This series felt over before it even started.
Because the Indiana Pacers — much like the Oklahoma City Thunder — don’t just play basketball. They solve it. Every game becomes equal parts math equation and war of attrition.
Both teams rank atop all playoff contenders in average number of players used per game. They run out 10-man rotations like clockwork, deploying at least five bench players every night with purpose — not just to steal minutes, but to win them.
And the Knicks, much like the Minnesota Timberwolves — who the Thunder sent packing in five games on Wednesday — belong to a group of contenders still clinging to an old blueprint. A blueprint that doesn’t hold up in today’s postseason meta.
They rely on stars. They rely on toughness. But when it comes to depth, they’re trying to manufacture what simply isn’t there — oftentimes refusing to use the little they do have.
It’s why this team is fumbling its closest shot at an NBA Finals appearance in over two decades. Because they don’t have the bodies — and bodies are winning basketball games.
Through Games 1 to 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers averaged 10.25 players per game — including nine who appeared in every contest. The Knicks? They played nine, too — on paper. But only seven logged real, consistent minutes. The rest were situational at best. Guards like Delon Wright and Landry Shamet didn’t enter the rotation until the Knicks were already staring at an 0-2 hole.
Same pattern in the West: The Timberwolves had eight players appear in all five games of their series. The Thunder sat Aaron Wiggins for two of them — and still had nine consistent contributors.
It’s not a coincidence. The two deepest teams in the league are the teams likely headed to the Finals. Not because of MVPs. Not because of max contracts. Because of depth.
Depth isn’t just insurance — it’s identity. It lets the Pacers push pace, wear teams down, and keep legs fresh without sacrificing execution. It’s a byproduct of a front office that understands an NBA season isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon.
And yet here are the Knicks, potentially falling for the second straight year to the same exact formula.
Last season, Indiana was written off as a fluke — a team that only advanced because New York was riddled with injuries. But maybe that wasn’t a fluke. Maybe it was a preview. Because now the Pacers are doing it again — and the rest of the league is starting to take notes.
Even the Golden State Warriors were seen as serious contenders before Stephen Curry’s season ended on a freak hamstring injury. Not just because of Curry and Jimmy Butler — two of the game’s premier competitors — but because of what they had behind them. Jonathan Kuminga. Moses Moody. Gary Payton II. Brandon Podziemski. Quinten Post. Nine players not named Curry appeared in all five second-round games. Three others appeared in four.
The Knicks, by contrast, are top-heavy and squeezed for options. They’ve committed over $50 million annually to Karl-Anthony Towns. They owe north of $30 million each to Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby. They just traded five draft picks for Mikal Bridges, who’s up for an extension that will push him beyond his current $23.3 million salary.
There’s no easy fix. If the Knicks want depth, they’ll need to get creative — through the draft, through trade, through a front office sleight of hand.
But even then, there’s no guarantee the bench sees daylight. Because Tom Thibodeau has his method — and that method hasn’t budged in over a decade. It took Thibodeau an 0-2 conference finals hole to shake up his starting lineup and give the team’s two unused veteran bench contributors real minutes. Against teams that have been mixing and matching lineups since Game 1 of 82, adjustments in Game 97 and 98 hardly stand a chance.
Still, the evidence is right in front of them: The teams advancing and the teams booking flights to Cancun have distinct differences. The NBA will always be a star’s league. But the teams that win it all? They’re deeper than the headlines.
Depth is the new meta. And if the Knicks don’t adapt, they’ll be left behind.
Because the game isn’t slowing down — and neither are the teams that cracked the code.
The Knicks haven’t found the right combination because they haven’t used enough numbers. If they don’t want to succumb to the same fate a third season in a row, they need to take a page from the two teams headed to the NBA Finals, while they are headed for an offseason with more questions than answers.
