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Knicks vs. Pacers: Eastern Conference Finals Showdown
SportsGrid
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5/24/2025
Category
🥇
Sports
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00:00
Game number one tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals inside the world's most famous arena.
00:06
That's Madison Square Garden.
00:07
A renewal of a long-standing playoff rivalry, both in the 90s and even as of last year.
00:14
It's the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks.
00:17
Our coach, J.Y. James Young, is here to break it down, to look at this series on its opening night.
00:23
And, of course, to go thoroughly through game number one.
00:26
The players that will impact the outcome and the flow that we will see tonight inside the Mecca.
00:32
J.Y., let's start with the series overall.
00:35
Expected to be tight.
00:36
The New York Knicks, a minus 144 series outright favorite, but you see it there.
00:41
And what the oddsmakers expect, the most likely duration is a full seven games at that plus money price.
00:50
J.Y., at highbrow and at first blush here for this series,
00:54
how competitive do you expect it to be between the Knicks and the Pacers?
01:00
The complete opposite of the Western Conference.
01:03
If this thing, honestly, Ben, doesn't go seven, I may be stunned.
01:09
I think this is going to be razor thin.
01:11
You have two competitive teams, two fan bases that hate each other.
01:15
The rivalry runs way deep back to when they started playing against each other in the 1992 playoffs
01:21
with the John Starks headbutt of Reggie Miller, you can keep going.
01:25
You can go to 94 with the 25-point fourth quarter in Game 5.
01:29
Knicks win Game 7.
01:30
Finger rolling 95.
01:32
Ewing gets hurt in a four-point play.
01:33
Knicks take him out in 99.
01:37
Pacers get him back in 2000.
01:39
The Rory Hibbert block on Carmelo Anthony.
01:41
Yes, I have some beautiful memories,
01:44
and I have some battle scars from watching this rivalry,
01:47
and it's going to come out in full force.
01:50
Ben, I expect this to be tight.
01:52
I expect this to go seven.
01:54
That's why the odds, the shortest odds for this series is seven,
01:57
and that's why there's no reason for you to bet over one-and-a-half games
02:01
and minus 188 unless you're going to parlay it with something else
02:06
where you could get it close to even money in a parlay.
02:10
It's going seven, I fully expect it maybe six,
02:14
but there's no way this is a four- or five-year series.
02:16
Way too competitive teams, two really good coach teams,
02:20
and it will be a fun one to watch.
02:22
Yeah, Pacers getting a lot of respect here at the FanDuel Sportsbook
02:25
to win this series at only a plus-122 price here.
02:28
But if we do look at the series overall, Coach,
02:30
give me maybe a player or two or a matchup that you are looking forward to watching
02:35
and maybe a team that has an advantage somewhere against the other team.
02:38
Well, when you really kind of look at it here, you know, to me,
02:42
it's what you get out of Carl Anthony Townsend.
02:44
Carl Anthony Townsend averaged 30 points a game
02:47
versus the Pacers during the regular season.
02:50
I think that's going to be the critical matchup that we see
02:53
is how they guard Cat.
02:55
Can they get going at the three-point line?
02:56
So I think that's one thing you want to look at as possibly a series price
03:00
is looking at Carl Anthony Townsend at 5-1 to lead the series in scoring.
03:05
I think if you look at what they're going to do with Jalen Brunson,
03:08
you're going to have multiple defenders, Nembrard, Naismith, you know,
03:13
going against him.
03:14
So I think you'll see a better T.J. McConnell.
03:17
So I think you look at someone like Carl Anthony Townsend
03:19
to be able to score the ball.
03:21
But then you may see a regression in rebounding
03:23
because he's got to go guard Miles Turner in the perimeter.
03:26
So where do you look there?
03:27
Look to Josh Hart possibly to lead the series in rebounding.
03:30
Also because of the fact that the Knicks may go double big at times
03:33
with Mitchell Robinson has been effective during the playoff run.
03:36
So look for someone like Josh Hart.
03:38
It was at 6-1.
03:39
It's already down to plus 440.
03:41
Josh Hart, most total rebounds in the series.
03:43
You see the tale of the tape and the comparison there.
03:46
There is much history, both a longstanding history from the 90s into 2000.
03:51
The last time the New York Knicks played in the Eastern Conference Finals,
03:55
they lost in six games to the Indiana Pacers.
03:58
The last time New York reached the NBA Finals was the year prior in 99.
04:03
They beat the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
04:06
And even that recent history between these two sides,
04:10
a game seven last year in the second round,
04:13
Indiana triumphant in a stunning way inside Madison Square Garden.
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