NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 16: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks celebrates a three-point … More
A year ago, the Knicks had home court advantage against the Indiana Pacers and ended up getting blown out by 21 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Julius Randle, one of the Knicks’ most important players, missed the playoffs entirely with a shoulder injury. Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart all battled injuries during the playoffs, and Jalen Brunson suffered a broken left hand in the second quarter of Game 7.
Now a year later, the Knicks are fully healthy and will seek revenge against the high-octane Pacers in their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years. The Knicks – who after last season added Karl-Anthony Towns in a trade for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo and traded five first-round draft picks for Mikal Bridges – opened as -140 favorites.
“Yeah, man, it’s going to be a tough opponent,” Hart told reporters after notching a triple-double as the Knicks walloped the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, 119-81, to win the series 4-2. “They push the pace, they run off makes and misses, and it’s going to be a huge communication series for us. We’re going to have to be locked in on every possession, we’re going to have to get back on every possession.
“We can build off this game. I feel like our defensive transition, our communication was great today and that’s something that we can carry into that series.”
The No. 3 Knicks will have homecourt advantage over the No. 4 Pacers and will open the series at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
The Knicks ousted the No. 2 Celtics, and the Pacers toppled the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. Cleveland and Boston combined to win 125 games during the regular season but managed just three combined wins in the second round of the playoffs.
The Knicks beat the Pacers two out of three games during the regular season, including a 128-115 win on in Indianapolis on Feb. 11. Karl-Anthony Towns had 40 points and 12 rebounds and Hart added 30 points and 10 rebounds.
This will be the ninth playoff series between the teams since 1993. New York hasn’t beaten Indiana in the postseason since 1999 when the Knicks reached the NBA Finals.
The Pacers don’t have a true superstar but feature a balanced and multi-faceted team with six players averaging 11 or more points – Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin.
After being named the NBA’s “Most Overrated Player” by his peers in a poll, Haliburton averaged 17.4 points and 7.0 assists against the Cavs in the playoffs.
“They beat the Knicks last year the same way,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said after his team lost in five games. “They wore them down…Just mad respect. It’s like a college team, I say that in a really good way. They press for 48 minutes and they run faster than anybody in league.”
Asked about facing the Pacers, Anunoby said of his now healthy team: “Indiana’s a great team. They had a great series against Cleveland. We’re gonna watch the film and go from there.”
