Myles Turner Takes Shots At NBA Media; Quotes Kobe Bryant Once Again

The Indiana Pacers pulled off another shocking win and closed out their series vs. the Cavaliers in five games. They won the last game 114-105 after being down as many as 19 points in the second quarter. It is shocking because only one fourth seed team in NBA history has gone onto the NBA Finals and won it all (Milwaukee Bucks, 2021). Therefore, history was not on the Pacers' side going into this series. Neither were NBA media members.

After the elimination game, Myles Turner took to social media and called out NBA media members from ESPN who all predicted that the Cavaliers would take this series. Not one ESPN expert predicted that the Pacers would win, let alone stun the Cavaliers like this in five games.

"Jobs Not Finished #YesCers", wrote Turner on X as he posted a screenshot of all the 13 members of ESPN's staff who predicted that the Pacers would not win this series. He once again referenced Kobe Bryant's famous quote from the 2009 Finals when they went up 2-0 against the Orlando Magic. After the last game as well, when Turner was asked about the impact of the win on the team's morale, he used the same quote from Bryant.

Do The Pacers Have It In Them To Win It All?

The Pacers will likely face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, as they are up 3-1 in their series with the Celtics. Moreover, the Celtics have also lost Jayson Tatum to injury. The Knicks and Pacers both will have a tremendous amount of pressure on their shoulders. The last time either of these made the NBA Finals was in consecutive seasons, 1999 (Knicks) and 2000 (Pacers). 

Moreover, the Pacers and Knicks have never won a championship in their history since the 1976 merger. Both teams last saw glory before the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. The Knicks won in 1970 and 1973 in the NBA, while the Pacers won in the ABA in 1970, 1972, and 1973. Therefore, both franchises are equally desperate to rewrite their history. 

In a battle of the underdogs, Myles Turner will play a crucial role in determining whether the Pacers can pull off an upset on the Knicks. Whereas Mikal Bridges can play that role for the Knicks. If Turner can shut down Karl Anthony Towns inside the paint, then he could cause tremendous trouble for the Knicks. While Bridges, being matched up against smaller-sized Andrew Nembhard, can get whatever he wants on the offensive end of the floor. Therefore, the performance of these two players could make it or break it for either team in this series.

However, the Knicks hold a slight advantage in their potential series as they have home-court advantage in a series of seven games. Even in the regular season, the Knicks were up 2-1 in their season series with the Pacers. In my opinion, despite the Pacers proving all ESPN media members wrong, they will not win the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Knicks will be the Eastern Conference champions.