Knicks-Pacers takeaways: Indiana punches ticket to NBA Finals with dominant win

The 2025 NBA Finals are officially set, and it will be the Oklahoma City Thunder taking on the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers punched their ticket to the Finals on Saturday night with a convincing 125-108 win over the New York Knicks.

Here are some key takeaways from the Pacers' win. 

The long wait is over for the Pacers

After a 25-year wait, the Pacers are back in the NBA Finals, making their second-ever appearance as they search for their first championship. 

This was a well-earned series win over the Knicks that featured a stunning Game 1 comeback and a dominant performance to close out the series at home on Saturday. 

They go into the Finals having won 12 of their 16 games this postseason, while beating two of the top-three teams (Cleveland and New York) in the Eastern Conference. 

Their biggest test is still ahead in the Finals against an Oklahoma City team that won a league-best 68 games during the regular season.

Knicks did just about everything wrong

After a gutsy Game 5 win to extend their season, the Knicks came out in Game 6 and completely fell apart with their season on the line. Things were especially bad in the second half, where the Pacers closed out the game 67-54 over the final two quarters. 

Overall, the Knicks were just 17-of-26 from the free-throw line, only 9-of-32 from three-point range and turned the ball over 18 times. 

By comparison, the Pacers missed just three foul shots (16-of-19), shot better than 50% from three-point range (17-of-33) and turned the ball over just 12 times.

The Pacers also had 34 points off turnovers, while the Knicks had only 13.

The Pacers also had a 25-10 advantage on fast-break points, taking advantage of some truly subpar defense from the Knicks. 

That sort of performance is not going to win many playoff games, especially on the road. It is certainly not going to win potential elimination games. 

Unsung heroes shone for Pacers

When you play the Pacers, you have to assume Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are going to get their numbers, and on Saturday, they did.

Siakim had 31 points, while Haliburton had 21 points and 13 assists. They were great. Especially in the second half. 

But it's not just about those two for the Pacers, and their depth shone on Saturday. They had 10 different players record points, seven different players reach double-digits and had some really unsung heroes make big impacts.

Obi Toppin came off the bench with 18 points, T.J. McConnell had four rebounds, two assists and a big three-pointer, and Thomas Bryant was great defensively and hit three three-pointers of his own. 

The Pacers' bench outscored the Knicks' bench by a 38-18 margin.

Your stars playing great will give you a chance every night.

Your bench playing that well will make you nearly unbeatable. 

Knicks never recovered from Game 1 defeat

The Pacers showed over the course of the series that they were, in fact, the better team and are deserving of their spot in the Finals. But of all the losses in the series that are going to stick with Knicks fans over the summer, that Game 1 defeat at Madison Square Garden is going to be the one that really stings. 

They had it. They had it won. The game was over. And they let it slip away in a completely improbable fashion, putting themselves into an early series deficit they were never able to climb out of. When you get to this point in the season, there is almost no margin for error, and giving away a game, at home, is almost always going to be a season-changing result.