May 19, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau greets guard Josh Hart (3) as he leaves the game after fouling out during the fourth quarter of game seven of the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Prior Pacers Loss Sticks With Knicks

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Geoff Magliocchetti | Last updated May 21, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Last season's postseason showdown against the Indiana Pacers proved unforgettable for all the wrong — and maybe right — reasons for the New York Knicks.

New York is just about a year removed from its most recent postseason disappointment, a seven-game defeat to the Pacers in last season's Eastern Conference semifinal. An instant opportunity for revenge on a grander stage awaits this week, as the Knicks and Pacers will play for the East's NBA Finals bid in the conference final.

"It still kind of bothers me," Knicks captain and point guard Jalen Brunson said of last year's loss on Monday in video from SNY. "I feel like once you get into the season, you start thinking about the next game and everything like that. Obviously, it was a missed opportunity last year, playing them at home in Game 7, regardless of who we had out there."

Jalen Brunson Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Last year's clash between the Knicks and Pacers — the eighth between the lasting postseason rivals — goes down as one of the most prominent "what if" situations in recent memory: the Knicks dealt with numerous injuries in the latter stages of the series, which included a finger ailment to Brunson in the dreary finale, a 130-109 defeat at Madison Square Garden.

"I think you have to process-oriented," head coach Tom Thibodeau said in another video from SNY. "Sometimes you fall short of your goal, then you prepare all summer for the next season. That's really what you have to do. You do the best that you can given the circumstances that you have and you go from there."

Beyond the better medical outlook, the Knicks' circumstances have drastically flipped since they did battle last spring: New York paid a big price for potential game changers in Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, both of whom have come up big in this new postseason trip.

Other than Brunson, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson are perhaps the vital returnees from the infirmary, as Anunoby's two-way game and Robinson's antics in the interior were sorely missed in the final stanzas, which saw the Knicks drop four of the last five games.

It was enough for Josh Hart to claim that this year's Knicks are a "totally different team" in a "totally different situation."

"Another year, another series," Hart said in another video from SNY. "Y'all can write whatever y'all want, they're going to make it into a revenge thing or something like that ... We just got to make sure we're ready. That's an extremely talented team whose offense is clicking at all starters right now. Nothing about revenge or anything, it's just about next series."

This article first appeared on New York Knicks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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