Knicks Offer First Thoughts on Pacers Rematch

It wasn't easy beating green, and now the New York Knicks are back against the blue.

The Knicks' reward for ousting the defending champion Boston Celtics is an Eastern Conference Finals date with the Indiana Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton's Hoosiers have been at rest since Tuesday, having toppled the top-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers in a five-game set.

"They're an excellent basketball team, strong on both sides of the ball," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau analyzed on Friday, short after his squad earn the clinching victory over the Celtics (h/t SNY). "Their ability to push the ball to defensive transition [is huge]. When you look at their guard play, you're dealing with Haliburton and [Andrew] Nembhard, and [TJ] McConnell.

"They can push it and they can break it down off the dribble, so you've got to be very disciplined in your approach. They can spread you out. [Pascal] Siakam and [Myles] Turner are very talented bigs, so we understand what the challenge is."

A powwow with the Pacers, set to tip-off on Wednesday in Manhattan (8 p.m. ET, TNT), is deja vu all over again for the Knicks. The plot of Manhattan's lasting postseason roundball rivalry with Indianapolis, of course, hardly needs any exposition, as this will be the ninth playoff meeting between the two sides.

Indiana has won five of the prior eight sets, but the Knicks are 2-1 when an NBA Finals bid is on the line: Patrick Ewing's dramatic dunk was the sealer in a seven-game clash in 1994 before Larry Johnson's four-point play kept the Knicks' improbable Finals trek alive five years later. Indiana took revenge the following year, as Reggie Miller ended Ewing's Knick career on a sour note at the turn-of-the-century.

At this time last season, New York owned a 3-2 lead on Indiana in a conference semifinal series where it held homecourt advantage. Two injury-plagued losses, however, extended their conference final drought to one more season before they bested Boston in six, delivering the final touch with a 119-81 beatdown of Beantown on Friday at Madison Square Garden.

Josh Hart, earner of the Knicks franchise's first postseason triple-double since 1972 (and afrenemy of the pesky McConnell), theorized that the particulars of Friday's fracas could help them against the Pacers this time around.

"We can build off this game," Hart said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. "I feel our communication was great today and that’s something we can carry into that series. We just have to make sure we are prepared."

"It’s going to be a tough opponent," Hart added. "They push the pace. They run on makes, misses, and it’s going to be a huge communication series for us. We are going to have to be locked in on every possession, have to get back defensively."

The Knicks earned a 2-1 record against the Pacers this season (including a victorious 123-98 shellacking to open this year's MSG slate), but the last meeting landed on Feb. 11 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. After that game, Indiana closed the regular season on a 21-9 run, good for fifth-best in the NBA in that span.