Knicks fans troll Pacers with disrespectful chant after Game 5 win

The Knicks showed in Game 3 that they can compete on the Pacers’ homecourt even though Indiana is still unbeaten at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in this year’s playoffs. Of course, the Pacers blew them out in Game 4, but the Knicks have shown so much resiliency that they will head to Indianapolis with their confidence at an all-time high. After all, Jalen Brunson is the best player in the series, and there’s nothing quite the confidence that that fact brings to a team.

Pacers’ defense gets beaten to a pulp by a shorthanded squad

Much has been made about the Pacers’ mediocre defense all throughout the 2023-24 season. Their point of attack defense, in particular, has been shoddy all year, and in Game 5, their biggest weakness was exposed once again by a Knicks team that’s refusing to go away.

Moreover, the Knicks have also exposed another weakness of the Pacers’ — defensive rebounding. Myles Turner has never been the best on the glass while Pascal Siakam has operated at his best under a more traditional big man, and the Knicks took advantage, hauling in 20 offensive rebounds on the night and outrebounding them 53-29 overall — an eye-popping disparity.

The Knicks have been doing this even though a few of their most important players have fallen due to injury. Again, it is worth mentioning that they are without OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and Bojan Bogdanovic, which makes taking a 30-point win in the playoffs against a good Pacers team that much more impressive.

Still, even though fans are confident that the Knicks can close it out on Thursday, the Pacers have done a perfect job of protecting homecourt all postseason long. New York has to muster yet another spotless performance, but they have certainly earned the benefit of the doubt regarding their capability to do so given how they have refused to give up despite mounting adversity.

Knicks are on the cusp of snapping their ECF drought

The Knicks franchise is one of the proudest in NBA history. But since the Patrick Ewing era in the 1990s, they haven’t really been in a position to contend for a championship. The Carmelo Anthony Knicks came close, but in 2013, they were knocked out in the second round of the playoffs by their longtime rival, the Pacers.

This year’s Knicks are trying to avoid the same fate so they could finally return to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. It’s unreal how fast time has flown, but 24 years have passed since the Knicks came to within eight wins away of winning it all.

That 2000 Knicks team carried over the momentum of their run to the Finals in 1999, with Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell leading the way, and a much older version of Ewing still around to steady the ship. But they were stopped in their tracks by, yet again, the Pacers; in fact, in 1995 and 1998, Indiana was also the team that sent New York home. This shows that the Knicks fans are hungry to get their revenge on a Pacers team that always seems to find a way to be the thorn in their side.

If the Knicks do end up snapping their 24-year ECF drought, they would, once again, be regarded as the underdogs as it’s likely that the Boston Celtics will be advancing to meet them with the Cleveland Cavaliers dealing with injury woes to two of their best players in Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen. But that is exactly where the Knicks want to be, playing with house money as they set out to prove their doubters wrong.