Stephen A. Smith obliterates New York Knicks after back-to-back ECF home losses

“[Indiana Pacers head coach] Rick Carlisle can do it, [Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark] Daigneault can do it, but when you’re a team devoid of depth which you didn’t work to perfection to develop throughout the regular season, you don’t wait until the postseason all of a sudden to get exploratory,” Smith said. “You can’t have Mitchell Robinson in there at the expense of an All-Star who gives you 24 a night.”

Robinson, who suffered an apparent ankle injury with 7:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, scored just six points (2-3 FG), grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots in 29 minutes of action. Towns played a minute less than Robinson, where he poured in 20 points on 6-14 shooting with seven rebounds.

“[Towns] just had a big game the night before. You can not do that, but that’s exactly what Tom Thibodeau did. I point the finger directly at him. For the fourth quarter, I saw him everytime there was a camera on him with his arms just folded looking completely helpless. Well dammit, he wasn’t helpless. At the end of the day, you’ve got a situation where Indiana, whose been the underdog in each one of these game, came back and won.”

The series now shifts to Indiana, where Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers will look to take a 3-0 series lead on Sunday at 8:00 pm ET. The Pacers seem to be in good shape, as 90.9% of teams that have jumped out to a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Conference Finals have gone on to win the series.

Smith however wasn’t done dogging New York’s team, as he continued to pile back on as Kendrick Perkins began to talk about the Knicks’ defense.

“That wasn’t any different than game one and they went into overtime and held a 17-point lead with six-plus minutes,” Smith exclaimed. “It was 14 with 2:50, it was nine with 52 seconds left, you weren’t saying that then so I don’t want to hear that now. I’m not saying they played good defense. I’m saying it was good enough for you to win game one but you choked and blew it. You come into game two and the coach choked as far as I’m concerned.”

If one person is going to let you know he’s upset, it’s Stephen A. Smith. And he definitely let his feelings be known after two Eastern Conference Final games.