Pacers Matchup

[MrDollarBills]

Knicks in 5, possibly 4.

Defense. Rebounding. Brunson.

[cgf]

Voted 6 in this one, after voting Knicks in 5 in round 1.

I'm less confident than I was against Philly. I was sure we'd be able to impose our game on the 6ers...especially late in games...but the Pacers are deeper and more resilient, and if they can force us to play at their pace that would cause us more trouble than Philly playing their game. I like our chances, but when they are hot it gets really hard to keep up.

Curious to see if Precious gets any minutes at the 4 in this without Embiid at the rim putting a premium on spacing in the paint in a way that Turner doesn't. If we can get 10-15mpg from Achiuwa that could really help us avoid them just exhausting our transition D.

Hopefully game 4 is fun, I'll be in Indy for that one

[RHODEY]

Watch on YouTube

[HopelessKnick]

Should match up fairly well. OG and hopefully Precious on Siakam should make Siakam work hard for every point. Then you put DD, Hart, McBride on Haliburton, making him also work for everything.

Pacers were bottom of the league in rebounding which is going to cause them problems against the Knicks. With Mathurin, their best bench player is out too, definitely weakening that bench. I still expect a close series and close games and we will have to continue all out hustle and tough play, but I think the Knicks are going to prevail overall. It won't be a walk in the park though IMO.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Gotta expand the rotation and let Precious play in this one, also give Burks a look to see if he can give anything at all. The Knicks even while hobbled should win this one in 5 or 6, the rebounding edge is going to be impossible to overcome

[Wildcat]

I find it incredibly fascinating that OG and Lowry played against one another and now it'll be OG and Siakam.

[Wildcat]

Gotta expand the rotation and let Precious play in this one, also give Burks a look to see if he can give anything at all. The Knicks even while hobbled should win this one in 5 or 6, the rebounding edge is going to be impossible to overcome

Word going around is Burks has a legit injury. But I do agree Precious should get time every game.

[aggo]

bottom line is we're gonna have to score.


this wont be about defense because we're not gonna do anything exotic.


indiana plays 5 out/ spread iso/ pnr with the 5 that can shoot threes.

this wont be anything like Embiid bc we probably wont double early and send ourselves into rotation quickly.


we score, they play in half court.


thats the crux of the series.

[HarthorneWingo]

I would like to say 5 but I have a feeling that this series will not be a cake walk.

[Jeffrey]

Gotta expand the rotation and let Precious play in this one, also give Burks a look to see if he can give anything at all. The Knicks even while hobbled should win this one in 5 or 6, the rebounding edge is going to be impossible to overcome

Agree... can't have less than 10 bench points. Thibs is seriously going to play all 5 starters 48 minutes one day. But I have been wrong about him so I don't know what to think anymore

[Context]

I'm the only person that thinks sweep

[SelbyCobra]

It's not going to be as easy as the majority here are insinuating it should/will be.

I think the Knicks are the more complete, well rounded team, and the play better defense which is important in the playoffs, but I still can absolutely see Indiana winning this series.

[8516knicks]

Knicks in 5

In 6 - I'm figuring in the NBA/REFs bias game loss.

[8516knicks]

Gotta expand the rotation and let Precious play in this one, also give Burks a look to see if he can give anything at all. The Knicks even while hobbled should win this one in 5 or 6, the rebounding edge is going to be impossible to overcome

Agree... can't have less than 10 bench points. Thibs is seriously going to play all 5 starters 48 minutes one day. But I have been wrong about him so I don't know what to think anymore

Yes, want to see Precious.

[Luv those Knicks]

Said before that I feel like this will be a 99’ style run… Sixers were the 99’ Heat… tough matchup down to the wire. Pacers will be the Hawks of that year…

I don't think any team has ever been the Hawks in the playoffs before or since. I've never seen a team curl up like a frightened puppy in the playoffs the way the 99 Hawks did. We might beat Indy, but they could give us trouble.

[spree8]

Said before that I feel like this will be a 99’ style run… Sixers were the 99’ Heat… tough matchup down to the wire. Pacers will be the Hawks of that year…

We might beat Indy, but they could give us trouble.

[NoStatsGuy]

i need to see game 1. i cant really assess the pacers right now. i havent watched them all year.

all i know is, they can score and they are deep but they have a suspicious defense. we need to play OUR game to win. dont run up and down with them.

[HopelessKnick]

i need to see game 1. i cant really assess the pacers right now. i havent watched them all year.

all i know is, they can score and they are deep but they have a suspicious defense. we need to play OUR game to win. dont run up and down with them.

Haliburton started off the year shooting incredibly well from 3. Around like 47% through the first 20 games. At that point Indy's offense looked close to invincible. However his shooting leveled off to like 37% from then on. They also lost Mathurin who was likely their second best offensive player overall. But they did trade for Siakam so that makes up for some.

I think overall the Knicks have a much better shot at slowing the Pacers down and taking away some of the things they like to do while the Pacers will really struggle with the Knicks defense, rebounding and overall toughness. And then the Knicks also have the best player out of both teams. I'm not known to be overly optimistic when it comes to the Knicks but this is the best chance at the ECF in decades.

The Pacers' offense also lives partly on getting a lot of quick easy buckets in transition etc. ---things the Knicks are going to likely be able to take away. The Pacers are ok from 3 (11th in league) just ahead of us (we are 12th) but by no means are they any juggernaut there. No if you figure in that Haliburton's shooting has leveled off somewhat....they may actually be a worse 3 point shooting team than us. The Knicks will try to take anything away going to the basket, dominate the Pacers on the boards and let Brunson work his magic. It plays into how Thibs wants to defend anyways...

For me the biggest key is to stay healthy (no additional injuries) and Thibs working in an 8th man off the bench, whether it'd be Precious or Burks. We can't go with a 7 man rotation the rest of the way. It is asking for injury. If the players of both teams play close to their averages then we should come out on top. Now of course there is always the possibility of someone going nuts for a couple games from 3 or so, shifting the overall balance...but if nothing extra ordinary happens we should advance.

[NoStatsGuy]

i need to see game 1. i cant really assess the pacers right now. i havent watched them all year.

all i know is, they can score and they are deep but they have a suspicious defense. we need to play OUR game to win. dont run up and down with them.

Haliburton started off the year shooting incredibly well from 3. Around like 47% through the first 20 games. At that point Indy's offense looked close to invincible. However his shooting leveled off to like 37% from then on. They also lost Mathurin who was likely their second best offensive player overall. But they did trade for Siakam so that makes up for some.

I think overall the Knicks have a much better shot at slowing the Pacers down and taking away some of the things they like to do while the Pacers will really struggle with the Knicks defense, rebounding and overall toughness. And then the Knicks also have the best player out of both teams. I'm not known to be overly optimistic when it comes to the Knicks but this is the best chance at the ECF in decades.

The Pacers' offense also lives partly on getting a lot of quick easy buckets in transition etc. ---things the Knicks are going to likely be able to take away. The Pacers are ok from 3 (11th in league) just ahead of us (we are 12th) but by no means are they any juggernaut there. No if you figure in that Haliburton's shooting has leveled off somewhat....they may actually be a worse 3 point shooting team than us. The Knicks will try to take anything away going to the basket, dominate the Pacers on the boards and let Brunson work his magic. It plays into how Thibs wants to defend anyways...

For me the biggest key is to stay healthy (no additional injuries) and Thibs working in an 8th man off the bench, whether it'd be Precious or Burks. We can't go with a 7 man rotation the rest of the way. It is asking for injury. If the players of both teams play close to their averages then we should come out on top. Now of course there is always the possibility of someone going nuts for a couple games from 3 or so, shifting the overall balance...but if nothing extra ordinary happens we should advance.

thanks for that rundown, appreciate it!

I hope your are right! And totally agree, if we plan to be a threat to the celtics we need to conserve some energy. I hope there will be some garbage minutes availabe, not only to rest but also to figure out who we could play more going forward.

i can see precious getting some minutes in this series as he probably knows siakam well and can somewhat contain him with OG. They also dont have bodies like Embiid, so yea i hope we can work him in.

[MrDollarBills]

I think that Thibs has to see in Game 1 if Burks can give the team some productive minutes when Brunson is off the floor. But he needs to dial it back in terms of his shot selection. Take open threes, handle and facilitate but leave the hero ball out of the equation.