New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers: The way the East should be

They also did so by becoming arguably the New York Knicks’ most infamous rival in any specific era. Therefore, it makes all the sense in the world that the current Pacers are standing in the way of the Knicks’ first NBA Finals trip since 1999.

The dynasty-less NBA

While the prognosticators would vehemently disagree, the Knicks and Pacers battling for East supremacy in 2025 makes perfect sense.

Last year, Jayson Tatum’s Celtics won the NBA championship. Nikola Jokic did his thing the year prior with the unassuming Denver Nuggets.

In 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks shocked the world en route to the organization’s first NBA championship in half a century. Two years prior, Kawhi Leonard delivered Canada a hoops title courtesy of the Toronto Raptors’ shocker over the mighty Golden State Warriors.

Save for the Warriors’ chip in 2022 and the strangeness that was LeBron James’s bubble ring in 2020, the modern era’s champions are defined by freshness and a bit of randomness.

As is usually a shock to the basketball senses, we live in a dynasty-less National Basketball Association.

Of the four teams remaining in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, three have never won NBA championships (Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Oklahoma City Thunder). Meanwhile, the Knicks haven’t captured one since 1973.

Why not the Jalen Brunson-led New York Knicks? Why not the Indiana Pacers, who are quite literally paced by point guard Tyrese Haliburton—a man whose skill set is often victimized by overrated claims?

As far as the East is concerned, Knicks-Pacers brings a splash of modern ball on top of a healthy heaping of nostalgia.

Knicks vs. Pacers makes sense

As nobody predicted, New York handled the defending champion Celtics in Round 2. Sure, the Tatum injury cannot be totally waved away as insignificant, but let’s also not pretend that the Knicks failed to handle their business.

Tatum’s devastating injury occurred after the Knicks had, in essence, already taken a commanding 3-1 series lead at Madison Square Garden. Just one game later, the city—coupled with the frantic national media—was ready to package and ship head coach Tom Thibodeau out of town.

(By the way, can we please stop with the anti-Thibs nonsense now? I beg of all of you to grasp just how special a hoops coach this guy is, but I digress … )

A mere game after the Game 5 disaster, Midtown Manhattan—particularly 7th Ave—turned into the latest, greatest party … yet again. Imagine the indescribable scene if/when the Knicks take that next step by jumping into the NBA Finals.

Sheesh.

One more roadblock remains, however.

How could it not be the Indiana Pacers?

You’d think that dethroning the defending champs and odds-on favorite to win the 2025 title would serve as the Knicks’ most notable challenger. You would have also thought Jordan’s retirement and escaping the close call against Chicago would deliver Ewing his elusive NBA title in 1994.

No dice.

Once again, it’s Indiana appearing out of nowhere. More interestingly, it’s Indiana appearing for a second-straight season with retribution on the line.

Retribution is also at play

Though the ’90s Knicks nearly finished in a dead heat with Miller’s Pacers—Indiana edging them 3-2 through the 2000 playoffs—their overall history against the hicks isn’t stellar.

In eight all-time playoff series matchups, New York has won just three times. Furthermore, the Pacers have won the last three (2024, 2013, and 2000).

Forget all of the memorable and history-making moments for a moment.

Wash away Reggie Miller’s 25-point fourth quarter in the Spike Lee choke game. Throw out Miller’s absurd eight points in nine seconds effort that led to Ewing’s missed fingerroll in 1995.

Go as far as to even wave away the good moments, such as Larry Johnson’s four-point play and Allan Houston’s 1999 ECF dominance. Not even Starks’s heroic Game 6 road effort should factor into the equation.

Even when excluding these moments, the retribution factor is still through the roof.

It’s not that the Knicks lost to the Pacers last playoff season; it’s the manner in which they lost.

Mitchell Robinson‘s absence, Josh Hart‘s banged-up abdomen, and OG Anunoby‘s hammy gifted Indiana the series. Shoot, we haven’t even reached the series tipping point, which was Jalen Brunson’s broken hand.

Granted, the New York-Indiana history is relevant on the rarest of hoops levels, but most of that is for the fans. The nostalgic factor that brings the Knicks vs. The Hicks to the table matters greatly, but the idea that the current series can stand on its own (modern) merit is the authentic takeaway.

The fact that these Knicks, this specific lineup of players who represent the entire city, feel they were out-and-out robbed of a title chance in 2024, is more than enough to set up the latest matchup in this rivalry in the fiercest fashion.

Oh yeah, a certain somebody named Reggie will be calling the game as the color commentator for TNT’s final NBA broadcast, just a short distance from his spotlighted stage where he performed his off-Broadway show unofficially titled “Big Apple Hoops Torture.” He’ll sit just feet from a former arch-nemesis who unintentionally charged him up so emotionally that he couldn’t help but break hearts citywide.

I mean, life must be a simulation … right?

Or, at the very least, a Spike Lee Joint?

Of course it’s the Indiana Pacers; a New York Knicks’ playoff run to a potential NBA championship wouldn’t feel correct without that fundamental realization.