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2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Pacers, Game 1 – On a Final Run

It is a Game 1. Of the Eastern Conference Finals. And the Knicks are in the game. And the game is at the Knicks’ home court.

How fucking cool is that?

Let’s take a moment to first appreciate how fucking awesome it is for the team that we root for to be hosting Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Okay, moment over, now I want them to destroy the Pacers, go up by, like, 26, and then slowly pull away.

Let’s go, Knicks!

Just 8 wins left to go!

The Dylan tune is “Duquesne Whistle,” one of the last sort of kind of mainstream Dylan songs (it’s the most recent song featured in the musical, Girl From the North Country).

637 replies on “2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Pacers, Game 1 – On a Final Run”

Hali is all gas and no brakes, but let’s see if he knows how to work the clutch

The city is fucking insane right now. Only the Knicks can make this place feel like Ann Arbor on a Saturday afternoon.

I had a girl from Miami who works in lingerie send me a DM that said “you Knicks fans are crazy. They’re even making Knicks lingerie right now”.

Here’s the link… it’s in their story. Buy it for the woman in your life… or for yourself.

https://www.instagram.com/fleurdumalnyc?igsh=M2tkYWR2Zzl2NDE1

i’m turning my out of office on in outlook…i don’t want to get fucked with leading up to tip off….

yeah booooyyyeeeez…lock and load..

really urge you guys to read hubie having a girl from miami in lingerie in the same metaphorical vein as donnie saying he watched nba tv

lol I meant in the field of lingerie design, not literally in lingerie. But you probably knew that and it is funnier your way.

crochet left lindor stranded on third after a double and a steal

hey z-man 😊

when you get on, just wanted to thank you for mentioning DudeInKnicksTown the other day…

his situation and in particular his strength and resolve while experiencing that tough situation really hit me hard at the time…

stopped me in my tracks when he mentioned the reason for his resolve: i have people who need me

so clear in his purpose, so much strength that in that difficult time he was actually able to share his strength with others…remarkable behavior…

anyways, hope all is well for you and the fam z-man…

Nice one Cyber.

Hubie, not sure “I had a girl from Miami who works in lingerie send me a DM” counts as an assist, but maybe tomorrow you can tell this particular story…

when you get on, just wanted to thank you for mentioning DudeInKnicksTown the other day…

his situation and in particular his strength and resolve while experiencing that tough situation really hit me hard at the time…

stopped me in my tracks when he mentioned the reason for his resolve: i have people who need me

so clear in his purpose, so much strength that in that difficult time he was actually able to share his strength with others…remarkable behavior…

Amen!!! LFG Knicks.

This blog is manic depressive sometimes. Ay the moment it’s on the positive side. I didn’t vote because it’s too emotional an issue for me. But I will say that Pags could be right. I’m sure Pacersbloggere is voting 95 to 5 or so that the Pacers will win. They are much better than they used to be as are we. It’s hard to say how much better. I’d love to break their hearts with a Knick victory but it’s just as likely our hearts are broken instead.

This blog is manic depressive sometimes.

This is just what it means to be a fan. You live for the highs and the lows. Some days you just need to feel something.

there are likely to be asian folks at the game tonite it seemed to be a big deal when referring to the okc fan base last nite for some raeson it is truly a good thing and i think that diversity is a good thing

i don’t want to get fucked with leading up to tip off….

my friend has watched a few games with me (miraculously still haven’t been kicked to the curb), and oldest son has watched some of the playoffs with me…

other than that though, like george thorogood says – i watch only, with nobody else…

do you watch games with other folks pepper?

I am as excited as Red on the bus from Maine to Fort Hancock, Texas.

We are on a journey whose outcome is uncertain.

Let’s go Knicks.

We’re not even in the Finals and we’re already talking about girls and lingerie?? LOL

Did you guys even look at the link??? You should all be ordering some!!

jim irsay dead

Dang, and he just wished the Pacers good luck eight hours ago on social media. That’s a shame. He was a really good owner.

I just want to know how they photoshopped an image of my abdomen in that shot with the fleur du mal.

Did you guys even look at the link??? You should all be ordering some!!

Hubert, I’ve lost a lot of weight the last few years. I haven’t lost that much weight.

Just walked past a guy in Knicks gear in the east village setting up a screen on the sidewalk to watch the game. It’s raining.

Love this dang city.

do you watch games with other folks pepper?

generally no, when I lived in nyc, i would sometimes watch with my uncle at home or a bar (or go to yankee or knick or ranger games…he had a good hook up for nice seats)…since i moved out west in 2008…i haven’t met any real ny sport fans to watch a game with (there was one dude who i coached little league with who was from jersey…think we watched a jet game together)…so its just me in the living room and my wife comes in from time to time when i get too loud and/or are cursing at the team…i kind of prefer it now…watching solo that is…some good solo’s on that Thorogood tune (well…there is usually one on most of his songs)

Maybe there’s no girl in lingerie, and this is just a script Hubert is writing, and he put a small bit here to see if the great Alan Sepinwall, the third finds it funny or not! 🤭

Did anyone watch TNT’s NBA tip off? If so, who did they pick?

Since we went 4-1 vs. BOS when I do this…

**Official Pagliacci Predictions**

-Down 10+ in first six minutes
-Hali 12+ assists
-Towns under 30 minutes due to foul trouble
-Pacers over 40% from 3
-Turner 5+ blocks
-Knicks more turnovers than assists
-Fake comeback to get close then lose by 15

Come on, boyz! Let’s see 48 mins of discipline and aggression!

One city, one team! 🧡💙

But a lot of people in a lot more cities too… like Porto! 🙂

Just walked past a guy in Knicks gear in the east village setting up a screen on the sidewalk to watch the game. It’s raining.

That was me. These bars are too damn crowded.

I went to the bathroom 0-0 and it’s 18-14!

What the hell happened?

Being down 4 to a team shooting 100% is kind of good. When they come down to earth…

Pretty much everything I thought might go wrong defensively has and it’s only been 5 minutes.

I was totally staying sober for this game, but I’m starting to change my mind…

Stay focused, defend, don’t do dumb things, they’ll cool off and the game is loooong. LGK!

I blame this start on Indiana switching the usual shooting baskets to start the game.

My mantra is “the Pacers’ shooting will regress to the mean”.

We will see.

KAT has been almost as good on offense as he has been awful on defense.

Forgot how bad Hart is when he has to cover Siakam one on one

Indiana didn’t

I went to the bathroom 0-0 and it’s 18-14!

What the hell happened?

ha, strat – i missed the jump to and joined to that score – yuch…

I can hear my giant martini glass calling me from downstairs…

Brunson with 0 asts so far just going ISO whenever he has the ball.

As of this moment, the Pacers’ eFG% is 96.7%. 29 points on 15 shots.

If Nesmith and Nembhard are really Jeff Hornacek and Dan Majerle then we are going to lose

Brunson with 0 asts so far just going ISO whenever he has the ball.

You were saying?… 😉 😀

I know Indiana’s defensive rating improved as the season went along but they look like they still pretty much suck on defense.

Brunson should easily get 10 asts every game against this defense!

mitch is simply mitching out there…

please, much less KAT at the five…let him run center with the second unit or something…

Indiana shooting the lights out and we have the lead !? 😮 I’m pleasantly surprised!

Hard to believe we are up 2 the way they are playing.

Mitch!!!!!

Go get them boards!

Not sure how many minutes Mitch can go but he is obviously a very important player in this series

20-24 in 6.5 mins before Mitch came in
16-10 in 5.5 mins after Mitch came in

Mitch is something like 60% on ORebs when not counting his missed FT attempt this game

This reminds me of game 1 of the WCF series. Road team comes out hot, runs out of gas.

Will someone put an elbow in TJ’s face? It would make him look better.

This isn’t a game where we can afford shitty Payne’s minutes, every possession counts.

P.S. Come on Cam, I’m trying my best 😉

Why are we still going to Cam Payne? He’s done nothing except for 1 game

The more things change, the more TJ McConnell keeps killing us

Max I was going to say that about the interview but it annoyed me too much to type.

And speaking of annoying, let’s all say it together.

WE HATE TJ.

I can’t believe he completely Julius Randle’d Cam.

I think Mitch is better than Towns maybe

Let’s play them together and do a side-by-side comparison

OG dribble possession is his version of a heat check

Lol

Italian announcer: “Cam Payne plays like he has Curry sewed on the back of his jersey, unfortunately for Knicks fans he’s not”

Pretty sure we’ve won 110% of the games Mikal has an offensive tip-in

I don’t think Thibs can play KAT and Mitch together against this team

I’m mentally exhausted already watching this series and we’re not even halfway thru the 2nd quarter…

Great game. It’s the opposite of the 90s, offense being better than defense, but it’s super entertaining too.

enjoying making rick call a timeout – get him thibs!!!

and put mitchell robinson in the starting lineup already…who knows, maybe we can get and hold a lead more easily…

Can Thibs use this guy from the challenge?… He’s at 100% !! 😀

You can’t fucking blow 2 easy fast break opportunities like that.

Payne is shooting every round shaped object he can put his hands on…

KAAAAT!

Not sure OG’s hammy recovered. May be great if he’s on the bench….but then we’ll have to expand the rotation a bit.

KAT must feel so liberated playing the Pacers defense compared to the first 2 rds.

that og flub was crazy. we need to give mikal a little more rest at this pace, he’s having to conserve energy already

The Garden may have hit a new decibel level with that Obi blown dunk.

Towns ties his made 3ps from the Celtics with 3 — this is not a joke

Yeah aftee that last shot attempt by Payne it’s time to bring Brunson back in.

Deuce missed KAT on that cut like people miss the gorilla in that video

see towns on siakam there? we can try that with mitch on turner as long as kat’s not in foul trouble

see towns on siakam there? we can try that with mitch on turner as long as kat’s not in foul trouble

From your lips to thibs’ ears

I like KAT’s drop defense. He keeps going backwards until he makes SURE the guy has an open 5-footer.

Or open three-pointer

i hate to say it, but both hali and lamelo shoot some cool looking long distance shots…

edit: that last hali haul was not one of them…

it’s getting tedious that the announcers keep mentioning runs: when mitch was mitching…whatever, just win by one…

At least we are getting a whistle

Totally agree. I am exhausted watching this

Oh looks, there’s TJ again… Hi TJ… I hate you…

is this our pace or theirs…

It’s theirs, Geo, they are the pacers !! LOL

Well we took their first punch in the mouth and answered.

And we’re playing more like Game 6 vs. Game 5. Liking it a lot.

Seems like the Knicks offense maybe slightly under rated and this high octane style isn’t so bad for them

I thought the last 40 seconds Mitch for KAT swap was interesting since we were guaranteed to get at least 1 more offensive possession. Worked out, but seemed unusual for Thibs.

Amazingly we’re now shooting 51.0% and they’re now shooting 51.1%.

My mantra is “the Pacers’ shooting will regress to the mean”.

We will see.

The Pacers shooting regressed. Part of it was Mitchell Robinson. Even when KAT reentered the game, the Pacers did not go back to hitting everything.

I like that the Knicks are playing Indy’s pace. Beat them at their own game and they can’t control the game

Kenny’s glasses make him look like Fizdale.

That’s not a compliment.

It does seem like we need to use another guy in this series. 23 minute halves for Mikal at this pace is not sustainable.

Quite the dilemma for Thibs – play a guy who is unstoppable on offense (KAT) or a guy who is completely dominant on defense and the glass.

Beat them at their own game and they can’t control the game

i like that, stay confident and keep running…gonna need more mitch and cam, hopefully jalen and KAT get another good rest around the beginning of the 4th to be able to finish the game at a high pace…

I like that the Knicks are playing Indy’s pace. Beat them at their own game and they can’t control the game

Sounds like rope-a-dope to me.

At some point they will need to give someone else on the bench a run. Wright should be the guy.

Quite the dilemma for Thibs – play a guy who is unstoppable on offense (KAT) or a guy who is completely dominant on defense and the glass.

Or, you know, both at the same time

Quite the dilemma for Thibs – play a guy who is unstoppable on offense (KAT) or a guy who is completely dominant on defense and the glass.

what’s the thinking for keeping KAT away from the four – fear he can’t handle siakam, or whomever else is stepping in to that spot for them?

Edit: obi toppin too i guess

let KAT play the five when thomas bryant hits the floor for some minutes…

Jalen, Towns, OG getting lots of rest, Hart doesn’t need rest. Only Mikal overextended. So…5 minutes from Shamet?

more deuce 🙂

deuce deuce in the trunk…

i love deuce’s shooting form for someone his size, perfect set, jump and shot, long distance and mid-range…

Free throws – free points

Hopefully those Bridges bricks don’t start a snowball effect

Brunson is not getting his whistle. Carlisle won’t even have to complain about small markets this time.

Feeling similarly toward NEsmith and NEmbhard reminds me of feeling similarly towards Antonio Davis and Dale Davis

Interesting challenge

Not sure about it. Think this will be a loss

Bullshit call though, agree

Don’t know what they’re going to decide in this review. They showed like three fouls not called before the ads.

Can’t let them hang around. Thought we got away with a few calls. Let’s take advantage.

I don’t think that’s the challenge we should be challenging … there was more of a foul earlier … that was a lot of Brunson … though defender doesn’t necessarily get to the spot

We’re not playing smart right now and OG’s double team on Siakam wasn’t his best read of the game

Please for the love of God sit Hart for Mitch. We need two bigs. I’d even take Precious, who if I remember does well on Siakam while he’s OG’s kryptonite.

…except KAT falls down a lot, too.

I did like his drop defense against Turner one-on-one, because, um…

Boy seeing OG bring the ball up made my stomach flip.

Thank you Hali for bailing him out.

Brunson has had Kat open from 3 several times and not finding him

I love how much people are talking about Mitch but he has been doing this offensive rebounding since summer league of his rookie year

Mitch is not afraid to lock down Halliburton on the perimeter. First time, Mitch played great D, but Hali hit a tough 3. Second time, Mitch forced a bad air ball from 3.

Why THE FUCK doesn’t KAT post up on this lineup every single time !!!!???? What the fuck

That’s what you like to see, Payne dribbling the ball for 20 seconds before taking an offbalance jumper.

Interesting Thibs ran away from the big lineup pretty fast when Indiana went small

KAT had Mathurin pinned down but Deuce didn’t get him the ball then finally did after KAT stepped out to the 3pt line which lead to his missed forced 3pter.

It was not elegant, but the Knicks survived Brunson’s stint on the bench with 4 fouls. Lead by 3 after 3.

Not sure what that defense was on TJ there. Looked like Moses with the Red Sea parting before him.

Always kills us

Our inability over the centuries to stop TJ McConnell is really something

We’re only shooting 67% from the FT line.

Missing 9 free throws…OMG.

Their bench isn’t playing a whole lot more minutes than ours, so I’m not worried too much about gassing

This is feeling like a “we’re letting them hang around game”. Hard to imagine a game more up do the taking than this one right now… we’ve had better swings but can’t capitalize … I say as long as we don’t turn it over we should control.

Knicks gonna lose this game because of defensive rebounding is inexcusable.

We’ve hunted Mathurin on five consecutive plays he’s an utter sieve

I was saying to my girlfriend how screwed we are without Brunson, right as OG ripped off 5 quick points. I don’t look very smart, but that’s ok! Keep it up!

I’ve already had enough of Reggie. So clearly pro-Pacers. Makes you appreciate the professionalism of Breen even more.

BigBlueAl:

As Clint Eastwood said in Unforgiven, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

I think one of Eastwood’s underrated movies is In the Line of Fire.

I went to the knick broadcast on siriusxm….not exactly calibrated but better than miller

Go double big, let Mikal create some offense, play some D, start beating them on the glass

Deuce defies all logic sometimes I love him

The Knicks haven’t lost a game where they’ve reached 100 first in these playoffs.

we need to win this game just to have that deuce block be a worthy poster

14-0 run without The Captain, all is going according to plan 😂

LOL Hubie!

I frequently write that the only thing I know for certain about the future is that it has not happened yet.

Prime example: I was really worried when Brunson went out with his fifth foul. The Knicks promptly went on a 14-0 run.

Clarence just casually dropping “OG Como Va” got me shaking my hips bailando

Props to Thibs here – this lineup is gonna be very difficult to score on.

Thomas Bryant sucks btw

Never liked him despite seemingly strong box score numbers

Bryant flopped

Clearly. Even more because midway through it he thought “i should sell this” and it looks like a 2nd impact. LOL

Thomas Bryant may be the only player with a WS/48 over .160 that Owen never liked.

If they make all their threes and we miss all ours, is that good?

Sorry guys, I know it’s just me but I don’t like going iso-mode up 15…

And Nesmith is killing us

Kinda wish we had stayed with that Deuce/Mitch lineup another minute.

This is how the game started.
Fortunately, they probably – probably – don’t have enough time left.

Pacers aren’t scoring another point in this game. They used up all their 3’s.

We’re getting a bucket here then closing this shit out

Kinda wish we had stayed with that Deuce/Mitch lineup another minute.

Or four

Could be a loose ball foul on Siakam still

Good challenge though not sure

Btw KAT got fouled on that layup earlier, unacceptable no call

If this gets overturned there’s like a 100% chance the Pacers hit a three next, right?

That should have been an easy 2. OG giveth and taketh away.

I don’t even want it overturned.

* i want it overturned I meant. I don’t want it to be the reason everyone is whining after the game.

That was on Brunson. He SLAMMED that pass to OG. No one would catch that.

How the F do you not get up on screens up so much. They clearly are only jacking up 3s

I know I’m stating the obvious, but this announcing crew is KILLING me.

Reggie is terrible. He needs to be sidelined. TNT can’t be serious

Reggie has to be the worst possible choice to announce this series.

We lost even if we prevail here

We lost vs Boston, remember

These announcers should NEVER EVER be allowed to announce a Knicks game. It’s obvious they are actively rooting against the Knicks.

I don’t think you can foul them the way we’re shooting free throws tonight.

Tyrese is bush league with that bullshit

And yeah, Brunson got fouled bit whatever

At this point I hope the Knicks get swept and everybody gets fired.

Thank God it was a 2P. Now let’s wake up and play basketball again.

Hot take. Knicks have to win this. They don’t recover from choking away this game

This wasn’t even a meltdown, not really. The Pacers went on an insanely lucky run and even if we lose this game I think we’re clearly going to win the series.

Choking free throws

Nobody guarding Nesmith

Incredible choke job

We played prevent offense for the last 5 minutes. Let’s do better the next 5.

Missed FTs and the most ridiculous luck imaginable and we are in OT. This is a fucking nightmare. Haliburton is the luckiest fuck in the entire NBA

They had their flourish. Hali made a clutch shot and made his choke sign. Now let’s beat their asses.

Thibs does this shit all the time. We had a lineup that was running Indy off the floor, why the fuck did we change it?

This wasn’t even a meltdown, not really. The Pacers went on an insanely lucky run and even if we lose this game I think we’re clearly going to win the series.

Exactly. People need to chill the eff out.

Maybe Brunson can foul out and we can start playing good again

Is Brunson the reason Nesmith is open?

the Knicks can definitely take the attention off Juan Soto.

Make Hali never live down that choke signal ever in his life.

The Pacers are playing some incredibly fraudulent basketball

We totally choked down the stretch like amateurs. Yes, Indiana got lucky but we were also lucky we didn’t lose in regulation. Let’s hope they will show some maturity in overtime. We showed we are the better team tonight but it’s the final score that counts

Missed goaltending call in OT of a playoff game, nice

Pags, just go away. If you are annoying me, you are really annoying.

It worked out there, but boy, Brunson hero ball isn’t great right now.

Like how Boston fouled Brunson late, Indiana is moronically fouling him, too, when he is struggling with his shot late.

Foul was on neismith no?

That’s what I thought, but I guess Hali got the reach in first.

We’ve completely stopped playing defense

Let’s see if a team will actually realize that they have to double Brunson in these situations.

We’ve completely stopped playing defense

Luckily, the same goes for the Pacers.

I’d have to see the tape but I think our mistakes on D have been Mitch, alas. He’s been getting lost ball-watching.

I’m not saying we’re always a dumb team but dumb teams do deserve to lose .. and there’s alot of dumb shit we’re doing here … it’s always the tone at the top…

570000 impossible threes for them, none for us.

I think I’m done with basketball now

We’re going to lose but this game actually means nothing.

I’ve decided I don’t care about NBA basketball.

I’m with you, ess-dog.

There’s a LOT of time left still. So they shouldn’t even foul here, honestly.

Thibs really created this mess with his obstinance. He refuses to follow through with in-game matchups that dictate the outcome in our favor. Taking McBride out of the game was so boneheaded.

Worst loss ever.

Easily. Nothing Reggie did was as bad as this.

We’re going to lose but this game actually means nothing.

It kind of does

Thibs really created this mess with his obstinance. He refuses to follow through with in-game matchups that dictate the outcome in our favor. Taking McBride out of the game was so boneheaded.

+100000000000

Brunson had a good look. Airball.
Towns had an even better look. Barely hit the rim.

We did our best to lose this game.

There was no need to put Brunson in, not with the way that lineup was playing, then we went into iso-ball too early and WE MISSED A TON OF FREE THROWS.

That said, the refs killed us, first with the reversed call in regulation, then with the missed goaltending call.
Those two wrong calls just destroyed us.

I’m streaming the rest of the series illegally because fuck TNT for putting Reggie on this

Don’t blame the refs, don’t blame luck, blame us! Up by 16 on our own floor and about a dozen or so with two minutes to go. We couldn’t get a single stop down the stretch and overtime. They were getting open shop after open shot. We gave them the game.

At least the worst loss since the charles smith game

I think this edges that, but yes, that was obviously very, very bad.

You guys think you had it bad: my area experienced a blackout with around 6+ minutes to go when we had around a 12-15 point lead. When I get to my phone I saw that there was a 3 point difference and then I saw that there was a tie game going into OT.

I’m shellshocked.

I love you guys. I mean it. I wouldn’t have lingered around here for so long if I didn’t.

We’re going to lose but this game actually means nothing.

They said the same thing about our game 1 win in Boston.

This means a lot, unfortunately. To let Halliburton do that on your court and not fight back, to choke all those free throws, to be so stupid down the stretch. They have a major mental edge now.

Max, you’ve typed many things I was going to say in the past few days, but you can’t blame this one on the refs. We shat the bed. So many bad decisions, one of which was hey, one of those Pacers is super hot, let’s play up on him and see if the rest of the team can beat us. Nah, let’s just let him make three after three after three after three…

The Pacers went on an insanely lucky run and even if we lose this game I think we’re clearly going to win the series.

I’ll just go with this.

Everything that had to go right went right, they hit every fucking shot including a high bouncer with no time left…. we looked really good until the last five minutes. Just go in there and kick their ass in game 2.

We started and finished the game playing completely ineptly on defense.

In between we did pretty good.

I think we were a little gassed at the end of the game and they are good enough offensively to take advantage, but they were also ridiculously lucky. They hit 7 3s in a row and that idiotic Haliburton shot. Variance sucks. Still, we missed 2 critical FTs. Just an absolutely horrible loss that will test their character and ability to come back. They will either fight back or be so exhausted physically and mentally get crushed in the next game.

Kftv and knickfilmschool should be a great listen

I’d avoid espn or anything else

How do you take Miles McBride out of the game where he is 20+ differential and replace him with Bridges? This loss was so epic it can only be attributed to coaching decision-making.

They hit 7 3s in a row

Nesmith was open on to many. Find him

The lineup with Deuce plus the two bigs was actually effective defensively. When we went to the five starters with 5 minutes left we just couldn’t get a stop.

It’s a bummer because we actually played well, and looked like we were going to win a game where the opponent also played well. This is like game 4 of the Celtics series in reverse. We played well enough to win but didn’t.

Our starting unit sucks and we always go to our starting unit. Stop playing those 5 together.

The finish they actually deserved. They got cocky with 7 minutes left… times were really good … pacers played like they were down big with time ticking away … we didn’t counter that energy AT ALL. IN FACT IT WAS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE

The starting 5 got picked up by mitch early. Went on a run without Brunson in the 4th.

The lineup stats have been out for a while. Starting 5 doesn’t work good enough. You don’t need to play it so many minutes.

Terrible loss. We dominated them up until Nesmith started hitting every 3 he threw up and we missed free throws. You can’t let the foot off the gas…

But everything HAD to go right for the Pacers to win this. They needed a miracle performance from Nesmith, missed free throws from OG and Towns at the end, a very lucky shot from Hali to go to overtime. The refs blew several calls including an obvious goal tending in OT that would’ve put us up 6. Zac Zarba and Ben Taylor have ALWAYS given us bad games and this is no different.

I dont think the Pacers won so much as we lost it. There was so much luck involved here, I’m not as mad as I should be. Just bring it Friday and go with the mindset that you can beat these guys you guys need to hold the lead

Definitely a Thibodeau loss tonight. His first one for this playoffs. Hopefully no more.

I’m streaming the rest of the series illegally because fuck TNT for putting Reggie on this

Co-sign.

Look, everything went right for them to come back: Thibs took out a lineup that was working really well (the lineup many of us have been calling for); we missed a TON of FTs all game; they made a bunch of circus shots among the easy, open looks. Perfect (shit)storm. It isn’t likely to happen again…and Hali giving the choke sign is going to be some pretty serious motivation going forward.

Knicks in 5.

I’m going to be thinking about OG mishandling that pass under the basket for a long time.

KAT made some huge plays, especially in overtime, but when he paused for an eternity on that 2nd FT I knew we were fucked.

Everything that had to go right went right, they hit every fucking shot including a high bouncer with no time left…. we looked really good until the last five minutes. Just go in there and kick their ass in game 2.

Or, this

Always smart to take lineups that dominate out of the game when they’re cooking on both ends… part of what we do around here

But this is also another bad look for Thibs. Should’ve kept McBride in there and run a different offense when they were overloading on Brunson. He also drew up some awful inbounds offense and defense at the end of the 4th and OT.

God, I hate this loss but at least we don’t have to wait long for Game 2

I will say… I wish we had a Mase or Oakley in the paint to body slam Halliburton once or twice.

Adam Silver must be salivating at the Finals ratings for OKC vs Indiana…

Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Even Hali’s shot bricked a mile in the air before going through.

Thibs fucked up, but plenty of blame to go around.

Hubert, that wasn’t OGs fault. Re-watch that. Jerry Rice wouldn’t have come up with that ball. Brunson very weirdly spiked that ball into the ground.

But everything HAD to go right for the Pacers to win this.

So what, though? WE JUST DID THIS TO BOSTON. By stealing two wins we only had to really beat them twice.

Maybe they stole this one. It just means we have to be better than them 5 times now instead of 4.

This is a tough one to swallow. We had them on the ropes and gave the game away. We shot ourselves on the feet. This is a crushing loss and it’s going to take a lot to bounce back. I cannot believe how foolishly we defended at the end of regulation and overtime.

Seems like with a big lead and not much time on the clock you should stick with the more defense oriented lineup. Instead, we went with the starters, which is our worst possible defensive lineup.

Hubert, that wasn’t OGs fault. Re-watch that.

Lol the last thing in the world I want to do is see it again!!

I believe you, though. Brunson had some really weird passes down the stretch.

I love OG to death, but despite the calm demeanor imo he has some issues with his nerves at times.

Keep mcbride in and go double dig if thibs is worried about size. Team choked and the coach made bad moves.

Giving up any game is a big deal. The margins are narrow and it takes a lot less luck to win 3 of 6 than 4 of 6.

that og under the rim was a foul that didn’t get called. Clear hit on the arm

So what, though? WE JUST DID THIS TO BOSTON. By stealing two wins we only had to really beat them twice.

Maybe they stole this one. It just means we have to be better than them 5 times now instead of 4.

Thank you, was just going to say the same thing. Not to mention, this was a tight game the entire game until the Mitch-KAT-OG-Hart-Deuce lineup ran Indy off the floor in the 4th. It’s not like we dominated the entire game.

Seems like with a big lead and not much time on the clock you should stick with the more defense oriented lineup. Instead, we went with the starters, which is our worst possible defensive lineup.

Yeah, awful coaching. Keep mcbride and mitch in

I’ve said this many times this season, most of the times in jest, but tonight truly was fucking embarrassing.

Yeah this was an extremely flukey loss, things went extremely right for the Pacers, etc, but it’s a 7 game series and it’s not good to lose a game you had won until a bunch of insane shit happened. Knicks in 5.

12 missed free throws is inexcuseable. But the killer misses was OG and KAT. They hit those we should win

Is there a way to watch to game in English without Reggie and Stan?

The missed goaltend is actually huuuge. NBA should change those to booth reviews

Seems like with a big lead and not much time on the clock you should stick with the more defense oriented lineup. Instead, we went with the starters, which is our worst possible defensive lineup.

You don’t even have to consider the offensive vs defensive lineup, just watch what’s happening in the game. When KAT and Hart replaced Bridges and Brunson, we were up 94-92 with 10 minutes left in the game. Over the next 5 minutes, we went on a 17-6 run. Then, Brunson and Bridges replaced Deuce and Mitch and Indy goes on a 20-12 run over the next 4.5 minutes before Thibs calls a timeout and makes a substitution.

Is there a way to watch to game in English without Reggie and Stan?

Probably not but if you’re streaming the game it shouldn’t be too difficult to pause the stream and get it to sync up with the radio broadcast.

The goal tending was huge, the missed FTs were huge, but it shouldn’t have come down to that! Defend the fucking 3pt line the last two-three minutes and you win. You were up by 14 with two minutes and change! On your home floor!

KAT was 9-11 from the FT line, the sequencing fucking sucked but that is what it is. Aside from Indy outshooting us from 3 we turned the ball over too much

The missed goaltend is actually huuuge. NBA should change those to booth reviews

Thibs channeled JB Bickerstaff tonight with that stupid challenge. And Carlisle smartly avoided using his even though there were several times when his players were begging him to. His reward for doing so was two huge game-changing overturns in the 4Q and OT, while we were powerless to do anything with multiple calls that didn’t go our way.

Hopefully the lesson was learned. And hopefully it didn’t already cost us the series.

I feel fine because neither of these teams can beat OKC anyway

You never know until you play the games. Boston was suppose to be an L

I cannot believe how foolishly we defended at the end of regulation and overtime.

Brunson scored to put the Knicks up by 9 with 58 seconds left. The only way you can possibly lose is to give up 3s and/or turn the ball over multiple times.

Coaching malpractice to allow three open 3s. They could have just stood at the 3 point arc and allow IND to get lay-ups every possession. In bound the ball and dribble out 24 seconds.

The only way InD could make up 9 points without multiple turnovers was to allow multiple 3s. Malpractice.

Yes, malpractice. They are professionals. They should know better. The coach cannot take a timeout after every play. Is it that difficult to understand that it is critical to defend the 3pt line in those moments?

Malpractice is the correct word. Find the guy who is killing you. One play OG just stares at him.

Knicks led by 14 with 2:45 to play in 4th quarter and now are in OT vs Pacers. Teams leading playoff game by 14+ in final 2:45 of 4th quarter are 994-0 in play by play era (since 1997)

What especially irks me is how the coaching really made a fundamental impact on this game. You had Carlisle mixing and matching a rotation of 10 players to find any advantage he could exploit in the game against us vs. Thibs literally benching, Deuce, his most effective player during the peak of our play because his formula had the starters finishing out the game. Its just so infuriating. The guy refuses to get it.

To be clear, I don’t think we got robbed or the loss is on the refs.

We shouldn’t have been in that situation to start with, we blew the game for a miriad of reasons* and I started whining about our “prevent” iso-offense when we were up by 15 😁

But the reversed call come with 29 seconds to play, we were up 5, and instead of two free throws (a 6 or 7 points lead) Indiana hit a three and cut it to 2.

In OT we were up 4 when they missed the goaltending call** and instead Indiana hit another three and cut it to 1 (and stopped our tiny tiny tiny momentum, Pacers were scoreless to that point).

What I mean is that sometimes you can play dumb basketball and still save your skin and sometimes little details add to your inertia and the avalanche just won’t stop (rewind to the first two games in Boston).

To reverse a game like this everything had to go right for them, including a couple of lucky calls, and everything had to go wrong for us, including a couple of unlucky calls.
All just went exactly so.

There’s still a lot of basketball to play.

* One of the reason was the dumb lost challenge that handcuffed us on the two huge calls.

** it’s 2025 how in hell it’s still a human decision and reviewable only if challenged?

I think part of our inability to defend at the end was the players we had on the court, part was that we were gassed and part was horrid luck on our part.

2 of 3 of those were Thibs’s fault. It he had the right players on the court, we would have defended better and not been gassed.

The big run the Knicks made had Deuce and Mitch on the court. Maybe try stopping them from scoring and play your defenders

To reverse a game like this everything had to go right for them, including a couple of lucky calls, and everything had to go wrong for us, including a couple of unlucky calls.
All just went exactly so.

This is correct. Murphy’s law. It is an optimistic way of looking at how things went down tonight. One the other hand, what did we do to prevent it?

They certainly didn’t run us off the floor. We’re good enough to beat these guys and we played an excellent game for like 45 minutes. So this stings extra bad.

Now this team feels like they can overcome any fucking deficit. This is just the worst way to start off a series. Its ugly as fuck.

They win this game if you keep duece and mitch on the court

I think so

Now this team feels like they can overcome any fucking deficit. This is just the worst way to start off a series. Its ugly as fuck.

They came back from 7 vs the Cavs in 40 seconds to win. The 3 ball and stupidty of the other team will always keep a team alive.

ShwinnyPooh, Hukporti island resident
@shwinnypooh
The starting lineup is not good. They managed to blow a lead that should’ve been unassailable bc of defensive issues that have been present all yr.

Basically every other 5-man unit of their 7 rotation players (8 if you wanna include Payne) performs better.

Idk what else to say.

Have to wonder what makes Thibs lean into it so much.

The big run the Knicks made had Deuce and Mitch on the court. Maybe try stopping them from scoring and play your defenders

It’s incredible that someone that’s supposed to be a defense first coach doesn’t understand that having Deuce and Mitch on the court with OG and Bridges is a very good idea if you need stops. A team like Indiana is going to take advantage of Brunson and Towns together in some way. That’s why the starters struggle at times.

I’ve said this before, but defense is still underrated.

We don’t measure defense well so we don’t weight it properly.

The things of value you measure well will always look more important than the things of value you don’t measure well if you do a regression. The idea is to recognize you aren’t measuring certain things well and then try to determine their value another way.

When healthy, Deuce is one of the best players on the team. You have to create logical lineups with him, but he has to be on the court more. Towns and Brunson never were and still aren’t a good fit defensively unless maybe Mitch or Deuce is out there.

It’s very similar to the philly loss in game 5 last year, it just happened over a longer period of time (3 minutes instead of 30 seconds). We came back strong from that.

I was at the game and it’s not even close, the absolute worst loss I’ve ever witnessed in 40 years of attending games , regular season or playoffs.

Filing out of MSG was like leaving a funeral, total silence and stunned disbelief

Only saving grace is its game 1 and we can recover, but for 46 minutes we looked like we were going to dominate this series, and now it’s probably gonna be a long one.

They managed to blow a lead that should’ve been unassailable bc of defensive issues that have been present all yr.

KAT is KAT and, if Brunson is usually a bad defender, Brunson with 5 fouls is less useful than a traffic cone because he can’t even try the only defensive fundamental he knows (taking a charge).

The lineup was working well enough I thought Thibs would have waited to reinsert him if/when the lead goes down to single figure, I was wrong.

The starting 5 has played a billion minutes together now and still can’t defend. In a close game where you’re trading buckets, I get sticking with the starters, but in this situation we just needed a couple of stops.

Once again I was far too optimistic. I predicted Pacers in 6.

What ended up happening was Pacers in 1.

A gut punch like this to start off a series is unrecoverable. It makes what Reggie Miller did to us to start the ’95 series seem like a love tap. They completely own us mentally now. I’d be surprised if we even compete in Game 2.

As everyone in the world, this is on Thibs and his terrible fucking lineups. The starters are garbage and he is the only person in basketball that hasn’t realized it.

I just want this to be over quickly now. No team wins a series after losing like this. None.

When healthy, Deuce is one of the best players on the team. You have to create logical lineups with him, but he has to be on the court more. Towns and Brunson never were and still aren’t a good fit defensively unless maybe Mitch or Deuce is out there.

Yeah and every top lineup you look at has Deuce in that lineup. Even going back to game 6 vs Boston, the game changed when Mitch and Deuce got on the court. This starting lineup has so many minutes together and it’s been bad for 5 months now. If you’re the coach you have to know this.

I’m glad I didn’t listen to Thib’s post game interview. I probably would have thrown something at my TV. It most likely was a lot of BS like we have to do this better, that better, and the other thing better. We have to play for 48 minutes blah blah blah. Then if questioned on any decision he made he most likely asserted something from a position of authority and no one had the balls to suggest that maybe he was wrong, thinking about it or weighing it incorrectly. He asserts a lot that BS that no one questions.

This starting lineup has so many minutes together and it’s been bad for 5 months now. If you’re the coach you have to know this.

IMO, we are well past the point of it being noise. That’s especially true because we can visually see and measure some of the problems.

This is just one game. We may still win this series. But we all know some of the issues with fit and creating balanced lineups at this point. When we lose because the coach seemingly still hasn’t figured it out, it can be very frustrating.

I hope we win this series and beat whoever is in the finals, but if I was Leon I would still make some significant changes if I could pull something off.

I just want this to be over quickly now. No team wins a series after losing like this. None.

This is why you’re full of shit.

We won a game JUST LIKE THIS against Boston, in fact TWO of them, and you were swearing we were going to lose that series after games three and five.

Sure, we won the series. But that’s not the song you were singing literally in the last round.

We were gonna lose that series according to you even inflicting the same exact kind of loss that’s apparently impossible to recover from.

We have the better team 1-7.

They have the deeper team.

They have the better coach.

They are going to try to wear us down.

How that eventually nets out is anyone’s guess. We sort of knew that how we defended 3s and how they were shooting was one of the keys, but it’s a killer that it happened in game one when we were in complete control and then it went into OT. They stole home court and the extra minutes surely aren’t a positive.

The Knicks lost a game that we were exceedingly unlikely to lose. There is a lot of blame to be shared. There is also a lot of credit to be heaped upon the Pacers’ shooting in the last three minutes of regulation. I doubt that Nesmith could hit that many threes in a row unguarded in warmups.

I doubt not know if Thibs will learn lessons from this loss. I hope he does. For me, the most important lesson is that KAT cannot play defense against a Pacers team that does not put either Turner or Bryant on the floor.

We have no killer instinct. Up by 17 and we relax. Unacceptable! No, coaching did not make the difference tonight. We do have one of the best coaches in the NBA. The players approach made the difference. You can’t think “we got these guys” and it’s over.

This is why you’re full of shit.

Jk – Pags is the Halliburton of Knickerblogger. He says asinine, infuriating shit because he wants to get under your skin. Just scroll past! (Or install knickerblocker in Chrome)

They stole home court

Home court advantage seems a lot less valuable than it was 20+ years ago. No question we can win one or two games in Indiana over the course of the series.

Weakie, I told you once before, it is not as simple as a video game. You can’t keep Deuce in and Brunson out, and so on and so forth. It is much more complicated than “it’s Thibs fault.” You write this every time. Remember that you were saying the same about Pitino right before he won the Coach of the Year award. Have some humility! These people understand more basketball than us. It is not as easy as one, two, three. At the end of the day, it is up to the players to execute, and our players did not execute at the end of the game tonight.

oh they executed alright, just very poorly…

man, now i gotta avoid espn for a couple of days, don’t even think i wanna watch the wolves/thunder now…poop…

i blame this all on you donnie…somehow, someway – your happiness seems to be getting some kind of preferential treatment over mine…feels not fair…

edit: just remembered ATH is down to just 2 shows left, so gonna watch some espn…the panel today split on knicks/pacers…started to get a little nervous when mina kimes picked pacers in six, she’s usually pretty right on most stuff, football mostly, but…

Remember that you were saying the same about Pitino right before he won the Coach of the Year award.

I’ve never said anything about Pitino

We won a game JUST LIKE THIS against Boston, in fact TWO of them, and you were swearing we were going to lose that series after games three and five.

Not just like this. As strat pointed out, playoff teams up 14+ with 2:45 to go were 994-0 before today. This choke job is unprecedented in recorded NBA history. Boston bled leads away slowly. We got our souls owned.

Sure, we won the series. But that’s not the song you were singing literally in the last round.

We were gonna lose that series according to you even inflicting the same exact kind of loss that’s apparently impossible to recover from.

BOS was a far superior team and the defending champs, who had just recently shown the ability to come back from 3-0 to force a game 7, and likely would have won that game 7 if not for Tatum getting hurt. We were about even money in betting markets even after going up 2-0. Here we are at best evenly matched and just showed IND that we’ll bemd right over for them in front of our home crowd whenever they want. We are now significant underdogs to win the series.

We’re fucked and everyone here knows it.

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