Pacers Will Cautiously Lean on Major Advantage Against Knicks

The Indiana Pacers have proven everyone wrong in each of the last two seasons. No one thought that they would make a run to the Eastern Conference Finals two years in a row.

Yet, here they are. The Pacers are looking at making the second trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history if they can take care of the New York Knicks.

Indiana has been able to defeat both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers by being the better team. They have used their speed and their transition offense to overwhelm them.

As the Pacers prepare ahead of Game 1, Indiana will use that speed advantage against the Knicks. The difference is that the Knicks are one of the better, well-conditioned teams in the league.

That's part of the reason why they are able to play the massive number of minutes that they have. Rick Carlisle understands this and knows that the Pacers are in for a challenge.

"They're great at what they do, so we're going to have to work hard to be as good as we can at what we do," Carlisle said. "That's usually what a playoff series comes down to is a battle of styles. It will be a very tough challenge. They play the way they play. Their starters are all great players, they're all great at what they do. You just see more of the best players. There's no bargain there at all."

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Indiana isn't going to change who they are. They are going to keep running out in transition and keep getting the timely stops that they have been able to get for the last half of the year.

That combination is something that they hope can get them into the NBA Finals. The Pacers shoot a whopping 62.3 percent from the field in transition opportunities.

Indiana beat the Knicks in seven games last season. While that was a different Knicks team, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam believe they can lead the Pacers to another series win.

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