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

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