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Knicks Morning News (2025.05.17)

Thousands of Knicks fans take over streets outside MSG to celebrate Game 6 blowout win against Celtics in wild scene – New York Post
05/17/2025 04:30:00

The Celtics fall flat, bow out of playoffs in Knicks? Game 6 beatdown: Takeaways – Boston.com
05/17/2025 03:56:15

68 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.05.17)”

MSG, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

I feel like I’m getting to re-experience some of my favorite sports memories from my youth.

It’s very appreciated, Knicks!

I still can’t get over this:

https://x.com/batghouls/status/1923549734788047115

HE DEFENDED ALL FIVE CELTICS ON ONE POSSESSION!

And I love that the final game was such a rout, that Brown was so demoralized that he just let himself foul out before the third quarter was over, that there was no damn way the Celtics could even make us sweat, that the crowd was doing a “PJ Tucker!” chant, etc. Game 4 also felt decisive by the time Tatum fouled out, but there was that, and there was… this.

I still can’t believe that the ultimate retribution for that opening day shellacking was to kick the Celtics’ ass in an elimination game at home, possibly ending their team.

Never really been that impressed with these Celtic teams. Good riddance.

Puncher’s chance shaping up very nicely indeed.

I think we can definitely beat the Pacers, and I would be really satisfied if we make it to the Finals by slaying two of our oldest and worst nemeses.

That said, they look pretty awesome at the moment themselves, and I would like Thibs to try something new in terms of defending Haliburton in the PNR, so that smug irritant doesn’t just slice us to death with it.

Also, yeah, as I have said repeatedly for years now….boy do I love Mitch. 🙂

If those Mikal plays at the ends of game 1 and 2 made the trade cost feel less exorbitant in hindsight, does that Mitch rotation/closeout possession make the Melo era feel less annoying in hindsight?

I don’t think the Knicks ever switched P&Rs with the Pacers last year. Now they know how to do it.

Good point, Marechal.

That’s such a great clip, Alan. Thx.

And, yeah, the announcers were eulogizing this Celtics team like it was Bill Russell’s. Sure they won a title. But dynasty? Come on.

OMG, what a game… what a game!!

After the nearly 2 decades of losing, sprinkled with some hope when we had the “old team” of 2013, at some point i thought we would never get back here again… thank God we finally got back to the ECF! 25 years in the waiting!

Now let’s win this and put a stop to the 26 years waiting to get back to the Finals again, and while we’re at it let’s put a stop to 52 years* of waiting to win the championship again!

*And why do i know the years so well? It’s because i was born only mere weeks from the Knicks winning the championship! 😉

Sure they won a title. But dynasty? Come on.

Hahaha! Was the 2008 team of Pierce, Garnett, Allen and Rondo a dinasty too? If winning ONE championship is a dynasty, what should we call the Warriors with 4? LOL

I feel like I’m getting to re-experience some of my favorite sports memories from my youth.

It’s very appreciated, Knicks!

Same here, Brian, same here! I’m ecstatic!

But i hope the team doesn’t feel like they achieve something, we got work to do, we’ll think about it when the season ends… right now the focus needs to always be the next one!

8 more wins until Donnie believes!! LOL

Compared with the possibilities going into the playoffs (and the season) we are literally in Position A.
-Pretty much at full health
-two EC seeds above us eliminated, one by us
-teams out west not looking all that invincible.
Honestly couldn’t be set up any better for us, no?

Nope.

this scenario is almost too good to be true. but even though garland’s a injury made a huge difference in that series, the pacers have been a lot better than they seemed for most of the year. early in the year you not only had hali spinning his wheels, but they played a lot of minutes without their best perimeter defenders, which is especially rough when you have no backup 5. even if you look at the entire season and not the just the calendar 25 segment that’s become popular, you get this pretty amazing nugget: when at least 4 of the 5 pacer starters were in the floor this season, they were a plus 13.3 per 100. that’s not some tiny sample, it’s 2543 possessions. 13.3! of 3 or 4 man lineups with over 1000 minutes, that would be best in the league. not to say that they are okc or boston. and the regular season isn’t the playoffs. but they are very good.

I’ve stated for the record many times over the years that it is unlikely that Mitch could be the starting C on a championship-level team unless there was a very special mix of players around him.

But this supporting role off the bench is tailor-made for him. Plus 20 in 13:30 minutes and seeing him patrolling the paint like a menacing junkyard Doberman was a sight to behold.

The most gratifying thing is that he really earned this glory. His multiple injury rehabs, especially the last one, must have been incredibly demoralizing. To come back and to play at this level in this role, and to cap it off by making 7 of his last 8 FTs.

Fuck you, Celtics. Fuck you, iHart. We have Mitch.

But dynasty? Come on.

ESPN’s bullshit at its most unalloyed.

The Pacers are deeper than us. Our track record against defending Haliburton isn’t great. Nembhard has turned into a beast for them. Siakam’s taller than almost any defender we can put on him (outside of the double big minutes). TJ will drive us all insane.

At the same time, they have nobody who can guard Jalen Brunson. I was at the last game we won against them in the semis last spring, and in person it was shocking to see how completely helpless everyone they threw at him was. And between OG (who wasn’t healthy last spring) and Mikal (who wasn’t here last spring), we have two guys who can make Hali’s life difficult if Thibs can scheme at the level he did against Boston.

I wouldn’t be shocked to lose to this team. But I also wouldn’t be shocked by us winning in the way I would have been at the start of the Boston series. That’s all you can ask for at this point.

The weird (*) thing about Mitch is that it’s not really “rim protection” that he’s bringing — it’s far more the improvement in perimeter defense he’s bringing.

(*) I.e., basketball interesting.

It’s me, Ephus, here to celebrate with the Knickerblogger community.

I’m now 5+ years cancer-free.

This team has brought me so much joy and connection during my life, even with all of the disappointments.

This community is filled with the best types of Knicks fans: passionate, knowledgeable, opinionated and loud.

The only thing I know for certain about the future is that it has not happened yet. We may win a lot more this year. We may not win another game. I’m all in.

What a milestone, Ephus! Congrats!

one thing i don’t love about the pacers matchup is og guarding siakam. it just feels like a waste of og. he does an okay job on him, but mostly siakam seems to get to something near his typical shot diet, which by itself is rarely the primary engine anyway. yet og is still somewhat limited in helping off him. it’s very different than when og can just change the entire experience of a cade or a tatum.

they have no back up 5, and our two big lineup should be a massive problem for them on the pitch offensive boards. but that lineup has looked vulnerable in transition, and indy is one of the best playoff transition teams we’ve ever seen. i am holding out hope that we can surprise there if we can access supermitch playing at 1.5x podcast speed when he’s only going 20 minutes. we were up and down against detroit’s running in general, not really sure how it will play out.

that’s great to hear ephus

Ephus!!!! Great to see you!!!! Glad all is well on your end.

And yeah, game ball for Mike K and the Knickerblogger community.

I have waited 20 years for a morning like this and it is glorious.

E, don’t forget that what excited us about Mitch once upon a time was that he could protect the rim but also blocked a lot of three-pointers. So his ability to get out on the perimeter was there even when he was an impulsive kid with poor fundamentals who wanted to send every ball into the stands. He can’t jump like he used to, but he’s become SO smart about using his length to disrupt other teams, both down low and at the point of attack.

BTW, if anyone would rather not go on X for that clip, I just posted it to BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qpqyay6mqatzyyet3jdgxiwi/post/3lpem67f6ck2l

this scenario is almost too good to be true.

Especially if Denver wins tomorrow night. Knicks and Pacers fans are going to be watching that one with as much interest as Game 1.

Welcome home, Ephus. We need you more than ever in the apron era.

The last Celtics “dynasty” was in the 1980s. The KG/Pierce/Allen team was a perennial powerhouse, but there was only 1.5 seasons when they were clearly the best team (until KG got hurt). From 2009-12, they were strong contenders.

The most recent Celtics do not qualify as a dynasty, any more than the 2000s Pistons. One ring and one other Finals with a bunch of playoff runs does not equal dynasty.

Welcome back Ephus! Great news!

I think Indy is going to be very hard to beat. They have one of the premier coaches in the NBA, play a great style of basketball, have loads of shooting, athleticism, and perimeter length, and a deep bench. McConnell is a sensational backup PG, Obi is a run-out threat on every possession, and Mathurin can get hot.

They are not elite defensively, although Turner, Siakam, and Nesmith are all very good 2-way players and switchable for their respective sizes. Our bigs should be dominant in what they do, and KAT has to play consistently huge like he has in select games.

The games will come fast and furious, only 1 day of rest between all 7 games. That probably helps them, and they are a younger, deeper, fresher team. But we have home court, so there’s that!

At the end of the day, it will probably come down to who wins the Brunson-Hali matchup. I like our chances, but think it will be a long, bitter battle, reminiscent of the 1990’s NYK-IND wars.

The Pacers are deeper than us.

i would say not really? sure they play 9 and we play 7 plus cam, but tj, obi and mathurin are their real bench and that’s not a big edge over mitch and deuce unless you’re donnie and you don’t watch enough basketball to know who mathurin really is at this stage. people think of the pacers as deep but with jackson hurt and sheppard having struggled to develop offensively they’re more just good than they are deep.

DAAAAAWG

EPHUS! IN DA HOUSE!

Great news

And a wonderful comeback

I have waited 20 years for a morning like this and it is glorious

I’m simply not ready. It feels untrue, whatever this is.

Great news, Ephus. I’m a *relatively new stranger here wishing you all the best. Likewise, my brother-in-law is cancer-free five years running after a severe bout with leukemia. Keep it up!

agree on mitch’s 1 on 5 drill as the play of the game but let’s keep a candle lit for deuce giving white a taste of his own meds with the chase down leading to a hart and one

https://tinyurl.com/2tvt7j7c

Great victory, excellent defense and Boston made a big mistake by winning Game-5 that way, it only pissed our players and the reaction had to be expected, very well done.

It’s weird, “Just get to the postseason healthy and anything can happen” was my mantra during the regular season and now I’m a bit confused, it’s working so well sometimes it doesn’t feel real.

The perfect storm is shaping up, let’s ride with the feeling!

LGK!

Ephus is cancer-free, ptmilo is breaking down the pros and cons of this matchup, E has no complaints about Thibs… what a glorious morning here at Knickerblogger Dot Net!

ephus, really great to have you back, and to hear that your health is in a great place!

And yes, shout-out to Mike K for keeping the site up and running as we enjoy the most entertaining and promising Knicks season since last century. It truly means a lot to all of us!

i would say not really? sure they play 9 and we play 7 plus cam, but tj, obi and mathurin are their real bench and that’s not a big edge over mitch and deuce

This is one of the keys to the whole series, as it was last year. The Pacers are not deeper than us, Carlisle just goes deeper in order to employ a strategy that wears teams down. It’s a long game, and it is incumbent on Thibs to recognize that so we’re not looking so worn out and dead legged like in the ECSF last year.

Playing the Pistons got the Knicks more physical to prepare for Boston. Playing Boston got the Knicks to focus on defending three and P&R to prepare for Indiana.

Wonderful news, ephus. Even better than the Game 6 win.

A big difference with Indiana this season is that they are much improved defensively. They stifled the (admittedly injured) Cavs in some of their games. They have relentless ball pressure, and we know Brunson can get annoyed at that. They might need to rely more on Mikal and Hart to bring the ball up in the half court.

On the other side, Indiana’s superpower is limiting opponents’ threes, and the Knicks are the least dependent team on shots from deep in the playoffs. They were a perfect matchup against the Cavs given how much the Cavs rely on 3PAs.

Mikal on Hali may be a real game changer given his length compared to last year. On the other hand, Deuce has not been a great matchup for TJ.

Game 4 vs the Celtics was where I really started to believe in the potential of this team. Winning games 1 and 2 was awesome, but both games involved epic meltdowns by Boston.

In game 4 we took their best punch, including Tatum going nuclear, and responded with our best half of the season. That’s where I started to believe that we can beat anybody, including whoever comes out of the West.

But in the meantime, let’s enjoy every minute of this magic carpet ride!

Wonderful to hear from you, Ephus!

Funny because the season’s storyline never really allowed this to become a ‘thing,’ at least in my head, but there’s now a real non-zero chance for a finals involving KAT and the Novas vs. Julius and DDV. Gobert vs. Mitch. Brunson vs. Ant. Talk about narratives…

I don’t recall past Indy games, but maybe it would make sense to put OG on Turner? He’s a guy you really don’t want going off.

songs on my playlist today so far….

Good Vibrations- beach boys
Oh what a feeling – irene cara
just can’t get enough – depeche mode

i hate that team in green with a passion and to see them dust them like that last night was euphoric…

I think we’ve had a tougher path than indy…that and home court should be the edge…they soft…

It may seem odd to suggest Cleveland showed a blue print for beating Indiana but in game 3 they flummoxed the Pacers pick and roll with a zone defense that put Mobley at the top. This is something we should be looking at doing with OG.

It may seem odd to suggest Cleveland showed a blue print for beating Indiana but in game 3 they flummoxed the Pacers pick and roll with a zone defense that put Mobley at the top. This is something we should be looking at doing with OG.

The Pacers quickly learned, though, and destroyed that zone the next game.

I’m glad we have a lot of time off before the next game. IMO it’s tougher to put two games like that together after such an emotional win. Honestly, I think that could be why Boston was flat. They gave it everything they had in game 5.

“i would say not really? sure they play 9 and we play 7 plus cam, but tj, obi and mathurin are their real bench and that’s not a big edge over mitch and deuce unless you’re donnie and you don’t watch enough basketball to know who mathurin really is at this stage.”

Sorry pt, I’m not with you here. I think you pretty much have to throw out IND’s regular season, at least before the 60-game mark. This is a much better team than their regular season record. So in the playoffs, their non-garbage bench (TJ, Obi, Ben, and Sheppard) has played an average of 63 mpg. They all play at a fast pace, and can blend in with the starters for long stretches. That keeps their starters’ minutes down…in the playoffs, no starter has averaged more than 34mpg (Hali) and all the others are between 29-32. Mathurin is not a high IQ player, but he’s posting a .632 TS% on a 25.6% usage with a .524 FTr, probably because of McConnell and Hali breaking down defenses and setting him up. Carlisle will strategically use Sheppard, Bryant, and Walker to eat enough minutes for the team to play lightning-fast for 48 minutes.

OTOH, no Knicks starter is averaging under 35 minutes. Brunson is at 39.5 and Bridges and OG are both over 40mpg. Carlisle is going to try to run our starters ragged, and that’s when injuries are more likely to happen, especially with all 7 games on 1-day of rest.

If ever there was a series where Thibs’ over-reliance on his starters might be an issue, it’s this one. I think he should dust off Cam, Shamet, and Precious…and maybe even Delon…for a combined 15-20mpg to keep the starters fresh for crunch time. If it becomes a war of attrition, right now the Pacers have the advantage.

Just wow. Expected a dub, but only by less than 10. This was WWE belt to ass. This was Pootie Tang whuppin Dirty Dee in the car wash. Sheeeeeesh!

No disrespect to Indy, but this is revenge. We gotta take this in 5. Last postseason and all regular season matchups, we didn’t have Mitch. So..if we feed KAT early, and our wings continue to work on defense, I see a gentleman sweep.

Guys- WE ARE HOSTING THE FAWKIN ECF!! And would have been even if Tatum never suffered that injury. This feels good.

I’ve been at a conference all week in NYC of all places but have been able to catch these games.

Man, what a joy to experience this and big shout out to everyone on this blog who has stuck with it over the years.

Whatever happens from here on out is gravy but fuck it. Let’s win a chip. This is our best shot. Tomorrow is never promised. So let’s go grab that ring.

I’m now 5+ years cancer-free.

Very happy to hear this. Congrats!

The only thing I know for certain about the future is that it has not happened yet. We may win a lot more this year. We may not win another game. I’m all in.

That’s the spirit! Let’s enjoy the ride! 🧡💙

The Pacers quickly learned, though, and destroyed that zone the next game.

Are you sure? That game didn’t keep my attention for long but from what I did watch the Pacers weren’t beating the zone, they were pummeling Cleveland defensively and running off misses and turnovers. I thought that was more a beating of the Cavs holistically than a beating of the zone strategy.

Having either OG or Mitch available to move laterally for 48 minutes strikes me as something we should give strong consideration to. I was not optimistic Thibs would look at the Orlando series and copy their strategy, but lo and behold. If he does it again, this will shape up to be his Budenholzer spring of ‘21. (A lot of similarities shaping up between that Bucks title run and this one, btw.)

To quote Zach Lowe, this is not an open window for the Knicks, this is it.

Best chance to win it all since 1994. I was there for the 1999 Finals, but the Spurs just had so much more talent than the Knicks, once Ewing went down. Camby gave a spark, but he could not hold off both Duncan & Robinson.

I’m not sure how much we learned about the Pacers from the Cavs series. The Cavs are a very good team, but they were shooting over their heads as a group early in the season, probably peaked too soon, were starting to show some chinks in their armor down the stretch of the season and were crippled in the playoffs. They also blew one of the playoff games.

I think we are a hair better than them, but I think they are a bit more consistent than us. We have a tendency to throw in some real duds.

This is one series where I’m not sure what to expect. I could see it going 7 games and I could see it 4-1 in either direction.

One thing that is so amazing about the Knicks is that they clearly OWN the city like no other franchise. Mets and Yankees divide the fan base, to a lesser degree, so do the Jets and Giants…and baseball occurs in the outer boroughs and Football in the swamps of NJ. The Rangers are obviously big but there’s the Islanders and Devils and the fact is that many NYers consider hockey to be a niche sport (not to mention that at the last Rangers game I went to I was hard-pressed to find a person of color in the seats.) And the Brooklyn Nets are, shall we say, not peeling off the Knicks’ fan base as hoped?

To see the pent-up joy pouring out onto the streets of midtown Manhattan after a second-round clinching game reminded me of how things were in the early ’70s, when even though the Mets and Jets had recently won chips, it was the Knicks that owned NY…a feeling magnified by the great character of that team. This team is so fucking rootable and high character, I think more so than the Ewing version that turned a lot of casual fans off, or the Melo version that seemed like a one-shot merc-fest.

Sorry pt, I’m not with you here. I think you pretty much have to throw out IND’s regular season, at least before the 60-game mark. This is a much better team than their regular season record.

i once dated a girl with this excruciating habit of agreeing with you by saying “yeah it is,” but with the exact intonation you would use if you were disagreeing. i’m not saying that’s completely on point here because i’m obviously out of zman’s league but i did make that precise argument.

So in the playoffs, their non-garbage bench (TJ, Obi, Ben, and Sheppard) has played an average of 63 mpg. They all play at a fast pace, and can blend in with the starters for long stretches. That keeps their starters’ minutes down…in the playoffs, no starter has averaged more than 34mpg (Hali) and all the others are between 29-32.

indy’s one weakness in the playoffs has been when the bench mob infiltrates, continuing the regular season theme. they’ve dominated the 260 mins with at least 4 starters at +12.5 and lost the 225 with fewer than 4 by -3.7.

but i don’t disagree with your point about the acute risk that we play right into their hands by exhausting our starters.

Carlisle is going to try to run our starters ragged,

I really wish we had next year’s bench this year. 😉

I thought the interesting thing about last night was that effort is repeatable. We saw it a few times in the first half of the season, but seldom since.

They didn’t shoot some outlandish rate from three or anything gimmicky. They won because their defensive effort was focused, moved the ball (mostly) and they rebounded like when they pummeled Cleveland. All that stuff is repeatable against anyone.

Also, look who put up 45 threes last night and outrebounded the opposition by 19!

When I saw that classic close out by Mitch v Brown in the corner in my mind I could hear the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail screaming, “None shall pass!”

Ephus, so glad to hear. Appreciated all your thoughtful posts over the years.

One thing I was reflecting on is that throughout the season when the Knicks were being evaluated, most of the media downplayed the importance of not having Mitch. The impact he’s made on bringing a better defensive player on to the floor when KaT gets in foul trouble (pls no more of that KaT), offensive rebounding and ability to guard PnR on the perimeter was VASTLY underrated, esp now that he’s rounded into shape and has gotten significant reps in.

Will worry about the Pacers tomorrow.

What an amazing game, and truly amazing time to be a Knicks fan! LGK!

Welcome back, Ephus! When guys disappear for awhile, I often wonder what happened to them… I hope this run brings some more of the old timers back to say hello… This win was something really special for the city. I wish I was there to enjoy it… Mitch’s scramble to cover all 5 Celtic’s before coming up with the steal and Deuce’s chase down block were the defining moments… I have complete confidence in our top seven to get the job done against Indy, but I’m sure Thibs will need to sprinkle in another couple of bench pieces as the series progresses… I can’t believe we are this close to the finals… It’s been so long… How do you like them apples?

To return out of the mists on the this day Eephus, with such heartwarming news! Feel so good for you, Eephus. You’re back just in time. The fog of war is clearing. Before us a yowling mob of jaundiced bandits with ill gotten gains made from waylaying the injured they find along the way. I think the quick turnarounds favor momentum and home court. They have numbers on us but we have Kambei. By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you’ll only destroy yourself. I’m girding my loins hard.

“indy’s one weakness in the playoffs has been when the bench mob infiltrates, continuing the regular season theme. they’ve dominated the 260 mins with at least 4 starters at +12.5 and lost the 225 with fewer than 4 by -3.7.”

Little bit of voodoo economics here, by saying “at least 4 starters” you are including a large sample of minutes with “at least 1 bench player.”

And you’re not my type, assuming you even exist outside of chatgpt bot cooked up by Mike K to keep haughty posters in check.

Ephus, it’s great to hear from you again. And congrats on your health.

Mazzulla had some very nice words for Thibs and the Knicks.

“They played better than we did,” Mazzulla said. “I’m happy for Thibs [Thibodeau]. He’s been coaching for a long time. That’s the biggest thing. You pay your dues, you put forth everything. That guy is a lifer. He’s what a coach is all about and he deserves it. And they deserve it as a team. You got to take your hat off to them.”

This is from the Al-Jazeera link above (an excellent article, by the way)

No disrespect to Indy,

I say complete, total, and utter disrespect to Indiana.

I hate the Celtics on principle. I hate the Pacers from experience.

These MFs have a 5-3 lead on us now in head-to-head series. And we won the first two!

The Celtics haven’t actually done much to us. In fact we’ve beaten them in the playoffs all three times I’ve been old enough to remember (‘90, ‘13, ‘25). Sure there was the sweep in Melo’s first year but we were a 7 seed, no one cared.

Losing to the Pacers in ‘95, ‘13, and ‘24 were three of the worst experiences I’ve had as a Knicks fan. Even ‘98 sucked hard bc Ewing coming back unexpectedly gave us hope. ‘00 wasn’t cool but there was a little resignation at the time.

I fucking hate these guys, and losing to them in back-to-back years when both times we had a huge title window would kinda make us their bitch, and I cannot stomach that. We need this. I would have rather lost to Boston than lose now.

If folks want a very sober Celtics post-mortem, read this from CelticsBlog.com.

https://www.celticsblog.com/2025/5/17/24431947/boston-celtics-new-york-knicks-game-6-ten-takeaways-final-game-jaylen-brown-joe-mazzulla

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