2025 EAST FINALS: (3) New York Knicks Vs. (4) Indiana Pacers

Spoiler

BWAHAHAHAHA

 

The Knicks have only been together a year. You gotta let them play together for more than that to see results. All that said, I don't see them gaining ground on the Cavs or the Celtics, let alone the West. Still, more time to see what they can do.

 

I do like the lids for the Finals. That pacers hat has some style.

 

What exactly does their draft pick situation have to do with Thibs results on the court? Strange comment

 

Knicks roster was never going to be great. It’s painful to watch Towns play basketball. If he had been called for offensive fouls it would've been better for the viewer and the Knicks, because he plays like ass 90% of the time. So reliant on the whistle, it’s crazy. And Hart may have heart but he’s underperformed tremendously! They really are missing DiVicenzo’s shooting from last year. Bridges defense saved them last series. But the main issue was giving up WAY too many fast break points, that’s inexcusable how it kept happening game after game after game. That’s also on Thibs. I wanted this go to 7, but definitely didn’t want to see the Knicks against OKC. Pacers deserve a lot of credit, that defense is a thing of beauty. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that stifling defense honestly. The series was not the great one I anticipated, but it did prove the Knicks are not going to get far with this roster and Thibs. And it proved the Pacers are legit once again and how I love watching them. Beat OKC!!

 

Lmao the OKC already did good with 68 Wins in the harder West while the Pacers toiled themselves to 50 Wins in a weaker East.

 

It's a damn shame the Knicks lost, I'm sure we'll never hear the end of it.

Go Pacers!

It's perfect that a state, "The Sooner State", named after a bunch of chiseling land thieves, is gonna get their NBA title via a franchise they stole.

 

The Pacers had a better record / winning percentage vs. the West than vs. the East. They also started out 10-15 with early injuries to Haliburton, Nesmith (35 games), Nembhard, and season enders to both backup centers. After that they played at an elite level.

 

There is no doubt people love Indiana more than OKC but things stand what they have accomplished last year and this year and that they have the best organization right now ....Indiana winning a chip would not even change the trajectory of OKC management always competing.

Sports is fair in that sense that the better team or the readier team wins but you cannot overlook what Presti has done virtually every year to put them in the best position and their challenges being critical.

Haliburton starting the season not that well, nobody had them on their list......

Nobody is even talking that Chet missing 3 months and Hartenstein missing 2 months.

 

No disrespect, it is not the same when a GLeague coach like Daigneault is winning a title or Carlisle who is already established and coached the Mavs championship team.

 

The OKC Thunder and Indiana Pacers are both DEEP teams with superb star players, excellent complimentary role players, and outstanding bench players.

Here are each team’s 12-man rotation who played significant roles in this year’s playoffs:

OKC THUNDER:
36.7 MINS - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
34.7 MINS - Jalen Williams
29.5 MINS - Chet Holmgren
27.2 MINS - Lu Dort
24.3 MINS - Isaiah Hartenstein
22.4 MINS - Alex Caruso
22.3 MINS - Cason Wallace
13.9 MINS - Aaron Wiggins
10.9 MINS - Isaiah Joe
9.4 MINS - Kenrich Williams
9.3 MINS - Jaylin Williams

INDIANA PACERS:
35.3 MINS - Tyrese Haliburton
33.4 MINS - Andrew Nembhard
33.3 MINS - Pascal Siakam
31.4 MINS - Myles Turner
30.4 MINS - Aaron Nesmith
16.5 MINS - Obi Toppin
16.4 MINS - T.J. McConnell
16.0 MINS - Bennedict Mathurin
12.9 MINS - Ben Sheppard
9.8 MINS - Thomas Bryant
9.6 MINS - Jarace Walker

Usually, playoff rotations are only 8-players deep and goes up to about 10-players for their whole run due to cross-matchups from series-to-series depending on team needs. The Thunder and Pacers just raised that ceiling to another level.

Both teams are beautifully built. We may be entering an era where the meta is a deep-roster + top-heavy lineup archetype. This is beautiful TEAM-oriented basketball and I'm in for it!

(Post copied from a social media board)

 

The Pacers got hot at the right time. Are they really shooting like 90% from three? Hope they can keep it up.

 

That looks like superstar numbers compared to Jalen

 

Hes the last person to blame.

 

Possible ways for a team to shake things up with hopes of improving.

1. Trades(s)
2. Draft
3. Coaching change

Their poor situation with Draft Picks makes it difficult to improve via trades.

At the moment, it appears that they don't have a First Round Pick in the 2025 Draft and just #50 in the Second Round. So low expectations for improvement via the upcoming Draft.

Thibs is 67 and doesn't have a reputation for liking change.


They can go into next season with much the same roster and keep Thibs as the coach. If they do that, then I would expect results similar to this season.

Since they didn't impress against Detroit in the Playoffs, they might not make it to the Conference Finals next season.

 

Who won the Randle-KAT trade?

 

Neither.

Wolves? DiVincenzo, 17th pick, Randle (could stay or go)

Knicks gonna be paying Big Softy $53M/$57M/$61M

 

Maybe the Knicks, but probably not by much.

____________2025 - 26______2026 - 27______2027 - 28
Towns_____$53,142,264___$57,078,728___$61,015,192

Randle_____$30,935,520 [PO]______________________


From the Minnesota POV, the Future money owed to Towns likely cancelled most if not all of the talent - ability edge that he has over Randle.