Nobody Has the Knicks’ Number Like the Pacers
(Nobody except for Michael Jordan, that is.)
Note: The following post is an updated version of a classic Neil’s Substack post that ran in 2024.
One year after a crushing Game 7 defeat ended one of the most exciting seasons in recent franchise history, the New York Knicks are back at it again… and so are the Indiana Pacers, again standing in the Knicks' way.
This time around, it’s in the Eastern Conference finals, with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line. The familiar script, however, remains: New York goes into the matchup riding momentum, but Indiana has a chance to spoil the party — just like it usually does.
If the Knicks are looking for motivation, last year’s do-or-die loss to Indy is a good place to start. In front of 19,812 devastated fans at Madison Square Garden, New York’s defense allowed the third-most points ever in a Game 7 — the second-most ever by a road team — and by far the highest field goal percentage (67.1%) by a road team in a Game 7:
Six different Pacers scored in double-figures, including Tyrese Haliburton with a team-high 26 and T.J. McConnell with 12 off the bench. Indiana grabbed a 10+ point lead before the end of the first quarter, taking the crowd out of the game early and answering every time the Knicks seemed to build momentum.
All told, it was a bitterly disappointing season finale for New York in a game where things had seemed set up for the home team to advance. The Knicks had been 5-1 in the playoffs, and a perfect 3-0 in the series, at MSG before Game 7. If any team seemed primed to allow 130 points, one would have guessed it might be Indiana, given their porous defense last season.
Fast-forward to this season, and some key factors have changed — though it remains to be seen if the result will follow suit.
For New York, the team that will face Indiana in 2025 is significantly different than the one that lost in 2024. Out are Donte DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein; in are Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges. These Knicks improved on offense — while taking a slight step back on defense — during the regular season, though that trend has been reversed some in the playoffs. And most notably, N.Y. dispatched Boston in six hard-fought games to get here, with Brunson averaging 26.2 points per game despite being the constant focus of defensive attention, and Towns providing big-time rebounding (12.7 RPG) and supplemental scoring (19.8 PPG).
Meanwhile, the 2025 version of the Pacers has gone through its own evolution. Last year, Indiana had one of the most imbalanced teams in modern NBA history, with the league’s second-best offense but 24th-best defense during the regular season. (That continued into the playoffs, where the Pacers had the No. 1 offense but ranked 13th of 16 teams on defense.) This year, Indy achieved far greater balance — No. 9 on offense but No. 13 on defense — despite having largely the same personnel: All of the Top 10 Pacers in minutes this season were on last season’s roster as well, while only three of the Top 14 minute-earners on last year’s Pacers (Buddy Hield, Jalen Smith, Bruce Brown) were not back this year.1
Just as last year, though, Indiana is certainly most reliant on its still-elite offense — with six different Pacers averaging double-digit points in the playoffs — led by Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, who continue to blend scoring, playmaking and efficiency at a high level.2 And as always, the Knicks are thriving on toughness and the chemistry of their five starters (who’ve played 2,297 of a possible 2,904 minutes3 in the playoffs) — but they now face the team that seems to always have their number.
Let’s just say there’s a long history between these two franchises. Including 2024, the Pacers and Knicks have faced off eight times starting in 1993:
1993 Round 1: Knicks win 3-1
1994 Round 3: Knicks win 4-3
1995 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
1998 Round 2: Pacers win 4-1
1999 Round 3: Knicks win 4-2
2000 Round 3: Pacers win 4-2
2013 Round 2: Pacers win 4-2
2024 Round 2: Pacers win 4-3
Overall, that’s 5 wins for the Pacers (including 5 of the past 6 series), 3 wins for the Knicks… and 8 points in 9 seconds for Reggie Miller.
From their last championship run in 1973 through 2024 — excluding 2025 because we don’t know its fate yet — the Knicks made the playoffs 27 times. Nearly one-fifth of those trips (five, or 18.5 percent) ended at the hands of the Pacers. Only the Chicago Bulls, with six eliminations of the Knicks, did more to keep New York from winning another ring.
Five of those Chicago series came specifically during the Michael Jordan era, underscoring just how often New York ran up against the brick wall that was MJ’s Bulls dynasty. But last year, the Pacers actually tied Jordan in the number of times they’ve thwarted the Knicks since their last NBA title.
Whatever happens, New York has a lot to be proud of from the 2024-25 season, from the continuing superstar ascent of Brunson to the way they mounted comeback after comeback to put Boston on the ropes, then delivered an epic knockout blow last Friday. Now we’ll have to see if the Knicks can keep their magical run rolling by turning tables on one of their oldest, most hated nemeses.
Filed under: NBA
This is a remarkable testament to Rick Carlisle’s coaching, as well as the greater individual commitment to defense from Indiana’s core players.
This isn’t to downplay the contributions of Andrew Nembhard, Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith, either; all are playing to significantly higher Estimated RAPTOR levels in the playoffs than during the regular season.
Or 79.1 percent.