INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty five years after their last trip to the NBA Finals, the Pacers will meet the same team in the this year’s Eastern Conference Finals as they did in 2000 and in several other playoff series before and since.
The Pacers once again face the New York Knicks, their historic playoff nemesis going back to the days of Reggie Miller and Patrick Ewing. This will mark the ninth time they’ve met in a playoff series with the first coming in 1993. The Pacers have won five of the eight playoff series, but the Knicks are 2-1 when they’ve met in the Eastern Conference Finals with victories in both 1994 and 1999 before the Pacers finally got them in 2000.
The Pacers have won the past three series between the teams including last year’s conference semifinals series which went to Game 7 before the Pacers advanced with a record-breaking shooting performance at Madison Square Garden, making 67.1% of their field goals in a 130-109 win.
However, both teams have made changes with the Knicks moves being the more significant as they lost Dante DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein from last year’s playoff starting five but gained Mikal Bridges and Karl Anthony Towns. The teams have similar styles and approaches to what they had a year ago, but their personnel changes are just enough to make a difference.
With that in mind, here’s a look at how this year’s Pacers and Knicks match up in several key areas.
Pacers vs Knicks: Offense
The Pacers and Knicks offensive production numbers in the regular season were nearly identical but their style of play is dramatically different. The Knicks have more prolific top-line scorers while the Pacers share the ball more
The Pacers finished seventh in the NBA in scoring with 117.4 points per game while the Knicks were behind them in ninth with 115.8 per game. The Pacers were third in field goal percentage (.488) and the Knicks were fifth (.486.) The Knicks were eighth in 3-point percentage (.369) and the Pacers were ninth (.368). The Knicks shoot 80% at the line and are fifth in the league. The Pacers finished ninth at 78.9%.
But the Knicks’ offense is focused on showcasing their stars, slowing the game down and letting them make plays in isolation. The Pacers’ offense is about pace and tempo, fast-breaks, ball movement, player movement and sharing the basketball as much as possible.
The Knicks have two of the top 20 scorers in the NBA in Jalen Brunson (10th at 26.0 points per game) and Karl Anthony Towns (19th at 24.4 ppg). plus three more scorers with at least 13 points per game in OG Anunoby (18.0 ppg), Mikal Bridges (17.6 ppg) and Josh Hart (13.6 ppg). However, guard Miles McBride is the only sub who averages more than 7.0 points per game at 9.5. They ranked fifth in the NBA in offensive efficiency at 117.3 points per 100 possession, but they rank 26th in pace (97.64 possessions per game) and 11th in assists with 27.5 per game. The Knicks aren’t quite as strong of an offensive rebounding team as they were a year ago when they led the league in offensive rebounding percentage, but they’re still ninth in the category.
The Pacers, meanwhile, are third in the NBA in assists (29.2 per game) seventh in pace (100.76 possessions per game) and ninth in offensive efficiency (115.4 points per 100 possessions.) The Pacers only had one scorer in the top 50 of the league in Pascal Siakam at 20.2 per game, but they had seven players average in double figures in Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton (18.6 ppg), Bennedict Mathurin (16.1 ppg), Myles Turner (15.6 ppg) Aaron Nesmith (12.0 ppg), Obi Toppin (10.5 ppg) and Andrew Nembhard (10.0 ppg). Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell nearly missed giving them an eighth with 9.1 ppg. They aren’t quite as explosive as they were in 2023-24 when they averaged 123.3 points per game, the sixth highest figure in NBA history and highest in 40 years, but they’re still explosive enough and their relentless pursuit of pace is tough to maintain. They’re second in the NBA in scoring in the playoffs with 117.7 points per game and the only team that has averaged more is the Cleveland team they just eliminated.
Advantage: Pacers
Pacers vs Knicks: Defense
Just as is the case with the offense, Pacers and Knicks have nearly identical numbers with different styles. The Pacers use 11 players to facilitate full-court man-to-man pressure to wear teams down. The Knicks depend heavily on three ace defensive wings that allow them to switch and have answers for any and all top perimeter scorers. And yet both teams finished the season with the exact same defensive ranking at 113.3 points allowed per 100 possessions. The Knicks were technically 13th and the Pacers 14th, but there was no real separation there. The Knicks held opponents to 111.7 points per game while the Pacers gave up 115.1 but the difference was largely a product of pace.
The Knicks defense is led by a true game-wrecker in Anunoby, the former IU star who led the NBA in steals in 2022-23. The Pacers avoided him for much of last year’s playoffs because of a hamstring strain, and the Knicks were a different team when he went down. The 6-7 Anunoby combined with the 6-4 Hart and 6-6 Bridges give them a lot of options to handle every position 1-4. Anunoby will likely be asked to deal with former teammate Siakam and either Bridges or Hart could cause problems for Haliburton. McBride is also an effective defensive heckler off the bench, and he caused problems for Haliburton last season. Mitchell Robinson also gives them some rim protection off the bench, though that’s not as much of Towns’ strength.
The Pacers, meanwhile, have made a dramatic leap on defense after they finished 24th in the NBA in defensive rating last season and 27th in scoring defense. They’ve committed to pressuring the ball with all five positions willing and able to pick up full-court. Nembhard has become one of the league’s best on-ball defenders and an All-Defensive team seems to be somewhere in his future. Nesmith remains the team’s most versatile defender and the most willing to take on physical punishment and his defense on Brunson last year helped turn the series. Siakam has made strides as a defender this year and Haliburton — though not a great on-ball defender — frequently gets his hands on the ball by reading passing lanes and averages 1.4 steals per game. They have better rim protection than the Knicks in Myles Turner and they have more extensive defensive bench options in McConnell, Mathurin, Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker.
Advantage: Knicks
Pacers vs Knicks: Depth
This is the area where the contrast between the Pacers and the Knicks’ approaches are the most stark.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is such a believer in the idea of his team’s “physicality being our persistence” he’s using 10-11 men in each playoff game, extending his rotation when other teams are shrinking theirs. That fuels the Pacers’ full-court pressure because when they take Nembhard and Nesmith off the floor, they can still pressure with McConnell, Mathurin, Sheppard and even Walker.
The Pacers led all playoff teams in bench scoring last year with 33.3 points per game and they’re averaging even more this year even though they’re fourth in the category, averaging 35.7 points per game. All three teams ahead of them — Milwaukee, Cleveland and Golden State — have been eliminated with the Pacers doing the honors to two of those teams. The Pacers are also second in bench field goal percentage (.480) and first in bench assists (8.4 per game). McConnell, Mathurin and Toppin give the Pacers three reliable reserve scorers. Mathurin was the team’s third-leading scorer during the regular season and though much of what he accomplished came during the period when he was starting, he’s sixth among all players in the playoffs in total points off the bench with 98. McConnell is ninth in total points with 86 and first in total assists off the bench with 44 after leading the playoffs in both categories last season. Toppin is also 10th in total points with 85.
The Knicks, meanwhile, barely use their bench. During the regular season, Hart finished second in the NBA in minutes per game while Bridges was fourth, Anunoby was sixth, Brunson was 17th and Towns was 25th with all five averaging 35.0 minutes per game or more. The Pacers, by contrast, didn’t have a player in the top 40 with Haliburton finishing 42nd with 33.6 minutes per game. The Knicks’ five starters played 940 minutes together as a five-man unit this year. No other five-man lineup played more than 714 minutes together and just two played more than 500 together. The Knicks finished last in the NBA in both bench minutes and bench points. McBride, Cameron Payne and Precious Achiuwa were the only bench players who totaled more than 1,000 minutes this season and averaged more than 6.0 points per game.
Advantage: Pacers
Pacers vs Knicks: Coaching
Tom Thibodeau is a two-time Coach of the Year with 579 career regular season wins who is in his 10th playoff run since his first season as a head coach in 2010-11. He’s never reached the NBA Finals and has been to the conference finals just once before this season — his first season when he coached the Bulls to a No. 1 seed in the East but a 4-1 loss to LeBron James’ first Miami Heat team. Thibodeau has a reputation for creating tough, edgy, defensive-oriented teams that win on grit and he’s turned this Knicks team into a perennial playoff squad after a seven-year postseason drought prior to his hiring.
However, Thibodeau has a stubborn streak and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has won across several eras with several playing styles because he’s adaptable. He’s built defensive-oriented teams and one of the most potent offenses in league history, and few are better in game-to-game and halftime adjustments than he is. He has one title under his belt already and he might be in the midst of his best chance at another.
Advantage: Pacers
Pacers vs Knicks: Eastern Conference Finals schedule, game times, TV channel
All times Eastern; *-if necessary
Game 1, Wed., May 21: at Knicks, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 2, Fri., May 23: at Knicks, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 3, Sun., May 25: at Pacers, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 4, Tues., May 27: at Pacers, 8 p.m., TNT
*-Game 5, Thurs., May 29: at Knicks, 8 p.m., TNT
*-Game 6, Sat., May 31: at Pacers, 8 p.m., TNT
*-Game 7, Mon., June 2: at Knicks, 8 p.m., TNT
How many times have Pacers played Knicks in NBA playoffs?
This will be ninth series between Indiana and New York.
How many times have the Pacers beat Knicks in NBA playoffs?
The Pacers are 5-3 in the previous eight series against the Knicks, and have won the past three, including last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals.
Have Indiana Pacers ever been to the NBA Finals?
Yes, the Pacers played in the 2000 NBA Finals against the L.A. Lakers. Indiana beat the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals that season.
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