[Cactus Jack]

New York holds serve at home and takes Game 1.

[-STAT-]

Old school 90's NBA playoff series, may not be the type of basketball or style of play that the 90's had, but fun to see these 2 teams go at it for a spot in the ECF. Jalen Brunson has been on an absolute tear, 4 straight 40 games. Pacers are a young team with a lot of talent, hardly any playoff experience though, obviously would've been a different series against Milwaukee had Dame & Giannis played, but props to them for moving onto the 2nd round. Could see this series going the full 7.

[-STAT-]

Knicks take control up 2-0, going back to Indy for games 3&4. New York has looked impressive, but can they keep this up with many more injuries than they already have? Brunson went out with a foot last night but ended up playing, and playing well in the 2nd half. OG played great but he left late with a hamstring. Also, what about Josh Hart? playing wire to wire in back to back games, that is very impressive. Indiana will have a chance to regroup and even the series back at home, they need Siakam to really step up, and Haliburton to have the type of game he had in game 2. Never been a Knicks fan, but seeing them playing great and in the playoffs is always fun, especially that crowd at the Garden, who was GIVING IT to Reggie Miller last night which I thought was hilarious.

[-STAT-]

Well this series is similar & opposite of Denver-Minnesota. Team overcoming 2-0 deficit, but home team has won every game. Have to think can the Knicks keep this pace up that they're playing with a shortened roster anyways, plus the lingering injuries that are plaguing them? Coach Thibs is known for playing his starters a high volume of minutes anyways, and that's always going to be the case in the playoffs. Have a feeling this series could go 7. Got to give it to the Pacers for defending home court and getting back to even the series.

[Cactus Jack]

Well this series is similar & opposite of Denver-Minnesota. Team overcoming 2-0 deficit, but home team has won every game. Have to think can the Knicks keep this pace up that they're playing with a shortened roster anyways, plus the lingering injuries that are plaguing them? Coach Thibs is known for playing his starters a high volume of minutes anyways, and that's always going to be the case in the playoffs. Have a feeling this series could go 7. Got to give it to the Pacers for defending home court and getting back to even the series.

Looks like they'll keep it the rest of the series, but I think they'll hit a wall against the Celtics, even if the C's are short-handed. If Boston can put the Knicks away early and get some extra rest, that'd probably be huge for them in the Finals.

Guys like Tom Thibodeau and Kelvin Sampson are obviously great basketball minds, but you wonder how much of the "toughness" mentality has been passed by current sports science and data analytics.

Can't win if the key pieces you've rode all season are on the bench in braces or putting topical on surgical sites during the games that really matter.

[-STAT-]

This has been a wild back & forth series /w home teams still holding strong in every game. This series will definitely go the full 7, imagine how wild the Garden will be for a game 7? Brunson continues to show out in these playoffs, 44 points last night, maybe the worrisome issue was he got those on 35 FG attempts. He has obviously carried the Knicks this far, but other than that they're getting no production outside of the Nova bros. Only chance Indy has is to outscore you with their fast pace, definitely not going to slow you down defensively, so if they're not hitting in game 6, the road team could possibly finish this series in 6.