Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Game number two inside Madison Square Garden of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.
00:08Of course, the RS, not only did the Pacers steal game number one on the road inside the Mecca,
00:13it was the fashion of which they took game number one in OT.
00:17138-135, but down by 17 with just over six minutes remaining.
00:23Down by 14 with 245 remaining in that fourth and final quarter.
00:27Down by eight with 34.2 seconds remaining.
00:32And of course, the Tyrese Halliburton shot that we thought was a three turned out to be a two.
00:37Still forced the extra session and Indiana showed that resolve to win it in OT outright as the four and a half point dog in game number one.
00:47So, of course, it is vital in a series we expect to be competitive for the Knicks to take advantage of playing inside MSG in this second game.
00:56And the odds makers agree.
00:58A four and a half point spread for game one.
01:00Now a six point number, DRS, in favor of New York for game number two.
01:04And I guess if you are the NBA and you are a conspiracy theory, you're sort of putting your thumb on the scales there for the Knicks because they opened up as a four, four and a half point favorite game number one.
01:15Now we understand they cannot lose game number two.
01:18And then at the same time, the NBA looking at the ratings there for OKC in Minnesota saying, like, if we don't have the New York Knicks,
01:23we might not even make as much money as the WNBA makes, which is no money because nobody will watch the NBA finals.
01:29We'll watch, we'll have fun, but maybe not the masses.
01:31But if you are looking for the Knicks tonight, I said this so many times, Ben, it's not the entire game.
01:36I expect the Knicks to win game number one.
01:37I thought they would win.
01:38Excuse me.
01:38I expected them to win game number one.
01:40They didn't.
01:41I expect them to win game number two.
01:42But the one thing I do know is there is no way, shape, or form that that arena is going to be good vibes.
01:47If at the half end, it's 61-56 Indiana when you know that energy is going to be there right off the bat tonight.
01:56It's the Knicks in the first half.
01:57It's the Knicks in the first quarter.
01:59There are no excuses to knock it out to a good start tonight to say, you know what?
02:03We might have had a 20 or so point lead in the last game.
02:05It's not slipping away.
02:06We're going to be up five at the end of one, up 10 at the break, up 15 at the end of three,
02:10and up 20 at the end of four.
02:13That's what I need to see out of the Knicks tonight.
02:15But if you are looking for those guys for the Pacers to show up tonight and be the ultimate villain
02:20and taunt that arena and tell them we're not even coming back here for a game number five,
02:25they can do that tonight.
02:26That's what I love to see.
02:28The battle, the elements, the energy in the arena, and also the villains of the Pacers saying,
02:34you thought you were actually going to win your first NBA championship since 1973?
02:38It ain't happening here.
02:39I can't wait to watch that theater play out tonight.
02:42Listen, that playoff rivalry that really got started in the late 90s and 2000 has really
02:47continued here in this new era in the Eastern Conference, a seven-game second-round series
02:53last year where the Pacers went into the Garden and won that seventh game.
02:57And of course, the dramatic and historic comeback that we saw in game number one just two nights
03:03ago on a Wednesday, the choking sign from Tyrese.
03:06Of course, that was paid off with the victory in OT.
03:10Again, a four-and-a-half-point spread in favor of the Knicks in the opening game of the Eastern
03:15Conference Finals.
03:16Now up by a point and a half despite the Knicks collapse in the fourth quarter and in OT.
03:2259% of the bets in terms of the spread on the Pacers, who have been an elite underdog in this
03:29postseason, now six and two straight up and against the spread, and yet the line working
03:34rather significantly to the Knicks.
03:37The idea that winning game two tonight, taking advantage of your home floor, is vital.
03:41DRS, we went sailing through the pre-game number of 222 for game number one, even at the end
03:47of regulation, with 250 total points, 125-125.
03:52So the early number yesterday for game number two was 227 from the over-under perspective.
03:58It's now back down to 224-and-a-half.
04:02We have seen some buyback in terms of that pace.
04:05I thought there was a really interesting point made in a commentary around game number one,
04:10that despite the Pacers trailing by seven at the break, with how offensive that first
04:16half was, 69-62 the lead for the Knicks, that if Indiana could play with pace like this
04:22in what we expected to be a tightly contested set, they have the depth and balance, the Knicks
04:28do not.
04:28If this game is high-scoring again, that's not a great recipe for the New York Knicks for
04:34the entirety of this series' success.
04:36No, I mean, you have to come out.
04:38You have to have energy.
04:39They're going to play a ton of minutes tonight.
04:41Tom Thibodeau understands you can't go down.
04:43You go down 0-2, it's a wrap here.
04:44The Knicks miles will just start to sell off, and all those planes that those Knicks fans
04:48probably are like, hey, we're going to head to Indiana up 2-0.
04:50We'll take over Game Bridge Arena or Fieldhouse, and we'll have all those good vibes.
04:54That's going to end quickly.
04:56The energy in the building needs to carry the Knicks in the first half, but they must provide
04:59that good play.