of carl anthony towns

04:49in the offseason the knicks had the second best price to be here to be in the eastern conference finals

04:55the pacers despite being the team to get there a season ago 21 to 1 i think this is a very evenly

05:02match set between indiana and new york

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